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A free domain with hosting: four things to check before you claim one

By the Hosting & Domains team Published 27 July 2026 6 min read

Bundling a free first-year name with hosting is among the trade's longest-running offers, and Hosting & Domains makes it on annual plans too. The economics are simple: registering a .com costs the host a wholesale fee, and covering that fee is a tidy way to buy a year of your business. What varies between hosts is the small print around the offer, and the distance between a fair version and a predatory one repays five minutes of reading.

Four questions separate the two. Here they are, with the answers any host ought to give you before you attach your brand to a bundled name.

Question 1: what is the year-two price?

The familiar pattern is a free first year and then a renewal of $19.99-24.99, roughly twice what a .com is worth. The name quietly becomes the profit centre funding the giveaway. Find that figure before you claim, not after. You will find it on the domain pricing page, if the host prints one.

For comparison, a fair .com renewal in 2026 runs $10-14. Our domain pricing prints the renewal right next to the first-year rate for every ending we carry. Keeping them side by side is the policy.

Question 2: whose name does the record carry?

The registrant on the WHOIS record has to be you, either personally or as your company, and never the host. Reputable providers get this right almost without exception, but the old horror stories of hosts registering bundled names under their own are why the check survives. Thirty seconds with a WHOIS lookup after registration settles it for good.

Related small print: WHOIS privacy. Some hosts include it at no cost, which is the right call given registries charge pennies for it. Others sell it back at $10-15/yr. Go without and your name, email address and postal address sit on a public record, which is a spam magnet at the very least.

Question 3: what does leaving involve?

Names are built to be portable, and ICANN rules protect your right to move one after the first 60 days. What to check is whether the host charges a transfer-out fee, which it should not. The normal arrangement is that transferring in costs a year's renewal at the receiving registrar and the departing host charges nothing. Check as well whether the auth code is one click in your panel or a support ticket routed through a retention pitch.

If you do move, the order runs: unlock the name, take the EPP/auth code, begin the transfer at the receiving registrar, approve the confirmation email. The transfer walkthrough in our Learning Hub takes each step in turn.

Question 4: what happens if you drop the hosting?

The name came free with the hosting, so where does it stand once the hosting stops? The plain answer is that it stays yours for the term already paid and renews at the standard rate whether or not a plan sits behind it. The clause to watch for is bundle wording under which cancelling inside the first year takes the cost of the "free" name out of your refund. That is not unfair in itself, since the host really did pay the registry, but it belongs in writing rather than inside a refund figure that arrives as a surprise.

Our own terms take the deliberately boring position. The name is registered to you, renewals follow the published flat rate, and if you take a hosting refund while keeping the name, we deduct only what the registry actually charged. All of it is on the refund policy page in ordinary sentences.

Quick answers

Is a bundled free domain genuinely free?

The first year is, at any reputable host. The second year is the part to price: a fair .com renews at $10-14, while a predatory bundle asks $20 or more. Check whether WHOIS privacy is billed separately, and whether transferring away is free and self-service.

If I cancel the hosting, do I keep the free domain?

With an honest host, yes. The registration is in your name and renews at the standard rate. The one thing to confirm is whether a refund inside the money-back window subtracts the registry cost of the name. That clause is common and fair, but it ought to be printed rather than sprung.

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