Porkbun
Retail + promos
All registrars / Porkbun vs Cloudflare Registrar
Porkbun vs Cloudflare Registrar
Porkbun vs Cloudflare Registrar: which is better? Cloudflare Registrar wins long-term: at-cost renewals beat Porkbun on all 8 popular TLDs (checked 2026-10-19). Porkbun counters with first-year promos and free WHOIS, though Cloudflare Registrar only works on its own nameservers.
Head-to-head price comparison
First-year / renewal / transfer, USD, straight from each registrar’s price feed. The cheaper side on each metric is highlighted. Prices checked 2026-10-19 — read the renewal column, not the promo.
| TLD | Porkbun 1st yr | Porkbun renew | Porkbun transfer | Cloudflare Registrar 1st yr | Cloudflare Registrar renew | Cloudflare Registrar transfer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| .com | $11.08 | $11.08 | $11.08 | $10.46 | $10.46 | — |
| .ai | $82.70 | $82.70 | $165.09 | $80.00 | $80.00 | — |
| .io | $28.12 | $51.80 | $51.80 | $32.00 | $50.00 | — |
| .co | $15.76 | $31.20 | $31.20 | $30.00 | $30.00 | — |
| .net | $12.52 | $12.52 | $12.52 | $11.86 | $11.86 | — |
| .org | $7.98 | $11.84 | $11.84 | $8.50 | $11.20 | — |
| .dev | $8.75 | $12.87 | $12.87 | $8.20 | $12.20 | — |
| .app | $8.75 | $14.93 | $14.93 | $8.20 | $14.20 | — |
Where a transfer shows “—”, that registrar quotes no separate transfer price in its feed (wholesale registrars transfer at cost). Every price above is dated 2026-10-19. See where to buy each on its .com, .ai, .io, .co guide.
How they differ
Structural differences that outlast today’s price — traced to the price feed or a cited registrar fact.
| Porkbun | Cloudflare Registrar | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Retail + promos | At-cost / wholesale |
| TLDs in feed | 639 | 430 |
| Cheapest we track | $1.00 (.pr) | At-cost, no promos |
| Renewal traps flagged | 330 | None (at-cost) |
| Free WHOIS privacy | Yes | Yes |
| Nameserver lock-in | No | Yes — own nameservers only |
| ICANN / IANA ID | #1861 | — |
Pros & cons
Porkbun — pros
- Free WHOIS privacy on every domain, for the life of the registration — never an upcharge
- One of the widest retail catalogs we track, with transparent published pricing
- No forced bundling — the price you see in their feed is the price you pay
Porkbun — cons
- Aggressive first-year promos on some TLDs snap back to much higher renewals — read the renewal column, not the promo
- Referral/affiliate program was discontinued in 2026, so third-party discount codes have dried up
Cloudflare Registrar — pros
- Sells at wholesale registry cost with no retail markup — registration and renewal are the same number every year
- No first-year gimmicks and no renewal trap by design
- Free WHOIS privacy included
Cloudflare Registrar — cons
- You must use Cloudflare’s nameservers — it is a registrar for domains you run on Cloudflare, not a standalone one
- No first-year discounts, so a promo elsewhere can beat it in year one
- Narrower TLD catalog than a full retail registrar, and it does not sell every extension
Which should you pick?
Pick Porkbun if
- you want a first-year promo — it holds the cheaper opening price on 3 of the 8 popular TLDs we track.
- free WHOIS privacy on every domain matters to you.
Pick Cloudflare Registrar if
- you want at-cost renewals with no markup and no renewal trap, ever.
- free WHOIS privacy on every domain matters to you.
Buy or read the full review
Prices change; check the live price for your exact name before you buy. Some links may earn us a commission — it never changes what we compare.
Read the full Porkbun review or Cloudflare Registrar review, compare every registrar on any TLD page, or see the cross-registrar Renewal-Trap Index. tld.expert is an independent editorial reference — not a registrar, so it sells nothing and ranks nobody by payout.