The bottom line
Flat, predictable pricing with free extras, strong for holding several domains.
Pricing that matters
- .com first year
- Check live price
- .com renewal (every year after)
- Check live price
- Pricing model
- Flat
Does year one equal the renewal?
Flat pricing — confirm the live number. NameSilo prices year one and the renewal the same, but we have not frozen a figure here because the published rate moves. Check both numbers on their own pricing page before you buy.
Prices verified Jul 2026; confirm the live number before buying on NameSilo’s own pricing page.
Strengths
- Free WHOIS privacy included
- Flat pricing with little year-to-year drift, good for bulk holdings
- Bulk management tools aimed at people holding many names
Watch out for
- Dashboard feels dated next to newer registrars
- Fewer bundled extras (hosting, builders)
- The standard rate is higher than the discounted rate NameSilo advertises: the cheaper number comes from their account-deposit discount programme, so check what you would actually pay before you buy
WHOIS privacy
Free, no strings. Free WHOIS privacy forever; add-ons are always free. Your name, address and phone stay off the public record at no extra cost.
Transfers & DNS
- Moving the domain out
- Standard transfer with an EPP/auth code; 60-day lock after registration.
- Nameservers & DNS
- Free DNS, use any nameservers.
Support & checkout
- Checkout
- Clean
- Support
- Ticket and email support.
Who should not use NameSilo
Anyone who wants a polished modern dashboard or bundled hosting and site-builder tools.
New to this? Terms on this page
- Renewal price
- What you pay each year after the first. It is often higher than the first-year promo, so always check it before you buy.
- WHOIS privacy
- A service that hides your name, address, email, and phone from the public WHOIS record. Many registrars now include it free.
- EPP / auth code
- The transfer authorisation code your current registrar gives you to move a domain to a different registrar. Treat it like a password.
- Nameserver
- The server that holds your domain’s DNS records. Pointing your domain at a host usually means changing its nameservers.
- Redemption period
- A roughly 30-day window after a domain expires when only the original owner can recover it, usually for a higher redemption fee.
Buying your first domain? The simple version
The calm path for a first domain is one where year one and the renewal cost the same, WHOIS privacy is genuinely free, the checkout is clean, and you can point the domain at any DNS you like. On that test, NameSilo fits: year one equals the renewal, privacy is free, the checkout is clean, and DNS is not locked in. It is a sensible first buy.
Watch for “domain renewal” scam letters
New domain owners are a common target for fake “domain renewal” or “domain expiration notice” letters and emails, often demanding payment by post or to an unfamiliar company. Your real registrar bills the card on your account and never asks you to post a cheque or wire money to renew. If a notice arrives, do not pay it: log in to your registrar dashboard directly (by typing the address yourself, not clicking a link) and check the real expiry date and renewal there.
Next steps
How we compare registrars
This page is a documented-facts comparison, not a hands-on test: we read each registrar’s own published pricing, privacy and transfer terms and set them side by side, last checked in Jul 2026. We compare what actually costs a buyer money — the renewal price versus the first-year promo, whether WHOIS privacy is genuinely free, how much friction there is to transfer a domain out, and how calm the checkout is — and we say who each registrar is wrong for, not just who it is right for. We have not bought and run a domain at every registrar here, so where a figure moves we link you to the live page instead of freezing a number. No paid placement, and no affiliate relationship with these registrars today.