Industry News

Verisign .net Price Increase 2027: $12.00 from March 1

2026-08-28 · OSIR Team

Summary: Verisign has notified OSIR and every other ICANN-accredited registrar that the wholesale fee for a .net registration, renewal, or transfer rises from $10.91 to $12.00 per year on March 1, 2027 at 05:00 UTC. That is a $1.09 increase, or exactly 10%, the maximum the .net registry agreement allows in a single year. The ICANN fee ($0.20 per year) and registrar costs come on top. Anything renewed before the cutover keeps the current rate for the full term, up to 10 years.

What's changing

As an ICANN-accredited registrar, OSIR received the notice directly from Verisign. Sent under Section 5.1(b) (Registration Fees) of the .net Registry-Registrar Agreement, it is short: effective March 1, 2027 at 05:00 UTC, each annual increment of an initial or renewal .net registration, and each transfer of a .net from one registrar to another, costs registrars US $12.00, exclusive of any other fee, including the ICANN Registry-Level Transaction Fee. Across the roughly 12.6 million .net names in the zone, the extra $1.09 per year works out to about $13.7 million a year at the registry level.

Verisign gives at least six months' notice under the agreement, which is why the effective date sits half a year out. Nothing about your existing .net changes before then.

The .net price history, 2005 to 2027

.net has a different regulatory story from .com. It has no price freeze in its history and its contract cap is 10% per year rather than 7%, so it has moved more often and by larger steps. The table consolidates the publicly reported milestones:

Verisign has taken the full 10% every time it has moved the price since 2012. The current agreement runs to June 30, 2029, so two more steps of up to 10% remain possible before it comes up for renewal again. At the maximum, that is roughly $13.20 and then $14.52 - the second of which, oddly, is the exact figure Domain Name Wire projected for 2023 back in 2017, before the five-year pause. Those are contractual ceilings, not a forecast. Verisign announces each change on its own schedule.

.net now costs more than .com at the registry

This is the part most price-increase coverage skips. For most of its life .net was the cheaper of Verisign's two flagships; the 2005 rebid took it to $3.50 while .com sat at $6.00. The 10% cap has since done its work. The .net wholesale fee has sat above .com's since February 2024, .com briefly retakes the lead for four months from November 2026, and the March 2027 step then opens the widest gap yet:

The .com side is covered in our Verisign .com wholesale price 2026 post. Between the two notices, both flagship TLDs move within four months of each other, and if you hold a mixed portfolio, the renewal math below applies to both.

What this means for OSIR customers

Existing terms are untouched. A .net registered or renewed before March 1, 2027, 05:00 UTC is billed at the current wholesale rate for every year purchased, up to the 10-year maximum. Verisign's own notice confirms this is per annual increment, so a 5-year renewal placed in February 2027 is five years at the old fee.

Multi-year renewals are the hedge. Renewing for N years before the cutover locks in the current rate for all N years. Across a portfolio of 100 .net names renewed for 5 years each, that is $545 saved against the new fee, before anyone's markup. This works at every registrar; it also works here.

Our price moves with the registry, and the line items stay visible. OSIR lists .net at $11.39 per year today, plus the $0.20 ICANN fee and payment processing (3%, or $0.30 minimum), all itemized at checkout. On March 1, 2027 the .net figure on our pricing page and the .net extension page will reflect the new wholesale fee. There is no other adjustment hiding in it.

Bulk and programmatic renewals are supported:

• Dashboard: Domains -> select -> Renew
• CLI: osir domain renew <domain> --years N
• API: POST /v1/domains/{name}/renew
• MCP: the renewDomain tool on https://be.osir.com/mcp/http (an AI assistant connected to the OSIR MCP server can list your .net names, quote the renewal, and execute it after you confirm)

Documentation: Renewing your domain.

For a larger portfolio, or if you want the cost delta modelled across your actual renewal calendar, write to support@osir.com or open a ticket with osir support ticket new.

Verisign .net price increase FAQ

When does the .net price increase take effect?

March 1, 2027 at 05:00 UTC. From that moment every new registration year, renewal year, and inter-registrar transfer of a .net domain costs registrars $12.00, up from $10.91.

How much is the .net wholesale price going up?

$1.09 per year, a 10% increase. Ten percent is the maximum single-year increase permitted under the .net registry agreement, and it is the size Verisign has chosen for every .net increase since 2012.

Is .net now more expensive than .com?

At the registry level, yes, apart from a four-month window. .net has been above .com since February 2024 (today $10.91 vs $10.26); .com's own increase to $10.97 on November 1, 2026 briefly puts it ahead. After March 1, 2027 the gap is $1.03 ($12.00 vs $10.97). Retail prices vary by registrar; at OSIR both are shown with the ICANN fee and processing itemized separately.

Can I avoid the increase?

You can defer it for up to 10 years. Renew (or register) your .net before March 1, 2027 for as many years as you want to keep it, up to the 10-year maximum term, and every one of those years is billed at the current rate.

Does the increase affect transfers?

Yes. The $12.00 fee applies to each transfer of a .net from one registrar to another, because a transfer adds a year to the registration. Transferring before the cutover locks in the current fee for that added year.

Will .net prices go up again after 2027?

The current agreement allows increases of up to 10% per year until it expires on June 30, 2029, so two further steps are contractually possible (to roughly $13.20 and $14.52 at most). Verisign has not announced anything beyond March 2027.

OSIR is an ICANN-accredited domain registrar (IANA #4332) operated by OSIR Inc., a Delaware C-Corporation. We build developer-first registrar tooling - CLI, API, and MCP - on top of direct registry EPP integrations.

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