# Should I choose .com, .net or .org for my website?

> .com vs .net vs .org: .com ($11.99/year) for a business, .org for nonprofits, .net only as a fallback. 5-year costs, registry rules, no KYC, crypto.

- URL: https://dotalmanac.com/com-vs-net-vs-org/
- Last updated: 2026-10-29
- Publisher: DotAlmanac (https://dotalmanac.com)

All three date from 1985, are open to anyone and cost within a few dollars of each other. The choice is about what the ending tells people.

**Quick answer — Which is better: .com, .net or .org?**

**.com vs .net vs .org**: choose .com for a business, .org for a nonprofit, open-source project or community, and .net only as a fallback when the .com is gone. DotAlmanac's prices on 29 October 2026: .com $11.99/year, .net $12.99/year, and .org $9.49/year for year one, then $11.99/year. All three register with no KYC.

## Key facts

| Attribute | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Registries | .com and .net: Verisign · .org: Public Interest Registry (PIR) |
| Who can register | Anyone, for all three; .org has no nonprofit check |
| Contact data held by the registry | .com and .net: none (thin registries) · .org: under PIR's own rules |

## How do .com, .net and .org compare side by side?

|  | .com | .net | .org |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| First year at DotAlmanac | $11.99/year | $12.99/year | $9.49/year |
| Renewal | $11.99/year | $12.99/year | $11.99/year |
| Cost over 5 years (as of 29 October 2026) | $11.99 + 4 × $11.99 = $59.95 | $12.99 + 4 × $12.99 = $64.95 | $9.49 + 4 × $11.99 = $57.45 |
| Registry | Verisign | Verisign | Public Interest Registry |
| Registry fee, before the $0.20 ICANN fee | $10.26; $10.97 from 1 Nov 2026 | $10.91; $12.00 from 1 Mar 2027 | $11.00 since 1 Jun 2026 |
| Who can register | Anyone | Anyone | Anyone, with no status check |
| WHOIS privacy | Allowed; free here | Allowed; free here | Allowed; free here |
| Longest term | 10 years | 10 years | 10 years |
| How people read it | Any business; the default | Networks, hosting, infrastructure; a .com fallback | Nonprofits, open source, communities |
| Main risk | Good names are taken | Reads as a second choice; fee rise in 2027 | Renewal +26 % after year one |

*Last checked on October 29, 2026; older figures carry their own date.*

Registry fees come from the Verisign and PIR price announcements listed under Sources.

## Which should you choose: .com, .net or .org?

Choose .com unless your project is a nonprofit or a community, in which case .org says it better. Keep .net for a name whose .com is gone, ideally for a network, hosting or infrastructure service. The three cost within a few dollars of each other, so price should not decide.

DotAlmanac is a domain extension guide and registrar: compare every extension, then register it with no KYC and pay in crypto. The figures on this page come from our [price list](https://dotalmanac.com/pricing/ "How much does a domain name cost per year?") and from the registries' own announcements.

## Is a .org domain only for nonprofits?

No. Anyone can register a .org, and no registrar checks charity or nonprofit status. Public Interest Registry runs the extension with no eligibility rule. Companies use .org for foundations, open-source projects, standards groups and community sites.

The limit is perception, not law. A visitor expects a .org to serve a cause rather than to sell. A shop on .org blurs that signal, while an open-source library on .org fits it well.

## Why is .org cheaper the first year and more expensive after?

The first-year .org price is a promotion; the renewal follows the registry fee. PIR has charged registrars $11.00 per .org since 1 June 2026, up from $9.93. DotAlmanac sells the first year at $9.49/year and renews at $11.99/year.

According to DotAlmanac's price grid, .org renews 26 % above its first-year price as of 29 October 2026. That is the fourth-largest gap among the 43 extensions we sell in the customer's name. .com and .net renew at their first-year price. Even so, .org stays the least expensive of the three over 5 years at our prices, as the table above shows.

## Why does .net cost more than .com?

Verisign runs both but charges registrars more for .net. Its .net fee is $10.91 and rises to $12.00 on 1 March 2027. Its .com fee is $10.26 and rises to $10.97 on 1 November 2026. Each registrar adds the $0.20 ICANN fee on top.

At DotAlmanac, .net costs $12.99/year and .com $11.99/year as of 29 October 2026. A renewal paid before 1 March 2027 is charged at the price shown on the day you pay. Renewing several years ahead pays each of those years at that price, up to 10 years in total. See [should you register a domain for 10 years](https://dotalmanac.com/should-you-register-a-domain-for-10-years/ "Should I register my domain for 10 years?").

## What does each registry store about you?

For .com and .net, nothing: Verisign runs thin registries that receive no contact data from the registrant. Your details stay with the registrar. For .org, what Public Interest Registry holds follows its own rules.

All three allow WHOIS privacy, and it is free at DotAlmanac. We collect one contact detail: an email address for each domain, verified as ICANN requires and kept private. Domain protection is an option billed +$29 for each domain every year, in addition to the domain. It puts DomaineGoat LLC in the registrant record instead of you. Read [what Domain protection is](https://dotalmanac.com/what-is-domain-protection/ "What is domain protection, and do I need it?").

## Which one fits your project?

| Project | Pick | Reason |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Online store or SaaS | .com | Buyers type it by default, and its renewal does not jump |
| Charity, NGO or foundation | .org | Says nonprofit at a glance; add the .com as a redirect if it is free |
| Open-source project | .org | Fits community work; .dev is the other option, see [.app vs .dev](https://dotalmanac.com/app-vs-dev/ "Should I use .app or .dev for my project?") |
| Hosting, ISP or network tool | .com, or .net if the .com is taken | .net reads as infrastructure |
| Personal site or blog | .com | Yourname.com is the easiest address to remember |
| Club or local association | .org | Signals a group, not a shop |

## Should you register all three?

Only for an established brand that people search by name. For a new project, one well-chosen extension is enough, and the money is better spent keeping that one renewed. If you hold several, point the extra ones to the main site: free URL forwarding and email forwarding from the client area.

DotAlmanac's count of the IANA root zone shows 1,436 top-level domains on 29 October 2026. For most brands, .com plus one extension that fits the project is the sensible limit.

## Where are .com, .net and .org cheaper than at DotAlmanac?

Porkbun and Cloudflare charge less on all three, according to their October 2026 price lists. OrangeWebsite charges more on all three. We print our renewal next to each first-year price, take crypto and ask for no ID. Price is not our argument on these three.

## What do other registrars charge for .com, .net and .org?

Yearly prices, first year / renewal, copied from each public price list on the date given.

| Registrar (date read) | .com | .net | .org |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| DotAlmanac (29 Oct 2026) | $11.99 / $11.99 | $12.99 / $12.99 | $9.49 / $11.99 |
| Porkbun (19 Oct 2026) | $11.08 / $11.08 | $12.52 / $12.52 | $7.98 / $11.84 |
| Cloudflare Registrar (8 Oct 2026) | $10.46 / $10.46 | $11.86 / $11.86 | $8.50 / $11.20 |
| OrangeWebsite (19 Oct 2026) | €18.90 a year | €22.00 a year | €26.90 a year |

*Last checked on October 19, 2026; older figures carry their own date.*

Cloudflare sells at registry cost. OrangeWebsite lists one yearly price, in euros.

## .com vs .net vs .org: FAQ

### Does .com rank better on Google than .net or .org?

No. Google states that its systems treat generic extensions alike, naming .com and .org as examples. The content and links of a site decide its rankings, not its ending.

### Can a for-profit company use a .org domain?

Yes. .org has no eligibility check, so any company can register one. Use it for a foundation, an open-source project or a community arm; for the main commercial site, .com reads better.

### Is .net still worth buying in 2026?

Yes, when the .com of your name is taken and the service is technical: hosting, networking or an API. Note Verisign's .net fee rise to $12.00 on 1 March 2027 before you plan long renewals.

### Which of the three costs least over 5 years at DotAlmanac?

.org: $9.49 + 4 × $11.99 = $57.45, as of 29 October 2026. .com comes second and .net third; the full sums are in the side-by-side table.

### Can I pay for a .com, .net or .org in crypto?

Yes, with BTC, USDT, USDC, ETH, SOL, LTC, XMR. Your DotAlmanac balance takes top-ups from $1; registrations and renewals are then paid from it. Send exactly the amount displayed, on the network named at checkout, and wait for that network to confirm it.

## Sources

1. [Delegation record for .COM](https://www.iana.org/domains/root/db/com.html) — IANA (checked 2026-10-29)
2. [Delegation record for .NET](https://www.iana.org/domains/root/db/net.html) — IANA (checked 2026-10-29)
3. [Delegation record for .ORG](https://www.iana.org/domains/root/db/org.html) — IANA (checked 2026-10-29)
4. [List of top-level domains, version 2026102900](https://data.iana.org/TLD/tlds-alpha-by-domain.txt) — IANA (checked 2026-10-29)
5. [Verisign .com price update 2026](https://osir.com/en/blog/verisign-com-price-update-2026/) — osir.com (checked 2026-10-29)
6. [Verisign announces .net price increase](https://domainnamewire.com/2026/08/27/verisign-announces-net-price-increase/) — Domain Name Wire (27 August 2026)
7. [.org prices to increase on June 1](https://domainnamewire.com/2026/03/12/org-prices-to-increase-on-june-1/) — Domain Name Wire (12 March 2026)
8. [Google's handling of new top level domains](https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2015/07/googles-handling-of-new-top-level) — Google Search Central (21 July 2015)
9. [Domain pricing](https://porkbun.com/products/domains) — Porkbun (checked 2026-10-19)
10. [Cloudflare domain pricing](https://cfdomainpricing.com/) — cfdomainpricing.com (checked 2026-10-08)
11. [Domain price list](https://www.orangewebsite.com/domains/domain-price-list) — OrangeWebsite (checked 2026-10-19)

**Find out which of the three is still free** Search your name in .com, .net and .org at once. Our price list shows each renewal next to the first-year price. [Search a domain](https://dotalmanac.com/app/domains/?lang=en) · [See all prices](https://dotalmanac.com/pricing/ "How much does a domain name cost per year?")

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DotAlmanac: DotAlmanac is a domain extension guide and registrar: compare every extension, then register it with no KYC and pay in crypto. A .com costs $11.99/year.