How Much Does a Website Domain Name Cost in the UK

For most UK small businesses, a website domain name costs £8 to £15 a year for a normal .co.uk or .com. First-year deals can look far cheaper, then the renewal price takes over. Rare names, some extensions and add-ons sit well above that range, which is why the sticker price at checkout is rarely the true yearly cost.

What you actually pay each year

A domain is a yearly rental, not a purchase. You pay a registrar, they pay the registry, and you keep the name only while the renewal is paid. For an unused, ordinary name, UK retail prices sit in a tight band.

Budget £10 to £15 a year for a normal .co.uk or .com and you will not be far out. Anything under £5 in year one is almost always a promotion. Anything over £40 a year is a specialist extension or a premium name, not a standard registration.

The first-year price is not the real cost

Registrars compete on the number in the advert. Renewal is where they earn. Take a .com at £0.99 in year one and £15.99 to renew. Over five years that is £0.99 plus four renewals of £15.99, which comes to £64.95, or £12.99 a year. The 99p figure is a discount on year one, not the cost of the name.

Compare like for like. Look at the renewal, not the landing page. If two shops offer the same .co.uk, pick the clearer renewal and the emptier basket, not the flashier first-year discount.

You can register many names for two to ten years in one go. That fixes today's rate and cuts the risk of an expired card dropping the name. For a new venture I would start with two years. Once the name is staying, extend it.

Add-ons that inflate the basket

The domain fee is small. Upsells are where people overpay.

• VAT. UK registrars often show prices without VAT, then add 20 percent at checkout. A £9.99 renewal becomes £11.99.
• Privacy on .com. Some shops charge £5 to £15 a year to hide your address. Others include it. On .uk names, Nominet already limits what the public sees, so paid privacy is usually pointless.
• Email. A domain does not include a mailbox. Cheap registrar email at £1 to £3 a month is often poor. Google Workspace starts around £5 to £6 per user per month. Treat email as its own line.
• Hosting bundles. A free domain for twelve months tied to hosting is common. Read the renewal on both. Moving later usually means paying one year of renewal at the new registrar.
• Missed renewal. After expiry there is a grace period, then a redemption window. Getting a name back in redemption often costs £50 to £80 plus the renewal. Auto-renew on a card you use is cheaper than a rescue.

Which extension makes sense

For a UK small business that serves UK customers, .co.uk is still the default people type. In my experience it still wins for local firms. The shorter .uk costs the same sort of money. If you can get both for around £20 a year combined, that is cheap insurance against a lookalike.

.com is worth it if you trade abroad, if you already think in .com, or if the .co.uk you want is taken. It is not automatically more professional. It is more crowded, so the good short names are often taken or for sale.

Skip novelty extensions unless the word is your actual business. A plumber does not need .plumbing at £30 a year. If you have to spell the name twice, pick another one.

When the name costs hundreds, not a tenner

If the name is already registered, you are not paying a registry fee. You are buying it from the current holder, a broker or an expired-name auction.

• Expired auctions often land at £20 to £200.
• Aftermarket listings of £200 to £2,000 are common for a short English word plus .com.
• Brokered brandable names at £3,000 to £15,000 are not unusual. Famous generics go far higher.

For a local service business, paying four figures for a domain is rarely the best spend. A clear name you can register, plus a well-built site, will usually beat a slightly shorter .com. If you buy a used name, use escrow and make sure it transfers into an account you control before the seller is paid in full.

Put the domain in your name

The registrant is the legal holder. That record should be your limited company, or you as a sole trader, with a contact email you control. Not your web designer, not a friend, not the hosting company.

If someone else is the registrant, moving host, changing designer or selling the business means asking their permission. I have seen small firms stuck because a supplier registered the domain and then stopped answering. Ask for the registrar login, turn on two-factor authentication, and keep the renewal card yours.

How this sits against the cost of the website

A domain at £10 to £15 a year is a rounding error next to design, content and hosting. In the UK a very basic builder site can be a few hundred pounds. A proper one-off small business site more often lands in the low thousands, depending on pages, copy and functions. Hosting commonly sits around £5 to £30 a month.

I offer both one-off website builds and pay-monthly plans. The monthly route is a setup fee, then a monthly price that covers hosting, updates and ongoing management. That suits small businesses that want the site looked after and do not have a large upfront budget. Either way, hold the domain in your own registrar account. For current plan details, see arlowebstudio.com.

How to buy without overpaying

1. Write down the exact name and extension you want, plus one fallback.
2. Search it on two or three registrars. Note the renewal price and whether VAT is included.
3. Strip the basket of builders, extra .uk privacy, SSL you already get with hosting, and cheap mailboxes you have not tested.
4. Register for at least two years if the name is definite.
5. Set the registrant to your business, use your email, and turn on auto-renew and two-factor authentication.
6. Save the login in a password manager you control. Do not leave it only with a supplier.

Check two UK registrars and one international one. If the renewal on a standard .co.uk is over £20 excluding VAT, you are paying for the brand on the receipt, not a better name. Lean registrars that price close to registry cost make the number you see today the number you keep paying. Traditional UK hosts cost a little more and may offer a phone line if you want a human at the other end.

Frequently asked questions

Is a domain a one-off payment?

No. A domain is a yearly rental. You can pay for several years up front, which is still a prepaid rental, not a purchase. Budget the renewal price, not the first-year offer.

Do I need to pay for domain privacy?

On .uk and .co.uk names, Nominet already limits the public record, so a paid privacy add-on is usually a waste. On .com, take privacy if it is included or a few pounds. Do not pay £10 to £15 extra if another registrar includes it.

How much does it cost to transfer a domain?

You usually pay one year of renewal at the new registrar, and that year is added to the name. Unlock it at the current registrar, get the authorisation code, then start the transfer. Avoid transferring in the first 60 days after a new registration.

Should I buy both .co.uk and .com?

If both are available at normal prices, yes. Around £20 a year for the pair is cheap protection. Point the unused one at the live site so a rival cannot park it.

Is a free domain with hosting a good deal?

It can be fine for year one. The test is the renewal on the name and the hosting. If year two on the domain is £20 plus and a specialist registrar is £10, you will overpay for as long as you stay.

Who should own the domain if someone else builds the site?

You should. The registrant must be your company or you as sole trader, with a login and mailbox you control. If a designer already registered it, get it transferred into your account before you rely on the site.