Register a domain without a contractPrepaid: no term trap, no cancellation, no teaser price

Published on October 20, 2026

What "without a contract" means for domains

With many providers, the domain is part of a contract: it renews itself every year, is billed by direct debit or credit card and must be cancelled in good time if you want to get rid of it. Anyone who misses the deadline pays for another year.

With us, it works the other way round. You top up a balance on your customer account and pay for the domain from it - for one year. After that, you decide yourself whether to renew. There is:

• no minimum term beyond the paid year,
• no notice period - if you do not renew, you are out,
• no charge without your involvement and therefore no reminders of unpaid invoices,
• no setup fee and no surcharge for DNS or subdomains.

The domain belongs to you: you are entered as the owner, not us. What that means legally is explained in Domain owner & Admin-C.

All extensions and annual prices

The price in the table applies per year and is also the renewal price. If a discount campaign is running, it is shown as a strikethrough price and applies to the first year. The button takes you directly into the order process, with the extension already preselected.

Which extension suits your project is covered in detail in .de or .com. No name yet? Then Find the right domain name helps.

Why the price in the second year counts

Many providers advertise an introductory price of around one euro for the first year. From the second year, the regular price applies, often around twelve euros for .de. Because domains usually run for years, the renewal price is the real cost factor.

With us, there is no such jump. The annual price shown is also the price for every renewal. Calculated over three years, a .de domain is therefore cheaper than a typical teaser offer - the calculation is on the domains page. More on registry fees and additional costs is explained in What does a domain cost?.

How ordering works

1. Check availability. Enter your preferred name in the search field on the domains page. The check runs immediately, and if the name is free, you can continue straight away.
2. Create a customer account. The domain is reserved in the process. After registration, you enter the owner details.
3. Top up your balance. Via PayPal, bank transfer, credit card, Google Pay, Apple Pay or Paysafecard - the conditions are listed under Payment methods.
4. Complete the order. The annual price is deducted from the balance; activation is automated. As a rule, you can set up the domain after around 300 seconds.

Already have the domain somewhere else? Then transferring it to us is free - all you need is the auth code from your previous provider. How that works is shown in Transfer a domain.

What happens if you do not renew

Without a contract, there is no cancellation either: you simply do not renew. So that this does not happen by accident, we send you an email reminder 30, 14, 7, 3 and one day before the renewal date. Renewal takes one click in the web interface, paid from the balance.

If you let the date pass, the domain is released. Depending on the extension, the registry then applies a grace period followed by the redemption period, during which restoration is only possible for a much higher fee. After that, anyone can register the name again.

If you do not want to deal with the date at all, switch on the optional automatic renewal via PayPal for the domain. It is not a binding contract and can be ended at any time in the customer interface or in your PayPal account. Without activation, nothing renews by itself.

What the annual price includes

"Without a contract" does not mean "without service". Every domain comes with:

• 4 redundant nameservers - if one fails, the others answer.
• DNS management in the web interface with A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, TXT, PTR and SRV - explained in DNS records explained.
• Unlimited subdomains at no extra cost.
• Management of the owner details by yourself.

A domain does not need hosting. You can register it on its own to secure a name, point it to your own server or add web hosting later - which also runs prepaid.

Frequently asked questions