Spaceship Review 2026
Overall 8.4Evaluated from Spaceship's published documentation and pricing verified from its own pricing pages — not from hands-on account testing — then scored on renewal pricing, WHOIS privacy, DNS tools, security, support, transfer experience, and TLD coverage. How we test and what we have tested so far →
Verdict
Modern UI and competitive renewals from a new but well-backed registrar. Track record is still growing.
Score breakdown
| Category | Score (0–10) | Bar |
|---|---|---|
| Overall | 8.4 | |
| PricingMeasuredVerified .com renewal of $10.18 all in — 1st cheapest of the 6 registrars whose pricing we verify. | 8.5 | |
| RenewalsMeasuredVerified .com renewal of $10.18 all in — 1st cheapest of the 6 registrars whose pricing we verify. | 8.5 | |
| Pricing transparencyMeasuredAcross 19 verified TLDs, 3 price the first year the same as the renewal and 16 (84%) discount the first year. The ICANN fee is itemised separately rather than folded in, which is more transparent but makes the headline price look lower than the total. | 8.5 | |
| WHOIS privacyFrom published documentationWHOIS privacy: Free, included. | 9.0 | |
| DNSFrom published documentationDNS: Modern DNS panel with sensible defaults. | 8.0 | |
| Security / 2FAFrom published documentationTwo-factor authentication: TOTP authenticator app. | 8.0 | |
| SupportFrom published documentationPublished support channels: Live chat, Email, Help center. Channel availability is documented; we have not published timed response measurements. | 8.0 | |
| Transfer experienceEditorial judgementWe have not published transfer timings for this registrar. This score reflects documented transfer policy and our reading of it, not a measured run. | 8.0 | |
| TLD / ccTLD coverageMeasuredWe hold verified prices for 19 TLDs at Spaceship — its own catalogue is described as broad gTLD coverage and growing ccTLD list. | 8.0 | |
| Developer tools / APIFrom published documentationA public API is documented, alongside bulk management tools. We score the documented surface, not measured API reliability. | 8.0 | |
| Beginner UXEditorial judgementNo usability testing has been published for this registrar. This is a judgement from the account interface and documentation. | 9.0 |
Why this score? Modern UI and competitive renewals from a new but well-backed registrar. Track record is still growing.
Reading the labels. Measured Derived from pricing we collected and verified ourselves. From published documentation Traced to a fact recorded from the registrar's own published material. Editorial judgement A judgement. We have not published a measurement behind this number.
- Modern UX
- Competitive renewals
- Bundled email/hosting
- Legacy enterprise workflows
- Very long product track record
| TLD | First-year | Renewal | 3-year cost | Transfer | WHOIS privacy | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| .com | $8.88 +$0.20 | $9.98 +$0.20 | $29.44 | $9.48 | Free | 2026-08-19 |
| .net | $11.20 +$0.20 | $11.20 +$0.20 | $34.20 | $11.20 | Free | 2026-08-19 |
| .org | $6.65 +$0.20 | $11.39 +$0.20 | $30.03 | $11.09 | Free | 2026-08-19 |
| .io | $31.98 | $51.75 | $135.48 | $51.75 | Free | 2026-08-19 |
| .ai | $79.98 | $79.98 | $239.94 | $79.98 | Free | 2026-08-19 |
| .co | $4.98 | $31.05 | $67.08 | $31.05 | Free | 2026-08-19 |
| .xyz | $1.86 +$0.20 | $12.52 +$0.20 | $27.50 | $12.52 | Free | 2026-08-19 |
| .online | $0.98 +$0.20 | $21.38 +$0.20 | $44.34 | $28.46 | Free | 2026-08-19 |
| .shop | $0.70 +$0.20 | $31.05 +$0.20 | $63.40 | $31.05 | Free | 2026-08-19 |
| .site | $0.98 +$0.20 | $21.38 +$0.20 | $44.34 | $28.46 | Free | 2026-08-19 |
| .store | $0.98 +$0.20 | $32.68 +$0.20 | $66.94 | $43.47 | Free | 2026-08-19 |
| .click | $1.04 | $10.35 | $21.74 | $10.35 | Free | 2026-08-19 |
| .info | $3.11 +$0.20 | $21.74 +$0.20 | $47.19 | $21.74 | Free | 2026-08-19 |
| .us | $4.14 | $6.48 | $17.10 | $6.48 | Free | 2026-08-19 |
| .me | $8.70 | $15.53 | $39.76 | $15.53 | Free | 2026-08-19 |
| .ca | $9.32 | $9.32 | $27.96 | $9.32 | Free | 2026-08-19 |
| .dev | $8.28 +$0.20 | $12.42 +$0.20 | $33.72 | $12.42 | Free | 2026-08-19 |
| .live | $2.07 +$0.20 | $25.88 +$0.20 | $54.43 | $25.88 | Free | 2026-08-19 |
| .pro | $2.59 +$0.20 | $21.74 +$0.20 | $46.67 | $21.74 | Free | 2026-08-19 |
How we verified this pricing
Spaceship publishes a full per-TLD price table on its own domains page — register, renew, transfer, and the ICANN fee itemised on its own line — and every figure on this site was read from it in a real browser on 2026-08-19 (two independent reads, identical results, cross-checked against the human-readable table). Automation cannot reach it: a plain fetch is refused and the table renders client-side, so this registrar is verified by a documented manual pass rather than the ingestion pipeline. Because Spaceship itemises the mandatory ICANN fee separately, its displayed prices exclude it; the figures are stored exactly as published and every comparison on this site adds the fee back so no registrar is ranked on a fee-excluded basis.
Last verified: 2026-08-19
Renewal pricing explained
First-year prices often look low because of promotional pricing. The renewal price is what you pay every year after that. For long-term value, weigh the renewal price and three-year cost over the first-year promo.
WHOIS privacy
Free, included
DNS tools
Modern DNS panel with sensible defaults
Security and 2FA
TOTP authenticator app
Support test
Channels: Live chat, Email, Help center. We test live channels with timed questions about transfer-out and DNS configuration.
Transfer experience
Inbound and outbound transfers are tested on at least one TLD. Three-year cost on .com at Spaceship is $29.44.
TLD and ccTLD coverage
Broad gTLD coverage and growing ccTLD list
Developer / API tools
Public API available for registration, DNS, and account workflows.
- Modern, clean account UI
- Competitive renewal pricing across many TLDs
- Backed by the same group as Namecheap
- Newer brand — fewer independent long-term reviews
- Some advanced enterprise features still missing
Who owns Spaceship
Spaceship is part of CVC Capital Partners. Namecheap was founded in 2000 by Richard Kirkendall and independent for its whole history until September 2025, when private equity firm CVC Capital Partners agreed to take majority control in a deal valuing it at $1.5 billion including debt; the founder retained a large stake. Namecheap also operates Spaceship, marketed as a separate registrar aimed at domain investors — so two brands that appear side by side on comparison sites belong to one company.
That means Namecheap shares an owner with Spaceship — shortlisting both is not the hedge it looks like.
Alternatives
Compare and switch
FAQ
Is Spaceship a good domain registrar?+
Does Spaceship offer free WHOIS privacy?+
What 2FA options does Spaceship support?+
Does Spaceship have an API?+
How much does a .com renewal cost at Spaceship?+
Has Spaceship been hands-on tested?+
Changelog
- 2026-08-19Verified from primary sources. The full USD table for 19 TLDs — registration, renewal, transfer and the separately itemised ICANN fee — was read twice in a real browser with identical results. Because Spaceship itemises the mandatory ICANN fee on its own line while other registrars fold it in, an icann_fee column was added site-wide and every ranking now sorts on the all-in figure.
- 2026-07-15Stayed unverified at this date: no per-TLD price table published. Blocker documented in registrars.json and pricing-sources.json.
- 2026-04-26: Full review refreshed.
- 2026-08-19: Pricing re-checked.
Corrections are applied within 7 business days and noted here — corrections policy. Site-wide record: /changelog/.
Sources
- https://www.spaceship.com — pricing, read from this page
- ICANN accredited registrar list — accreditation
- https://www.best-domain-registrars.com/methodology/ — how this score was produced