Free WHOIS Privacy: Which Registrars Include It
Without WHOIS privacy, your name, address, phone number, and email are publicly visible to anyone who looks up your domain. Spammers, scammers, and stalkers actively scrape this data. Privacy protection hides your info behind the registrar's contact details.
Quick Answer: Free vs Paid WHOIS Privacy
| Registrar | WHOIS Privacy | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Spaceship | ✓ FREE | $0 |
| Cloudflare | ✓ FREE | $0 |
| Porkbun | ✓ FREE | $0 |
| Dynadot | ✓ FREE | $0 |
| Namecheap | ✓ FREE | $0 |
| NameSilo | ✓ FREE | $0 |
| Squarespace | ✓ FREE | $0 |
| GoDaddy | 💰 PAID | $9.99/yr |
| Network Solutions | 💰 PAID | $12.99/yr |
| Register.com | 💰 PAID | $9.99/yr |
The Real Cost of Paid WHOIS
At GoDaddy, WHOIS privacy costs $9.99/year. Over 5 years, that's an extra $50 per domain—just to hide your personal information from public databases.
How WHOIS Privacy Works
When you register a domain, ICANN requires contact information in the public WHOIS database. With privacy protection:
- Your name → replaced with "Privacy Service" or registrar proxy
- Your address → replaced with registrar's address (often Iceland or another privacy-friendly jurisdiction)
- Your email → replaced with a forwarding address
- Your phone → hidden or replaced
Legitimate contacts (like trademark disputes) can still reach you through the forwarding system. Spam can't.
Why Some Registrars Still Charge
Honestly? Because they can. WHOIS privacy costs registrars almost nothing to provide, but it's an easy upsell. GoDaddy in particular has built their business model around add-on fees.
The good news: market pressure from registrars like Cloudflare and Namecheap has made free WHOIS privacy the standard. If your registrar still charges for it, that's a red flag about their overall pricing philosophy.
Our Recommendation
Don't pay for WHOIS privacy in 2026. Every modern registrar includes it free. If you're currently paying for it at GoDaddy or elsewhere, transfer to a registrar that respects your privacy by default.
Spaceship is our top pick: lowest renewal prices plus free WHOIS privacy via their Iceland-based privacy service.
Free WHOIS privacy should be standard. Transfer to Spaceship and never pay for privacy protection again.
Get Free WHOIS Privacy →We earn commissions from Spaceship, Dynadot, Namecheap, and GoDaddy. Cloudflare and Porkbun have no affiliate programs. We recommend registrars with free WHOIS privacy because it should be a standard feature, not a paid add-on.