The short answer: a .com costs about $11–$20 a year at any honest registrar in 2026. Trendier endings (.io, .ai, .co) run several times that. If a name you want is listed for hundreds or thousands, that is a "premium" domain — a reseller's asking price, not a technical fee, and you are allowed to simply not pay it.
That would be the whole page, except the industry has three habits worth knowing before you type in a card number.
Habit 1: the teaser first year
Registrars advertise first-year prices well under cost, then renew at their real rate. The number that matters is the renewal price — you will pay it every year for as long as your business exists. It is always on the pricing page, usually in smaller type. Check it before you buy, not at renewal time.
Habit 2: the "free domain included"
Website builders and hosts often include a domain "free" — for the first year, after which it renews at whatever they charge, which is frequently more than a plain registrar. Not a scam, just a bundle: do the year-two math before treating it as savings. (Where we land on this is below, stated plainly so you can compare.)
Habit 3: paid add-ons that should be free
WHOIS privacy — keeping your home address out of the public domain record — is included free at most major registrars now. A registrar charging extra for it is telling you something about the rest of its pricing.
Do you need a domain on day one?
Honestly: no. A free subdomain (yourname.somewhere.com) is fine for testing an idea, and nobody serious will judge a week-old venture for it. A .com signals permanence — worth having the moment the business is real, because it is also the one part of your website you should always control: whoever builds or runs your site, the domain should renew in your name unless it came included with a plan you can leave freely.
How we handle domains, for comparison
- Spark ($9/month) comes with a free subdomain, or connect a domain you already own — one DNS record, instructions here. Spark cannot buy you a domain.
- Annual plans (from $149/year) include one .com registered for you, in the plan price — not an add-on, not a first-year teaser. Stripe never charges more than the listed plan price, and renewal is simply the same plan price next year.
- Already own a domain? Bring it to any plan — the price does not change.