A .host domain costs $4.63, then $81.87 every year
The first year of a .host domain costs $4.63. Every year after it costs $81.87, which is 18 times as much.
What it costs to keep
| 1 year | $4.63 |
|---|---|
| 3 years | $168.37 |
| 5 years | $332.11 |
| 10 years | $741.46 |
From Porkbun, the cheapest of the registrars we hold a figure from over 3 years. One registrar's price is not a market rate, and a premium or reserved name costs more than any figure here — the registry returns the same answer for one as for an ordinary free name, so every quote is a floor.
What each registrar charges
| Registrar | First year | Renewal | 3 years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Porkbun | $4.63 | $81.87 | $168.37 cheapest over 3 years |
| Dynadot | $4.50 | $84.75 | $174.00 cheapest first year |
| Cloudflare | $79.20 | $79.20 | $237.60 |
The cheapest name to buy here is not the cheapest name to keep. Dynadot has the lowest first year at $4.50, and Porkbun costs less over 3 years. A comparison ranked on the advertised price gets this backwards.
Ranked on the 3-year total rather than the first year, and the horizon is printed because a ranking with a hidden one is a guess about how long you mean to keep the name. Registrars we hold no figure from are absent rather than shown as unpriced.
The cheapest place to buy it is not the cheapest place to keep it
Dynadot has the lowest first year at $4.50, and Porkbun costs less over 3 years — $168.37 against $174.00. Ranked on the advertised price, the wrong one wins.
Why the advertised price is not the price
A registrar quotes the first year because that is the transaction it is trying to win. The registry sets the renewal, and it is the same at every registrar that sells .host — so shopping around changes the first year and barely touches what the name costs you by its third birthday.
That registry is Radix Technologies Inc SEZC, which holds the
ICANN agreement for .host and sets the wholesale price every
registrar resells. Operators run portfolios rather than single extensions, which
is why unrelated extensions land on the same figure to the cent — the tier
belongs to the company, not to the word.
None of this is hidden. It is on the registrar's own page, below the number in the large type. dotsweep leads with it because it does not sell you the domain.
Are you allowed to register a .host name?
Yes, and Radix says so itself:
After the Launch Phases described above, any interested party may register any available domain name on a first-come-first served basis.
Read from Radix's own page on 2026-08-01. Quoted rather than summarised so you can check it. A registrar can still refuse a name for its own reasons, and a premium or reserved name is priced separately from anything on this page.
Is a .host name free?
Availability comes from the registry over RDAP, with a WHOIS fallback where a registry publishes no RDAP service. A throttled or unreachable registry is reported as unconfirmed rather than available, which is the one wrong answer that costs somebody money.
curl https://dotsweep.com/check/yourname.hostOther extensions whose renewal is the real cost
Run by the same registry, and therefore priced by the same decision:
The rest of the set:
.baby .bar .buzz .cards .casino .codes .credit .creditcard .digital .dog .feedback .fit .forum .gold .guru .investments .lol .shop .vu
Every extension ranked by what it really costs → · API reference →