So I found a domain I am interested in for a website idea I have. Normally, I wouldn't spend more than $20 a year on a domain with a renewal being under $50.

This one however is much higher. For the first year it would be $35 but the second year and beyond, it would be $96. I am not sure if I want to spend that much a year on a domain I may not even end up sticking with.

The most I have ever personally spent was $200 a year. Yes, that is a lot and more than most are willing to spend but it was a domain I had already had for years and the value of it was going up every few years. I eventually let it go and wish I hadn't as it ended up selling for $5,900 in 2019. I let it go in 2014.

I wouldn't spend more than $50 a year. I like to keep everything I do online under $500 a year and if I am spending a lot on domains, that eats away at costs for things like servers, plugins, and things of that nature.

It depends. It depends on the project I have in mind. If it is for earnings or fun. How long I intend on keeping the domain. I tend to spend around $20 max but I never want to go overboard spending tons of money on different domains every year so I try to keep most of them under the $10 mark. Many of the domains I have cost me just $5 a year.

It depends on if it is going to generate revenue or not. If it won't be, then I stick to under $10 a year but if I intend on it making revenue, I would go to up to $100 a year.

I have spent more than I would like to admit to lock in a domain but in all reality, this sort of thing doesn't matter as much anymore. If you are building an entire brand around a name, that is one thing but for people just doing blogs, small shops, etc. the URL doesn't need to be perfect.

On 8/21/2026 at 11:45 AM, jonasb23 said:

It depends on if it is going to generate revenue or not. If it won't be, then I stick to under $10 a year but if I intend on it making revenue, I would go to up to $100 a year.

I was going to mention this.

If it is a domain that is just for messing around or for personal use, I don't want to spend a lot. Especially if it is just for testing things like WordPress plugins. I will want to keep those under $3.

On 9/4/2026 at 9:20 AM, Rege92 said:

I was going to mention this.

If it is a domain that is just for messing around or for personal use, I don't want to spend a lot. Especially if it is just for testing things like WordPress plugins. I will want to keep those under $3.

A friend of mine used to buy and flip websites that were already earning revenue. He would tweak them to earn more over the course of say 6 months and then double his money. I think this is part of the reason domains increase in cost over time. More value is placed on certain words that appear to be doing well.

Thanks for all the replies. I meant to come back to the thread sooner.

So I ended up not getting that domain. Someone else actually bought it before I could but I had already decided against it mostly because of the price jump. I don't want to get trapped spending a lot of money each year on one domain.

On 9/8/2026 at 8:49 AM, jonasb23 said:

A friend of mine used to buy and flip websites that were already earning revenue. He would tweak them to earn more over the course of say 6 months and then double his money. I think this is part of the reason domains increase in cost over time. More value is placed on certain words that appear to be doing well.

It plays into it but it isn't the full picture. There is more that goes into the value going up. Some of the inflation for domains is manufactured and not even real.