Registry price changes hit renewals: how to find your exposure across a domain portfolio

On 6 October 2026 at 17:00 UTC, the Identity Digital registry changes the wholesale price of more than 200 TLDs. Any domain in an affected TLD that is registered, renewed or transferred from that moment uses the new price.

If you hold a portfolio, start with the affected TLDs. Then find which of your domains renew soon, and what they will cost when they do.

The checklist below links each affected extension to its AiVikings page, so you can go from the announcement to the domains and prices that matter to you.

Why this keeps happening in October

This is the third October in a row. In 2024 the same registry raised prices on 216 TLDs on 4 October, according to DomainNameWire. In 2025 it did it again on 6 October, with registrars counting 231 to 233 extensions, and DomainNameWire reported a median increase of 12 percent. Now it is 2026.

I think of it as the landlord's rent review. You do not choose the date, and you do not choose the number. But you can read the lease before the letter arrives. For a portfolio, reading the lease means knowing which names renew when, and what each renewal costs. (A spreadsheet is not the most exciting lease, I will admit.)

Two things are easy to forget:

• The change is at wholesale level. What you pay depends on your registrar's margin on top, so the retail change can be smaller or larger than the registry change.
• Promotions on new registrations normally stay in place for the length of the promotion. It is the renewal price that moves, and the renewal price is the one that lasts.

Which TLDs have price changes?

The following 227 extensions appear in the published 6 October 2026 price-change notice checked on 5 October. This is a checklist of affected extensions, not a list of identical increases: some prices can fall, and premium domains need their own quote.

Open a group below and select a TLD to see its AiVikings page. Those pages show our current prices; they are not a promise of a future renewal rate. Confirm the price for your exact domain before paying, especially around the changeover.

To turn this list into a renewal budget, follow the exposure-report steps below. The full TLD price list also lets you compare extensions in one place.

Build the exposure report

You need one table with one row per domain. These are the columns:

1. Domain
2. TLD
3. Registry operator (look the TLD up in the IANA root zone database)
4. Expiry date
5. Current renewal price
6. New renewal price
7. Difference
8. Renews within the next 12 months (yes or no)

Columns 1 to 4 come from an export of your registrar account. Columns 5 to 7 come from your registrar's price list or its notice about the change. Filter on the TLDs that appear in the notice, sort by expiry date, and you are done. The rest is judgment.

Here is a hypothetical example, so you can see the shape. Say you hold 300 names. Ninety of them sit in affected TLDs, and 25 of those renew in the next 90 days. Those 25 are your list this week. The other 65 are calendar entries.

Three questions for every name on the list

Do I want this name next year? If the answer is no, the price change does not matter. Let it go on purpose, and not by accident. Our guide to reviewing renewals before you authorize a batch shows how.

Does it renew before or after the change? If it renews before, you may be able to renew at the current price. If it renews after, check the new price for that exact name, and check whether it is a premium name, because premium names are priced separately.

Would a longer term help? Some registrars let you renew for several years at today's price. In 2025 coverage said up to ten years was possible before the increase. Check your own registrar, because the maximum term differs. A longer term also ties up cash, so this is a cash-flow decision and not a prediction about the name.

This is operations, not investment advice. I am not telling you which names are worth keeping. I am telling you to decide on purpose.

After the change

Export the portfolio again a week later and compare it with the first report. Prices do not only go up: DomainNameWire reported that a couple of extensions got cheaper in 2025. Then put next October in your calendar now, because this will most likely come around again. For a wider view of how to organize all of this, read the portfolio management guide and the post on registration price versus renewal cost.

AiVikings.ai publishes register, renew and transfer prices per TLD on the prices page, with the date it was last updated. Check the TLDs you hold there instead of trusting a blog post, including this one. If you want to see a whole-portfolio renewal in action, there is a renewal walkthrough, and the page for domain investors explains the rest.

Sources and further reading

• IANA root zone database: identify the registry behind a TLD
• DomainNameWire, 2025 coverage of the October increase
• DomainNameWire, 2024 coverage of the October increase

If I have missed a TLD you care about, tell me in the chat on the website.

/Thomas