2026-05-27

.com Is Getting More Expensive Again: Wholesale Price Rising to $11.17 on November 1, 2026

On April 23, 2026, VeriSign (NASDAQ: VRSN) — the .com registry operator — announced yet another wholesale price increase. Starting November 1, 2026, the price registrars pay will go up 7%, from $10.26 to $10.97 per year for each registration or renewal. Including the mandatory $0.20 ICANN fee charged on every registration, renewal, and transfer, the effective floor cost of a .com domain for a registrar will be $11.17, up from the current $10.46.

This is the first .com price increase in more than two years — the previous one took effect on September 1, 2024. It is also the first increase under the new contract cycle, following the renewal of the Cooperative Agreement between VeriSign and NTIA and the .com Registry Agreement with ICANN in November 2024.

What Exactly Is Changing

Retail prices at individual registrars will, of course, be higher — each registrar adds its own margin, and payment processing fees often apply on top. But the bottom line is clear: selling a .com for less than $11.17 per year simply is not viable for any registrar.

A History of Increases: The Trend Is Unmistakable

VeriSign has consistently exercised its right to raise prices every time the contract allows. Below is the full price history including the ICANN fee in effect at the time of each increase ($0.18 until July 1, 2025; $0.20 from July 1, 2025 onward):

In just five years, the wholesale cost of a .com domain has grown from $8.03 to $11.17 — an increase of nearly 40%.

Why November Instead of September?

From 2021 through 2024, VeriSign raised prices on September 1 like clockwork. So why November now?

The answer lies in the contract structure. The official Pricing Year under Amendment 35 runs from October 26 to October 25 of the following year — not on a calendar-year basis. VeriSign may only raise prices in the last four Pricing Years of each six-year cycle. In the previous cycle (2018–2024), September 1 was simply a convenient date VeriSign chose within each allowed Pricing Year.

Under the new cycle that began October 26, 2024, the first two Pricing Years do not allow any increases. The earliest permitted window opens on October 26, 2026 — the start of the third Pricing Year. VeriSign picked November 1, just days later, as the effective date.

In short, the shift from September to November is not a gesture of goodwill — it is a constraint imposed by the contract. September 2026 falls within the second Pricing Year, where increases are simply prohibited.

What Lies Ahead

VeriSign never passes up its right to raise prices. Since Amendment 35 first enabled increases (the first allowed window being the Pricing Year from October 2020 to October 2021), the company has used all four out of four permitted increases in the previous cycle — each time at the maximum allowed 7%.

If this pattern holds — and there is no reason to expect otherwise — here is what .com wholesale prices will look like through the end of the current six-year cycle:

*The ICANN fee may also increase. Until 2025, it had remained at $0.18 for over a decade before being raised to $0.20 to catch up with inflation. There are no guarantees it will not go up again before 2030.

In total: within just five years — from 2024 to 2029 — the wholesale cost of a .com could rise from $10.44 to $13.62, an increase of 30%. Compared to 2021 ($8.03), the growth would be nearly +70%.

And this is only the wholesale component. Retail prices at registrars will rise by at least the same amount and often more — markups are typically percentage-based rather than fixed.

What Happens After 2030?

The current six-year cycle ends on November 30, 2030. After four consecutive increases, the wholesale price could reach approximately $13.42. But the process does not stop there. Under the same Amendment 35, VeriSign holds what is known as a presumptive right of renewal. The agreement states that the contract shall automatically renew for six-year terms, unless the Department [of Commerce] provides Verisign with written notice of non-renewal within one hundred twenty days (120) prior to the end of the then current term.

This means the contract renews by default for another six years — through November 30, 2036. And the pricing mechanics in the new cycle would be the same:

• 2030–2031 and 2031–2032 — freeze (the first two Pricing Years of the new cycle)
• 2032, 2033, 2034, 2035 — four potential consecutive 7% increases

If VeriSign continues to exercise its pricing rights as diligently as it has over the past five years, here is what .com wholesale prices could look like by the end of the next cycle:

*By 2030–2035, the ICANN fee will almost certainly be higher than $0.20 — ICANN has been tying its fees to inflation as well.

By the mid-2030s, the wholesale cost of a .com domain could well exceed $18. At retail, registrars would likely be charging $22–25+ per year for a standard registration.

What Could Stop This

Technically, only active intervention by the U.S. government. There are three possible paths:

1. NTIA issues a notice of non-renewal 120 days before November 30, 2030. This would allow for competitive bidding or renegotiation of terms. However, in the entire history of the Cooperative Agreement (dating back to the 1990s), this has never happened.
2. NTIA and VeriSign negotiate a revised Amendment 35 with different pricing terms. During the November 2024 renewal, NTIA publicly stated it wanted lower prices, but the two parties were unable to agree on how wholesale .com pricing should change. Under the Cooperative Agreement, amendments require consent from both sides — NTIA cannot revise pricing terms unilaterally. Its only leverage was to block the renewal altogether, but it chose not to do so.
3. Congress passes legislation that changes the framework. In 2024–2025, Senator Elizabeth Warren and the Economic Liberties Project publicly called for repealing Amendment 35 and reinstating price caps. The legal pathway exists; the political will does not — at least not yet.

Realistically, without major political upheaval, the wholesale price of .com is likely to reach $17–18 by 2036. And then the cycle starts all over again.

Why VeriSign Does This

The answer is simple: because it can, and because it is extraordinarily profitable. For fiscal year 2025, VeriSign reported a gross margin of 88% and an operating margin of 68% — among the highest of any company in the S&P 500. VeriSign is the sole registry operator of the most popular TLD in the world, and every additional cent across more than 160 million registered .com domains translates into hundreds of millions of dollars per year.

The contract allows it. NTIA and ICANN agreed to these terms in 2018 and reaffirmed them during the 2024 renewal.

What Domain Owners Can Do

A few practical considerations:

1. Renew .com domains early. Most registrars allow renewals up to 10 years in advance. For valuable domains intended for long-term use, renewing now — before November 1, 2026 — locks in the current price for years to come. After November 1, the difference will be at least $0.71 for each year secured early, and if increases continue, the savings grow further.
2. Compare registrars. The difference in retail .com pricing between registrars already amounts to several dollars per year. As the wholesale base rises, that spread becomes even more significant. On the .com price comparison page, you can compare current prices across ICANN-accredited registrars and find the best deal for registration, renewal, or transfer.

The Bottom Line

The .com price increase to $10.97 (or $11.17 including the ICANN fee) effective November 1, 2026, is not an isolated event — it is part of a well-established system. VeriSign has the contractual right to raise prices by up to 7% in each of the final four years of every six-year cycle, and the company exercises that right systematically. The shift from September to November is not a sign of restraint; it simply reflects the fact that the new six-year cycle began on October 26, 2024, and increases were contractually prohibited until after October 26, 2026.

If VeriSign continues raising prices at the maximum allowed rate, the wholesale cost of .com could reach $13.62 (including the ICANN fee) by the end of 2029. And after the contract automatically renews in 2030 — without active intervention from the U.S. government — the same mechanism kicks in again, potentially pushing the wholesale price past $17 by the mid-2030s. This is a system the regulators approved in advance, and one that every .com domain owner will be paying for, year after year, at renewal time.