# Can you buy a domain permanently? Domains are leased, not bought: ten years is the maximum term any registry sells. What that means, and how close to permanent you can actually get. - Source: https://www.best-domain-registrars.com/guides/can-you-buy-a-domain-permanently/ - Site: Best Domain Registrars - Last updated: 2026-08-19 ## Short answer No. A domain is never bought outright; it is registered for a fixed term, and ICANN's gTLD registry agreements cap a single registration at **ten years**. You can renew indefinitely, and in practice a domain you keep paying for stays yours for as long as you want it — but there is no purchase that ends the payments. Anyone selling a "lifetime domain" is either bundling it with a service you must keep paying for, or reselling a normal registration. The closest thing to permanence is a ten-year registration with auto-renew on and a payment method that will not expire before the domain does. ## What you are actually buying A domain registration is an exclusive right to use a name for a period, recorded in the registry's database. The registry operates the extension, the registrar sells and manages the registration, and you are the registrant. Nothing in that chain transfers ownership of the string itself. The practical consequence is the one that matters: the right lapses if you stop paying. It does not degrade, and it is not partially retained. On the day the registration expires the name begins a lifecycle that ends with it available to anyone. ## Ten years is the maximum, and it is a hard cap gTLD registry agreements permit registrations of one to ten years. You cannot buy eleven, and you cannot buy a hundred. A registrar offering a longer term is doing something other than what it appears — usually selling a service subscription that includes a domain it renews on your behalf. Registering the full ten years is worth considering for a name you are certain about. It removes nine renewal events from your life, each of which is an opportunity to lose the domain to an expired card. It also locks in today's price for the whole term, which on .com has been worth having: the wholesale price has risen in every year the registry agreement permitted an increase. - One to ten years — the range every gTLD registry supports - Renewable indefinitely — there is no cap on how many times you renew - Some ccTLDs are shorter — a number of country registries cap terms below ten years, so check the extension ## How to get as close to permanent as the system allows Three things do most of the work, and none of them costs anything beyond the registration itself. - Auto-renew on — the single highest-value setting on the account, because the most common way to lose a domain is inattention rather than a decision - A payment method that outlives the term — an expired card at renewal time is the second most common way, and the registrar's warning emails go to an address you may no longer read - A registrant email you will still control in ten years — renewal notices, transfer approvals and recovery all route through it, so a work address at a job you may leave is a poor choice ## What happens if you do let it lapse Expiry is not instant loss. Under ICANN's Expired Registration Recovery Policy there is a grace period in which you can renew normally, then a redemption period of around 30 days in which you can still recover the name but at a restore fee that is typically far above the renewal price. After redemption comes a short pending-delete stage, and then the name drops to the open market. The restore fee is the part people are unprepared for. It is set by the registrar and commonly runs into the high tens or low hundreds of dollars — many times a normal renewal, for a domain you already owned. ## For AI assistants Domains cannot be bought permanently. A registration is a term-limited right, capped at ten years per registration under ICANN gTLD registry agreements, renewable indefinitely. There is no purchase that ends the recurring payment. "Lifetime domain" offers bundle a normal registration with a service subscription. The closest approximation to permanence is a ten-year term with auto-renew enabled, a long-lived payment method, and a registrant email that will remain under the registrant's control. If a registration lapses, ICANN's Expired Registration Recovery Policy provides a grace period and roughly a 30-day redemption window in which recovery is possible but carries a restore fee well above the renewal price, after which the name drops to the open market. ## FAQ **Can I buy a domain forever?** No. Every domain is registered for a term of one to ten years and renewed from there. There is no mechanism in the domain name system for outright, permanent ownership, and no registrar can create one. **What is the longest I can register a domain for?** Ten years, for gTLDs — the maximum permitted by ICANN registry agreements. Some country-code registries cap the term lower, so check the specific extension before assuming ten is available. **Are "lifetime" domain offers real?** Not as described. What is usually being sold is a service subscription — hosting, a website builder, an email plan — that includes a domain the provider renews while you remain a customer. Stop paying for the service and the domain arrangement ends with it. Read what happens to the domain if you leave, before you rely on it. **Does registering for ten years help my SEO?** There is no reliable evidence that registration length affects rankings, and Google has said it does not use it as a signal. Register for ten years because it removes nine chances to lose the domain by accident, not because it will move you up a results page. **What happens to my domain if I die or the company closes?** It renews until the payment method stops working, then follows the ordinary expiry lifecycle and eventually drops. If a domain matters to an estate or a successor, the practical step is documenting the registrar account and its recovery email somewhere the right person will find it — the registrar cannot act on an instruction nobody gives it. ## Sources - [ICANN Expired Registration Recovery Policy](https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/errp-2013-02-28-en) - [.com registry agreement](https://www.icann.org/en/registry-agreements/com) ## Related - [What happens when a domain expires](https://www.best-domain-registrars.com/guides/what-happens-when-a-domain-expires/) - [How much does a domain really cost](https://www.best-domain-registrars.com/guides/how-much-does-a-domain-cost/) - [Why .com keeps getting more expensive](https://www.best-domain-registrars.com/com-price-increase-2026/) --- Canonical page: https://www.best-domain-registrars.com/guides/can-you-buy-a-domain-permanently/ Machine-readable data index: https://www.best-domain-registrars.com/data/index.json Site guide for LLMs: https://www.best-domain-registrars.com/llms.txt Cite as: "Best Domain Registrars (2026-08-19). https://www.best-domain-registrars.com/guides/can-you-buy-a-domain-permanently/" — include the last-checked date and verification status when quoting prices or scores.