naymoYour renewal didn't
break. It was bait.
That $1 (or $9) first year felt like a deal. Then the renewal hit and it was suddenly $20, $30, sometimes more — every year, forever. Here's exactly how the first-year-vs-renewal trick works, with real numbers from live data.
Take IONOS on .net: it lures you in at
$1.00 the first year, then renews at
$22.00/yr — about
22.0× more.
Meanwhile the genuinely cheapest .net renews at about $12.18/yr (Cloudflare) — no bait, no jump.
Real first-year vs renewal gaps
Straight from the pricing dataset — these are the promos that renew the steepest.
| Registrar | TLD | First year | Then renews/yr | Jump |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| IONOS | .net | $1.00 | $22.00 | 22.0× (+$21.00/yr) |
| IONOS | .com | $1.00 | $20.00 | 20.0× (+$19.00/yr) |
| IONOS | .org | $1.00 | $20.00 | 20.0× (+$19.00/yr) |
| IONOS | .xyz | $1.00 | $18.00 | 18.0× (+$17.00/yr) |
| Porkbun | .store | $2.57 | $43.77 | 17.0× (+$41.20/yr) |
| Namecheap | .store | $3.98 | $61.98 | 15.6× (+$58.00/yr) |
| Namecheap | .shop | $2.48 | $37.98 | 15.3× (+$35.50/yr) |
| Porkbun | .shop | $2.06 | $31.41 | 15.2× (+$29.35/yr) |
| Spaceship | .store | $3.98 | $59.98 | 15.1× (+$56.00/yr) |
Porkbun prices are live; competitors are curated and verified periodically, and some long-tail extensions are tier-estimated (USD). Promos shift constantly — verify at the registrar. We show this because we earn $0 on where you register; there's no upside for us in hiding it.
How the trap works
You register a domain once but renew it every year. Registrars know this, so they compete on the one number you see at checkout — the first-year price — and quietly set the renewal much higher. A $1 first year that renews at $20 isn't a $1 domain; over five years it's roughly $81. A flat registrar at $11/yr is about $55 — cheaper, with no surprise.
How to beat it
- Compare the renewal, not the promo. The first-year price is marketing; the renewal is the bill.
- Register where renewal is lowest. Flat, low-margin registrars (no first-year gimmick) usually win over time.
- Already trapped? Transfer out. A domain isn't locked to one registrar — you can move it to a cheaper one (usually after 60 days) and keep everything.
The free Overpay Audit reads what you currently pay and shows the cheapest renewal for every domain you own — no login. Or learn where the low renewals actually live in the cheapest registrar guide.