Domain Registrar Markup Exposed: Who Charges the Most Over Wholesale (2026)
🔎 The Question Nobody Asks
Every .com domain costs exactly the same at wholesale: $10.44/year (Verisign's $10.26 + ICANN's $0.18). Everything above that is registrar margin. Below, we expose exactly how much each registrar adds — from Spaceship's loss-leader subsidization to Gandi's 268% markup.
The Wholesale Reality
When you register or renew a .com domain, your registrar pays Verisign $10.26 and ICANN $0.18. That's $10.44 in hard costs. The rest — whether it's $0.42 or $27.94 — is the registrar's gross margin on that domain. Some use that margin to fund support, hosting, and marketing. Others simply pocket it.
Starting November 1, 2026, the wholesale increases to $10.97. How each registrar responds to this increase will tell you a lot about their pricing philosophy.
2026 Markup Table
| Registrar | .com Renewal | Wholesale Cost | Markup | Markup % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spaceship | $9.98 | $10.44 | -$0.46 | -4.4% (loss) |
| Cloudflare | $10.44 | $10.44 | $0.00 | 0% |
| Dynadot | $10.86 | $10.44 | $0.42 | 4.0% |
| Porkbun | $11.06 | $10.44 | $0.62 | 5.9% |
| Namesilo | $11.95 | $10.44 | $1.51 | 14.5% |
| Namecheap | $16.98 | $10.44 | $6.54 | 62.6% |
| Hover | $18.99 | $10.44 | $8.55 | 81.9% |
| Squarespace | $20.00 | $10.44 | $9.56 | 91.6% |
| GoDaddy | $21.99 | $10.44 | $11.55 | 110.6% |
| Gandi | $38.38 | $10.44 | $27.94 | 267.6% |
What You're Paying For (And What You're Not)
The $0–$2 markup tier (Cloudflare, Dynadot, Porkbun): These registrars run lean. They make money on volume, add-on services, or other products. Their domain pricing is essentially fair — a small margin for a real service.
The $6–$9 markup tier (Namecheap, Hover): You're paying for brand, support infrastructure, and bundled services. Whether that's worth 60–80% markup depends on how much you value 24/7 chat and one-stop-shop convenience.
The $10+ markup tier (GoDaddy, Squarespace, Gandi): This is where the math stops making sense. GoDaddy's 110% markup funds Super Bowl ads and a massive support center. Gandi's 268% markup funds... we genuinely don't know. Their "No Bullshit" slogan has aged poorly.
The Verisign Angle
Verisign itself operates at an 88% gross margin — meaning the actual cost of running the .com registry infrastructure is roughly $1.25 per domain per year. The $10.44 wholesale price is already a massive margin for Verisign. When GoDaddy adds another $11.55 on top, the total margin stack from infrastructure cost to consumer price is approximately $22 on a service that costs ~$1.25 to operate.
This is why we built SideBySide Domains. The domain registration industry profits from opacity. When you see the actual numbers side by side, the pricing decisions make themselves.