Compare .io domain prices
Nominally the country-code domain for the British Indian Ocean Territory, but adopted worldwide by tech companies and startups for the "input/output" association.
Who .io is for
- Startups, developer tools and tech products, by long-standing convention
- Anyone who wants a short, techy-sounding name when .com is unavailable
Things to know
- Registry: Identity Digital (the former Afilias registry, merged into Identity Digital in 2022)
- No eligibility rules: no connection to the territory is required to register one
- Long-running sovereignty question: the UK began transferring the territory to Mauritius in 2024, and country-code domains are tied to an ISO country code. As of late 2026 the ISO code is unchanged, .io is fully operational, and ICANN has issued no retirement notice — but if the code is ever withdrawn, ICANN's policy gives a 5-to-10-year transition, not an overnight shutdown (source: ICANN's blog on the Chagos Archipelago and the .io domain)
- Because .io isn't listed in the standard RDAP registry directory most tools (including this one) use for availability lookups, availability results for .io can occasionally come back as "unknown" rather than a clear yes or no
| #1PorkbunVisit | #2Cloudflare RegistrarVisit | #3SpaceshipVisit | #4NamecheapVisit | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3-year cost | $131.72Lowest | $132.00 | $135.48 | $186.94 |
| First year | $28.12 | $32.00regularly $50.00 | $31.98regularly $51.75 | $34.98regularly $65.98 |
| Renews at | $51.80/yr | $50.00/yrLowest | $51.75/yr | $75.98/yr |
| Fees on top | Not stated | None | None | Not stated |
| Minimum term | 1 year | 1 year | 1 year | 1 year |
| Free DNS | Included | Included | Included | Included |
| Email forwarding | Included | Included | Included | Included |
| WHOIS privacy | Included | Included | Included | Included |
| Free mailbox | Not verified | Not verified | Not verified | Not included |
| Notes | Up to 20 free email forwards. DNS powered by Cloudflare. | Requires Cloudflare nameservers. Prices are at cost (registry + ICANN fee, no markup). Email Routing is forwarding only. | Up to 100 email aliases. | Free privacy is unavailable for a few TLDs. Up to 100 email forwards. Mailbox is a 1-month trial. |
| Price source | Registrar's standard price · checked Sep 25, 2026 · source | Registrar's standard price · checked Sep 25, 2026 · source | Registrar's standard price · checked Sep 25, 2026 · source | Registrar's standard price · checked Sep 25, 2026 · source |
These are each registrar's standard price for .io. Search a specific name to see live pricing for that exact domain, including premium pricing.
How “Best overall” works: 50% 3-year cost and 25% free features (DNS, email forwarding, WHOIS privacy, mailbox), plus 25% reputation once we have enough data. The 3-year cost is the first year plus renewals, including fees charged on top; domains with a minimum term are priced in whole terms. Prices exclude taxes. Registrars we can't look up show “Couldn't check” instead of a guessed price. Links are not affiliate links and nobody pays for placement.