The .com and .net are two extensions that many domain owners plan on holding indefinitely. The .com domain is the preferred choice for many businesses’ main websites. If you are the domain administrator for your company, you are well aware the .com domain is likely to be around far longer than your time at the company and even on this planet. Okay, we’re getting a little morbid here. The point we are trying to emphasize is that the .com domain isn’t going anywhere. As any business professional knows, if you know you have a fixed recurring annual cost, the best practice is to get the price as low as you can for as long as you can. This article will show you how to rate lock your .com domain price in a multi-year renewal before the increases begin.

Why is the .com price rising?

Verisign, the registry for .com and .net have reached a deal with ICANN to be able to increase their pricing for the first time since 2012.

Verisign, the largest publicly traded registry, was under a price increase cap for many years previously—but is no longer.

ICANN and Verisign struck a new deal that allows Verisign to increase the price for .com domains by 7% each year in 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023.

After a two-year “freeze” in 2024 and 2025, Verisign can increase prices by 7% annually again during 2026-2029, then they enter into another two-year “freeze”.

This cycle will continue indefinitely, meaning that within 10 years, .com domains could cost approximately 70% more than the current price.

The price for a new .com registration at 101domain.com as of the date this article was published on August 20, 2021, is $10.99 (renewing at $14.99).

The price for a new .com registration at 101domain.com will increase to $11.79 after September 1, 2021 (renewing at $15.99).

The historical and future look into .com prices

Here’s what to do

If you renew before September 1, 2021, you can lock in your current rate with a multi-year renewal up to 10 years and evade these impending price changes until 2031. There are also other benefits of renewing for multi-year terms. In addition to locking in your price for an extended term, multi-year renewals make domain management easier. There have been countless high-profile companies who forgot to renew their main .com domain which led to a loss of revenue and brand reputation.