A .ai address has become the default for AI startups, and the number of them passed one million in January 2026. It is also one of the most confusing domains to price. The headline price you see in a search box is rarely what you pay at checkout, and it is almost never what you pay to keep the name.
We priced a .ai name at nine registrars on the same day, seven from their own pages and carts and two from a price tracker, and added up three numbers for each: what the first checkout costs, what each renewal costs, and what four years of ownership costs. The answer to “which registrar is cheapest” changes depending on which of those you look at.
How we put this together. We have not registered a .ai domain at these registrars; this is a research-based guide. Every price below was read from the registrar’s own price page or search cart on 13 October 2026, viewed from India with the US dollar view selected on each registrar’s own currency menu, except Gandi, captured only in rupees. Two registrars, Cloudflare and Squarespace, do not show a public .ai price, so their figures come from a third-party price tracker and are labelled. Totals are our own arithmetic. Nothing is converted between currencies.
Why .ai costs so much
.ai is the country code domain of Anguilla, a small Caribbean territory. The official registry site credits Identity Digital, which trade press reports has run registry operations for Anguilla since January 2025. Anguilla treats .ai as one of its main sources of income, and the price reflects that.
- The wholesale price rose on 5 March 2026. Domain Name Wire and Domain Incite reported a rise from $70 to $80 a year, about 14%. We could not find the figure published by the registry itself, so treat it as reported.
- Every registration is at least two years. Porkbun, Dynadot, Namecheap and Hostinger all state a two-year minimum for registration and renewal, so the reported floor is about $160 per term, not $80.
- Transfers come with two years too. Porkbun and Dynadot say a .ai transfer includes a two-year renewal.
- Demand keeps growing. Domain Incite, citing the Government of Anguilla, reported more than 1 million .ai registrations on 20 January 2026, up from about 587,000 a year earlier.
The result is that no registrar can sell a .ai cheaply for long. Any discount comes out of the registrar’s own margin, usually for the first year only.
What nine registrars charge
| Registrar | Listed per year | First checkout (2 years) | 2-year renewal | How we read it |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spaceship | $79.98 | $159.96 | $159.96 | Own cart |
| Cloudflare | $80.00 | $160.00 | $160.00 | Third-party tracker; price needs a logged-in account |
| Porkbun | $82.70 | $165.40 | $165.40 | Own page; our arithmetic |
| Dynadot | $85.60 | $171.20 | $171.20 | Own page |
| Squarespace | $85.00 | about $170 | Not shown | Third-party tracker, July 2026 |
| Namecheap | $89.98, renews $114.98 | $179.96 | $229.96 | Own page |
| NameSilo | $99.99 | $199.98 | $199.98 | Own page; our arithmetic |
| Hostinger | $89.99 first year, renews $109.99 | $199.98 | $219.98 | Own page; our arithmetic |
| GoDaddy | $49.99 first year, list $159.99 | $209.98 | $319.98, implied | Own search cart; renewal from the struck list price |
Gandi showed us prices only in Indian rupees: Rs10,270.30 to register and Rs16,475.00 to renew, before VAT. We report those as regional and do not convert them. Its renewal is about 60% above its registration price in that table.
Notes on each registrar
- Spaceship: the cart showed $159.96 for two years, with WHOIS privacy “included for free, forever”. Registration and renewal are the same price.
- Cloudflare: says its prices are “always at or below what registries and ICANN charge us”. Its .ai price is only visible inside a logged-in account, so our $80 figure is from a third-party tracker.
- Porkbun: lists $82.70 a year with free WHOIS privacy and a transfer price of $165.09 that includes the two-year renewal.
- Dynadot: lists $171.20 for two years. Restoring an expired .ai after the grace period costs $460.00, a good reason to turn on auto-renew.
- Namecheap: defaulted to rupees for us; in US dollars it showed $89.98 a year to register and $114.98 to renew. Its renewal is 28% above its registration price.
- NameSilo: lists $99.99 a year, with lower rates for customers holding 100 or more domains. Its transfer price of $245.00 and a note that transfers add one year do not match the two-year rule other registrars state, so check before transferring there.
- Hostinger: its tooltip says the domain “requires a 2-year registration” and that the discount applies to the first year only, so checkout is $89.99 plus $109.99.
- GoDaddy: its search cart said “You pay $209.98 today” for the $49.99 first year on a two-year term. The renewal rate is not stated outright; the struck list price of $159.99 a year implies $319.98 per renewal.
- Squarespace: its .ai page mentions free WHOIS privacy but shows no price.
The 4-year bill: why the headline price misleads
Because every .ai is sold in two-year blocks, four years is the shortest honest comparison: one registration plus one renewal. Here is what each registrar comes to.
| Registrar | 4-year cost (our arithmetic) | Extra over the cheapest |
|---|---|---|
| Spaceship | $319.92 | None |
| Cloudflare (tracker price) | $320.00 | $0.08 |
| Porkbun | $330.80 | $10.88 |
| Dynadot | $342.40 | $22.48 |
| NameSilo | $399.96 | $80.04 |
| Namecheap | $409.92 | $90.00 |
| Hostinger | $419.96 | $100.04 |
| GoDaddy (implied renewal) | $529.96 | $210.04 |
GoDaddy has the lowest number in its search box, $49.99, and the highest four-year bill, $210 more than Spaceship for the same name. The pattern holds more widely: the cheapest .ai is the one you renew, not the one you register.
Ten years of a .ai name
If the name is your company’s address, you will probably keep it far longer than four years. Ten years is five two-year terms: one registration and four renewals. At today’s listed prices, and assuming none of them change, the totals are:
| Registrar | 10-year cost (our arithmetic) |
|---|---|
| Spaceship | $799.80 |
| Cloudflare (tracker price) | $800.00 |
| Porkbun | $827.00 |
| Dynadot | $856.00 |
| NameSilo | $999.90 |
| Hostinger | $1,079.90 |
| Namecheap | $1,099.80 |
| GoDaddy (implied renewal) | $1,489.90 |
Over ten years the gap between the cheapest and the most expensive registrar grows to about $690 for one name. That is the real cost of choosing a registrar on its first-year price.
These totals assume prices stay where they are, and they may not. The March 2026 rise added $10 a year at wholesale, which became $20 per two-year term, and Namecheap passed on more than that: its renewal went from $92.98 to $114.98 a year, according to the customer notice it sent. If the wholesale price rises again, registrars are likely to pass it on, as Namecheap did.
Costs beyond the sticker price
- Registry or ICANN fees. Spaceship’s cart listed the ICANN fee for .ai as $0.00, which fits .ai being a country code domain. Namecheap carries a general note about a $0.20 ICANN fee on “some domains”; we could not confirm whether it applies to .ai.
- Restore fees. If a .ai lapses past its grace period, getting it back is costly. Dynadot lists a 30-day renewal grace period and a $460.00 restore fee.
- Privacy. Most registrars here list WHOIS privacy as free. Dynadot lists privacy as allowed without saying it is free, so check at checkout.
- Bulk pricing. If you hold many names, NameSilo’s discount program lowers .ai from $99.99 to between $94.99 and $81.99 a year, depending on how many active domains you hold, from 100 to 5,000 or more.
- Premium names. Dynadot and GoDaddy both note that premium names are priced differently. The registry runs separate auctions for some names.
What we could not verify
Being clear about the gaps matters on a page about prices. We could not read Cloudflare’s .ai price without an account, so it comes from a tracker. Squarespace’s own page showed no price. GoDaddy did not state its renewal rate outright, so our renewal figure uses its struck list price. NameSilo’s $245.00 transfer price did not match the two-year rule, and we could not find an explanation. Gandi was captured only in rupees. And we could not find the $80 wholesale figure published by the registry itself; it is reported by two trade publications and matches Namecheap’s notice. We will update the table if any of these change.
Prices you will see online that are out of date
Most pages that answer this question were written before the March 2026 rise or quote the wrong part of the bill. Here is what to watch for.
- “$70 a year.” That was the reported wholesale price before 5 March 2026. Namecheap’s own blog from September 2026 still gives a range starting at $70, while Namecheap’s price page lists $89.98.
- “$50 to $100 a year.” Namecheap’s .ai product page still gives this range, while its own renewal is $114.98.
- “A 20% rise.” The two trade publications put it at about 14%. The $20 figure is the rise per two-year registration, not a percentage.
- Renewals under $80 a year. Price aggregators list some smaller registrars below the reported floor. They may be out of date, loss-leaders or on different terms. Check the renewal at that registrar’s checkout before you rely on it.
- “Transfers add one year.” For .ai, Porkbun and Dynadot say a transfer comes with a two-year renewal.
A useful rule: any .ai renewal well under $80 a year deserves a second look at checkout. Spaceship’s $79.98 is the lowest own-page price we read.
How to buy a .ai without overpaying
- Compare the renewal, not the first year. Look for a separate renewal price on the registrar’s price page. If there is only a struck list price, assume that is the renewal.
- Look at the checkout total. With the two-year minimum, the first payment is two years. A $49.99 headline can still be a $209.98 checkout.
- Check WHOIS privacy. Spaceship, Porkbun, Namecheap and GoDaddy list it as free, and Hostinger lists it as free for supported extensions. Do not pay extra for it.
- Turn on auto-renew. Losing a .ai is expensive. Dynadot lists $460.00 to restore one after the grace period.
- Avoid premium names unless you mean to. Premium names are priced differently, as Dynadot and GoDaddy both say; check the renewal shown for a premium name before checkout.
- Keep the domain separate from your host if you can. A domain included free with hosting is typically free for the first year only, so check what it renews at, and moving it later means a transfer with its own two-year charge.
- Use the currency you pay in. Several registrars showed us rupees first. Use the registrar’s own currency menu rather than converting yourself.
Which registrar fits which buyer
A startup buying its main address
Pick on the renewal price and on account security. Spaceship and Porkbun price renewals at their registration price, close to the reported floor. Whichever you choose, turn on two-factor sign-in and registrar lock, because losing your company domain costs far more than any price difference.
A side project you may drop
Only the first checkout matters if you will not renew, but remember it is still two years. Spaceship’s $159.96 was the lowest own-cart total we read. A $49.99 headline does not lower the checkout, which was $209.98 at GoDaddy.
Someone holding many .ai names
Renewals dominate a portfolio. Look at registrars that renew at registration price, or at NameSilo’s volume tiers, which bring it to $81.99 a year at 5,000 or more active domains.
Someone who wants everything in one place
Hosting companies such as Hostinger sell .ai alongside hosting and email. That is convenient, but Hostinger’s renewal of $109.99 a year is about $30 above Spaceship’s, or $60 per two-year term.
How to check a renewal price yourself
Registrar pages change often, so check before you buy. Open the registrar’s full price list rather than the search box, because search results often show only a promotional first year. Look for a column labelled renew or renewal. If the search result shows a struck-through price, treat that as the likely renewal. Add a test name to the cart and read the total, which should cover two years. And check the currency menu, since several registrars showed us local currency first. Finally, read the registrar’s renewal terms page for .ai specifically: some list the grace period and restore fee there rather than on the price list, and those are the numbers that matter if a card payment ever fails.
Should you transfer an existing .ai?
A transfer is mostly a way to move your renewals somewhere cheaper. Because a .ai transfer includes a two-year renewal, the transfer price is effectively your next renewal. At Porkbun that is $165.09 against Namecheap’s renewal of $229.96 for two years, a saving of about $65 per renewal on our arithmetic. Unlock the domain and get the transfer code from your current registrar first, and do not start a transfer in the last days before expiry.
Is a .ai worth it against .com or .io?
That depends on what the name does for you. A .ai tells visitors you build with AI and is often available when the .com is not. Against that, its four-year cost runs from about $320 at the cheapest registrars to about $530, many times what a .com usually costs, and its price depends on one territory’s registry. If you are building a product, also budget for your hosting: our guide to where to host a Lovable, Bolt or v0 app prices that side, and our AI website builders guide covers builders that include a domain in year one.
Black Friday on .ai domains
Do not expect a big .ai discount. With an $80 a year floor, a registrar can only cut its own margin or the first year, and the renewal returns to list. We could not find any record of .ai being deeply discounted on Black Friday. Hostinger’s 2026 domain sale runs from 19 October to 14 December 2026 and, when we read it, offered one free month of its Unlimited plan with a .ai on a term of two years or more, rather than a lower .ai price. Namecheap’s 2025 sale cut prices on many domains, though no .ai price was visible in what we could read. We list confirmed offers on our AI tools Black Friday deals page.
The short answer
If you want the lowest four-year cost
Spaceship or Porkbun, both close to the reported floor. Cloudflare is reported at the same level, but its price needs an account to confirm.
If you already have a .ai at a pricier registrar
Transfer it before your next renewal and save the difference.
If you see a cheap first year
Find the renewal price before you pay. That is the number you will keep paying.
Sources
- Registry: nic.ai, FAQ. Price rise and registrations: Domain Name Wire, 2 Feb 2026, Domain Incite, 3 Feb 2026.
- Registrars: Spaceship, Cloudflare Registrar, Porkbun, Dynadot, Namecheap, NameSilo, Hostinger, GoDaddy, Squarespace, Gandi.
- Namecheap blog, Sep 2026, Hostinger Black Friday domains.
- All read 13 October 2026. Totals are our arithmetic.
Written by
FazFaz is the founder of AIToolsBakery. Some tools here are tested hands on. Others are assessed from vendor documentation and pricing verified on the live page, and every review says which one it is. Sponsors can buy a position in a guide. They cannot buy the score, the criticism, or silence about a better option.
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