The cheapest domain extensions to actually own

Over five years it is .xyz at $4.75, counting one year at the registration price and four at the renewal. Ranking on the first year alone gives a different and misleading answer.

A cheap extension is only a bargain if you can live with the name. Some of the cheapest are new gTLDs with low recognition, and a few are ccTLDs with residency rules. The price is real; the trade-off is whether people trust the address.

Because this one ranks on what an extension costs to keep, not to sign up for. A $0.88 first year that renews at $31 loses to a $10 extension that renews at $10, and most lists sort on the first number.

They include registry and ICANN fees wherever the registrar includes them in its published price — $0.18 on most gTLDs. Taxes are never included.

Over five years, not over one — which is what this table ranks. Ranked by the sign-up price the order is completely different, because the extensions that open cheapest are frequently the ones that renew dearest.

If you can renew it for as long as you need the name, yes. The risk is not the price but the shape of it: an extension discounted to pennies in year one and charging $40 from year two costs more over five years than a .com.

Over five years, more often than people expect. Its renewal is low and stable, so it overtakes many extensions that beat it on the sign-up price by year three.

Because five years is roughly how long a name that matters is held, and it is the point where a cheap sign-up stops hiding an expensive renewal.