A domain is your address on the internet — the thing people type to find you. Most registrars treat domain registration like a used-car lot: low advertised prices, then a wall of upsells you didn't ask for at checkout. Porkbun is the exception. It's the registrar I use for my own businesses and recommend to every client. Here's how to buy one there, and what to do after.
Why Porkbun?
There are a hundred domain registrars. They mostly do the same thing. Here's why Porkbun is the one I send people to:
Honest pricing
What you see is what you pay. Most TLDs are $7–15/year, flat. No "first year $0.99 then renews at $34" trickery.
Free WHOIS privacy
Most registrars charge $10–15/year extra to keep your name, address, and phone off public records. Porkbun includes it free, on by default.
No upsell carnival
GoDaddy will try to sell you fourteen things at checkout. Porkbun won't even sell you two. They make it easy to just buy the domain and go.
Real support
Email support that answers within a day, written by humans who know the product. Not a chatbot maze.
1Search for your domain
Head to porkbun.com and type your desired name into the big search box.
Porkbun will show you availability across dozens of TLDs (.com, .net, .design, .co, .studio, .agency, etc.) along with the price for each.
2Pick the right TLD
The TLD is the part after the dot — .com, .net, .design, etc. There are hundreds. You want one of these:
- .com — still the gold standard. Most recognizable, most trusted, usually most expensive (~$11/yr). Get this if you can.
- .co — clean alternative when the .com is taken. Reads as a shortened "company."
- .design / .studio / .agency — great for creative or service businesses. Slightly pricier (~$30–50/yr) but on-brand.
- .net / .org — cheap fallbacks. .org reads as nonprofit; .net reads as 1998.
3Add to cart and pick your term
Click Register next to your chosen domain. Choose how many years to register for (1, 2, 5, or 10).
- 1 year — fine to start. You can always renew or extend later.
- 2+ years — set-it-and-forget-it. Slightly better for SEO (search engines mildly favor longer registrations as a "this isn't a spam site" signal).
Check the cart total — it should match the price you saw on the search page. No surprise jumps.
4Create your account (and turn on 2FA)
Sign up with your email and a strong password. Use a password manager — generate something random, don't reuse a password from another site.
5Check out (and decline the add-ons)
Review your cart. There should be one line item — the domain — plus tax. If anything else snuck in, remove it.
Common add-ons you can decline:
- SSL certificate — you'll get one free with hosting (Let's Encrypt). Don't pay Porkbun for one.
- Email forwarding setup — you can set this up for free in your account dashboard later.
- Premium DNS — Porkbun's standard DNS is fast and free. You don't need premium.
Pay with credit card or PayPal. You'll get a receipt by email — save it.
6Verify ownership
For most TLDs (anything ending in .com, .net, .org, etc.), you'll get a verification email shortly after purchase. Click the link. You typically have 15 days to verify, or the domain gets suspended (you'd get it back, but it's a hassle).
The email comes from Porkbun or from "verification@" with the registrar's name. Don't ignore it as spam.
7Lock in your renewal preferences
Go to Account → Domain Management, click your new domain, and confirm:
- Auto-renew is ON — don't lose your domain to a forgotten renewal. People build whole brands on a domain and then lose it because their card expired.
- WHOIS privacy is ON — should be on by default at Porkbun, but verify.
- Domain lock is ON — prevents unauthorized transfers.
You own a domain. Now what?
A domain by itself doesn't do anything — it's just a reservation. To actually have a website, you need three more things:
- Hosting — where the site files live (a server somewhere)
- A site — the actual content and code people see
- Email at your domain — optional but nice (you@yourdomain.com)
You have two paths from here:
FAQ
How much will a domain actually cost me?
Most common TLDs are $7–15/year. .com is usually around $11. Premium domains (short, common-word, brandable) can run hundreds or thousands. If a domain shows up listed at $5,000, that's a "premium" reseller price — not Porkbun's regular pricing.
What if my domain is taken?
Try variations: add your city ("yournameKC"), your industry ("yournamedesign"), or hyphens. Or pick a different TLD (.co, .design, .studio). Don't pay scalper prices for a "premium" domain unless the exact name is critical to your brand.
Can I move my domain to a different registrar later?
Yes. Domain transfers are a standard process — unlock the domain, get the auth code, request the transfer at the new registrar, approve the email confirmation. Takes 5–7 days. You don't lose anything.
What if I bought the wrong domain?
Most registrars have a brief grace period (~5 days for Porkbun) where you can request a refund. After that, the domain is yours for the registration term. You can let it expire if you don't want it — it'll release back to the public after about 90 days.
Should I buy the .com AND the .net AND the .org?
For most small businesses, no. Just buy the .com. Buying every variation as a "defensive registration" is rarely worth $30+/year per extra TLD. If your brand grows large enough that someone might typosquat you, revisit it then.
Do I need to know how to code to use Porkbun's static hosting?
Some, yes. Static hosting expects HTML files. If you're starting from zero with no coding background, a hosted builder like Squarespace or Wix is friendlier — but more expensive ongoing. Or you can hire someone (like, say, us) to build it once and hand you the keys.