A domain registrar is the company you pay to register a domain name and keep it renewed. Namecheap, GoDaddy, Porkbun and Cloudflare Registrar are common examples. The registrar does not own the name or the ending; it files your registration with the organisation that runs that ending and gives you a control panel to manage it.
Registry, registrar and reseller
Every top-level domain has one registry that keeps the master list of names: Verisign runs .com, for example. Registries do not sell to the public. Instead, registrars accredited by ICANN (for generic endings like .com) or by a country's registry (for endings like .ca or .de) sell registrations and pass them through. Many web hosts and site builders are resellers sitting on top of a registrar, which is why a domain bought "through your host" may actually live at a company you have never heard of.
What the registrar controls for you
- Your contact details on the registration, which feed the WHOIS and RDAP lookups.
- Which nameservers the domain uses, the setting that decides who answers DNS questions for it.
- Renewal, auto-renew and expiry handling.
- Transfer locks and the authorisation code (often called an EPP code) needed to move the domain elsewhere.
- Extras such as privacy masking and domain forwarding.
Example: moving a domain to a new registrar
A café owner wants all their accounts in one place. At the old registrar they unlock the domain and request the authorisation code. At the new registrar they start a transfer and paste the code. For most generic endings, the transfer adds a year to the registration and the site keeps working throughout, because the nameserver setting moves across unchanged. Note that a freshly registered or recently transferred name is often locked against another transfer for 60 days.
When the choice of registrar matters
For a small business, the registrar is mostly a place to renew from. What matters is a fair renewal price, free WHOIS privacy, two-factor login, and a clear transfer-out process. A registrar that makes leaving difficult or upsells hard at every click is worth moving away from.
Common registrar mistakes
- Confusing the registrar with the host. Cancelling a hosting plan does not cancel the domain, and the reverse is also true.
- Using an old email on the account. Renewal warnings and transfer approvals go to that address. If nobody reads it, the domain can lapse.
- No two-factor authentication. A stolen registrar login lets an attacker repoint your site and email.
- Buying add-ons you do not need. Paid "SEO boosts" or listing services sold at checkout rarely do anything useful.
Related terms
- Domain name: the thing a registrar registers on your behalf.
- Nameservers: set at the registrar to hand DNS to a provider.
- WHOIS: the public lookup fed by registrar records.
- Domain parking: what many registrars show on names with no site yet.