Domain registrars are commoditised. They differ on three things: pricing, the renewal-pricing trap, and whether the dashboard fights you. IONOS wins on all three for me in 2025.

Pricing .com domains: £1 first year, £18 renewal at IONOS. GoDaddy is £15 first year, £22 renewal. Namecheap is £8 first year, £14 renewal. IONOS is the cheapest over a 5-year window if you avoid GoDaddy's loyalty trap entirely.

What I avoid GoDaddy. Their upsell flow is hostile. Their renewal pricing has trap-doored me twice over the years.

Where IONOS is fine, not great - The dashboard is dated but functional - DNS propagation is normal speed (it is just DNS) - Privacy WHOIS is included on most TLDs by default

What you get with the bundle £1/month VPS plans, basic web hosting if you want it, email forwarding. I do not use any of these, but they exist if you do.

Trying it [Their current promo through this link](https://aklam.io/m2xYRsYR) gives both of us a small bonus. £1 first-year .com is the headline.

If you are also looking for a VPS, see [my DigitalOcean writeup](/blog/self-hosted-after-vercel).

Why I moved my domains to IONOS

Pricing .com domains: £1 first year, £18 renewal at IONOS. GoDaddy is £15 first year, £22 renewal. Namecheap is £8 first year, £14 renewal. IONOS is the cheapest over a 5-year window if you avoid GoDaddy's loyalty trap entirely.

What I avoid GoDaddy. Their upsell flow is hostile. Their renewal pricing has trap-doored me twice over the years.

Where IONOS is fine, not great - The dashboard is dated but functional - DNS propagation is normal speed (it is just DNS) - Privacy WHOIS is included on most TLDs by default

What you get with the bundle £1/month VPS plans, basic web hosting if you want it, email forwarding. I do not use any of these, but they exist if you do.

Trying it [Their current promo through this link](https://aklam.io/m2xYRsYR) gives both of us a small bonus. £1 first-year .com is the headline.

Have a project in mind?