Domain Registration Glossary

At-Cost Registrar

An at-cost registrar sells domains at exactly what the registry charges them — no markup. Cloudflare and (for some TLDs) Spaceship operate this model. It's the mechanism behind the cheapest long-term domain prices in the market.

DNS Propagation

DNS propagation is the time it takes for changes to domain nameservers or DNS records to spread across the global network of DNS servers typically 24–48 hours for nameserver changes.

Transfer Lock

Transfer lock prevents your domain from being moved to a different registrar without your authorization. There are two types: ICANN's mandatory 60-day post-registration lock, and the user-toggled registrar lock. Both affect your ability to move domains quickly.

EPP Code (Auth Code)

An EPP code (Extensible Provisioning Protocol code), also called an auth code or authorisation code, is a password-like string that authorises a domain transfer between registrars.

ICANN

ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) is the nonprofit that coordinates the global domain name system, accredits registrars, and sets the rules registrars must follow.

ICANN Fee

The ICANN fee is a mandatory $0.18/yr charge added to every gTLD domain registration and renewal. It's non-negotiable every registrar pays it and passes it to you. The cheapest registrar in the world cannot sell a .com for less than $0.18/yr.

Renewal Shock

Renewal shock is the price jump between a domain's first-year promotional rate and its year-2+ renewal price. GoDaddy's .com goes from $0.99 to $21.99 — a 22x increase. Understanding renewal shock is the single most important thing to know before buying a domain.

WHOIS Privacy

WHOIS privacy hides your personal contact details (name, address, email, phone) from the public WHOIS database. Since GDPR in 2018, it's the regulatory floor every registrar should offer it free. GoDaddy and Network Solutions still charge for it.

First-year vs renewal shock calculator operational boundary

A working definition used while expanding the content depth for domainregistrationcheap.net.

Nameserver

A nameserver is the server that holds the DNS records for your domain. Changing your nameservers points your domain to a different provider's DNS infrastructure and is the most common step after buying a domain.

Subdomain

A subdomain is a prefix added to your primary domain that creates a separate address for a specific function or section. Subdomains are free to create (no registration fee) and are managed through DNS records rather than the domain registrar.

TTL (Time To Live)

TTL (Time To Live) is the value that controls how long DNS resolvers cache your DNS records before checking for updates. Lower TTL = faster propagation when you change records. Higher TTL = reduced DNS query load and faster resolution for visitors.

Registrar vs Registry

A registrar is the company you buy a domain from. A registry is the organisation that operates the authoritative database for a TLD. Understanding the difference explains why .com prices vary between registrars but .uk prices have a floor.

Domain Expiry

Domain expiry is the date on which a domain registration lapses if not renewed. Letting a domain expire has serious consequences from website downtime to losing the domain permanently. Understanding the expiry timeline helps prevent accidental loss.

Renewal vs Registration Price

Registration price is what you pay in year one. Renewal price is what you pay every year after often 2–4× higher. This is the domain pricing trap that catches most buyers, and the reason cheap first-year deals are often expensive long-term.