When you choose a domain name, you also choose the registrar with whom you want to register your domain. What to look out for:
1. The registrar should be accredited by the relevant authorities, such as ICANN (for international domains) or the national domain administrator (for example, for the .pl domain).
2. Read other users’ reviews and registrar rankings. Reliable companies usually have a good reputation and a long track record on the market.
3. For business websites, choose .com or country-code domains such as .pl/.com.pl, .de, .ua/.com.ua, .ca, etc. Companies operating in the European Union often also choose the .eu zone.
Further criteria are the registration price and the renewal price for the next year.
In Poland, almost every registrar offers discounts of up to 90% in the first year. This is a very good price. It is also worth paying attention to the renewal price for the following year, which is published but often hidden deep within the registrar’s website. The cost differs for each registrar and can be unexpectedly high.
This can be illustrated with a concrete example. Let’s take the first five registrars Google shows for the keyword “domena” plus a Ukrainian registrar:
- domena.pl
- ovhcloud.com
- nazwa.pl
- home.pl
- lh.pl
- ukraine.com.ua
Let’s imagine we want to register the name super-biznes; we go to the first registrar and check availability in the domain zones we’re interested in:
- super-biznes.com – taken
- super-biznes.pl – available
- super-biznes.eu – available
Polish registrars usually display net prices, so after payment the final price will be increased by 23% VAT.
Comparative table of domain registration and renewal costs (PLN, gross)
| Registrar | .com | .pl | .eu | |||
| registration | second year | registration | second year | registration | second year | |
| domena.pl | 61,49 | 158,67 | 9,83 | 158,67 | 36,89 | 158,67 |
| ovhcloud.com | 54,72 | 71,7 | 12,16 | 72,56 | 43,65 | 50,05 |
| nazwa.pl | 49,2 | 246 | 6,15 | 246 | 6,15 | 246 |
| home.pl | 56,58 | 196,8 | 6,14 | 202,95 | 29,52 | 196,8 |
| lh.pl | 60,27 | 158,67 | 11,07 | 158,67 | 3,69 | 158,67 |
| ukraine.com.ua | 59,42 | 59,42 | – | – | – | – |
As the table shows, .com domains are cheapest to register with ukraine.com.ua or ovhcloud.com. .pl domains — with ovhcloud.com. .eu domains — lh.pl has a very attractive registration price, but in the longer term ovhcloud.com is more cost-effective.
You can also use the domain transfer option. Register the domain with one registrar, and a month before the renewal period transfer it to a more cost-effective registrar. In addition, the transfer fee may be lower or even free.
All ICANN-accredited registrars should allow you to retrieve your domain smoothly and transfer it to another registrar. To do this, contact your current registrar and request a transfer code — the Auth-Code. For the .eu zone, you can generate the Auth-Code yourself on eurid.eu.