If you are looking to buy a domain name for your new website, there are a few different options you can take to make that happen. Often the question, becomes, where can you buy a domain name without hosting.
In this article, we will show you the best places to buy a domain name without hosting, plus some other important information you should know before making the purchase.
Where is the best place to buy a domain name without hosting? Here is a list of 6 industry-leading domain registrars where you can purchase a domain name only, without additional hosting:
- DOMAIN.com
No matter which you decide to use, we recommend starting your search with our FREE domain name generator tool. It will save you countless hours of time and frustration while helping you find a better domain name more quickly.
Each of these companies offers quality domain name registration services without needing to purchase additional hosting. They each have their strengths and we will go through what they offer in more detail in the remainder of this article.
Also, if you need hosting for your website, you may want to consider getting your domain name through the hosting deals we have listed on our NamingGenerator.com home page.
We have offers that will allow you to get your domain name for FREE, plus we are offering some great bonuses when you purchase through one of our affiliate hosting links.
Read the remainder of this article to compare these individual domain registrars and pick the best one for you. Plus, we will answer other related questions.
How Do You Choose Between Different Domain Name Registrars When You Don’t Need Hosting?
Before we go deeper into where you can get a domain name. It’s important you understand what you need to consider when choosing a domain registrar without hosting.
ICAAN Accredited
Make sure your domain registrar is ICAAN-Accredited. Any entity that wants to offer domain name registration for Generic Top-Level Domains or gTLDs needs to be ICANN accredited. This ensures they have the technical, operational, and financial wherewithal to be a registrar business. You can learn more about ICAAN here.
Cost
You will want to make sure that you are getting competitive pricing when choosing a domain name registrar. If you are buying a domain without hosting, you will still need to purchase web hosting to store and serve up your website content. So, make sure you don’t over pay for your domain name. Some registrars may have cheaper pricing on certain extensions and be more expensive on others. So, it’s important you keep an eye on cost.
Duration Options
You will also want to make sure you find a registrar that offers flexible duration terms. So, you can pick what works best for you and your business. Sometimes you can get different pricing based on the length of time you purchase your domain for, so make sure you look at that as well.
Included FREE Services vs Add on Fees
Each of these domain registrars is going to do what they are intended to do, meaning secure your domain for you and forward it to your desired website location. But some will include standard services in their cost while others may charge additional fees. So, make sure you read the terms and understand what you are getting.
For instance, some will charge for privacy which means your name and contact number will be hidden, some include it free. Some may include and SSL with the domain, others might charge an add on fee. Neither is necessarily better than the other, just make sure you understand what you are looking for and what you are getting.
Domain Portability – How easy is it to transfer your domain
Understand how each domain registrar handles domain transfers. Do they make it easy, is it free or do they charge? Something to keep in mind before choosing your domain registrar.
User Interface
Most Domain Registrars make their interface easy to use, but some are better than others. So, make sure you take this into account if it’s important to you. Now in reality if you only registrar your domain with these companies and host them elsewhere, you probably won’t be in your domain registrar’s website often, once you set up your site.
History & Track Record
Considering domain registrars have been around a long time, you really are better off considering industry leaders with a long track record of success and reliability. So, make sure you take this into account when picking a company.
Ok, let’s keep these criteria in mind as we look at the different Domain Registrars listed above in more detail.
6 Best Domain Registrars To Buy A Domain Without Hosting
Remember to start any domain search off with our FREE domain name generation tool to find the “best” domain name instantly.
Domain.com
Domain.com has been around since 2000 and is one of the world’s top players in domain registration. They specialize is affordable domain names, web hosting, email, ssl, and other website site services today.
Do They Offer Domain Registration Without Hosting? Yes
Cost: They offer some domains as low as $2.99/year. & .Com Domains are $9.99 year.
Additional Features they offer:
SSL – Secure your website with Lets Encrypt Free SSL
Privacy – They offer WHOIS Domain Privacy to protect your masks your personal information
DNS control – Keep total control of Domain Name Servers for the life of the domain
Transfer Lock – Protect your domain from unauthorized Transfer or “hijack”
NameCheap.com
Do They Offer Domain Registration Without Hosting? Yes
Cost: They offer some domains as low as $1.28/year. & .Com Domains are $8.88 year.
Additional Features they offer:
SSL – Secure your website with Positive SSL Free for first year
Privacy – They offer FREE WHOISGUARD protection for Life
Customer Service- They pride themselves on great customer service
FREE DOMAIN WITH HOSTING – CHECK OUT OUR NAME GENERATION TOOL TO FIND OTHER GREAT FREE DOMAIN OFFERS. (NOTE: if you use our free tool and claim a free domain through one of our hosting affiliate offers, we will have our graphic designers create FREE custom Domain LOGO for your website! Plus give you two other incredible FREE bonuses)
BLUEHOST
Do they offer domain registration without hosting? Yes, you can buy domains only at Bluehost under the domains tab pictured above. If you do need hosting they will also give you a free domain when you purchase hosting.
(Reminder, if you choose to use our affiliate link to purchase hosting and get a free domain name through Bluehost, we will give you a FREE custom logo for your new site, plus a free e-book and training courses to help you speed up your website’s success)
Each domain includes:
Easy Management
An easy to use control panel which makes it simple to get your domain name deployed.
Auto-Renewal
Keeps your domain from expiring accidentally. You can switch this off to the manual at any time if you want.
Domain Lock
Keep your domain from unauthorized transfers so you can unlock it for transfers at any time. So, register any domain you are interested in, and Bluehost will store it until you are ready to use it.
24/7 Expert Support
You will have access to help 24 hours a day, 7 days a week if you purchase your domain through BlueHost.com.
You can purchase domain privacy through them to protect your personal information, and you can get certain domains like .website for as little at $1.99/year
Bluehost has been around since 2002 and is one of the most recognized names in hosting and domain registration. They are a good option if you want to purchase a domain without hosting because they also offer a courtesy 30 days if your domain were to expire, where they will hold it for you just in case you want it back.
GoDaddy.com
GoDaddy.com is probably the most famous domain registrar out there, made famous by its tradition of Super Bowl ads.
They have over 78 Million Domains under management, making them the worlds largest registrar.
Does GoDaddy offer Domain Registration without Hosting? Yes, you can purchase and manage your domain names with Godaddy.com without purchasing web hosting.
Widest Selection on The Web
No matter how obscure your domain extension might seem, you have the best shot at finding it with Godaddy.com
24/7 Support
You can call them night and day for support with any domain related questions.
Privacy Protection
They offer privacy protection and business protection as an added option.
Their cheapest domains start at special pricing for $0.99/Year.
Remember make your domain name search faster, with our random name generator.
DynaDot.com
Dynadot.com might not have the same commercial name recognition as some of the other players above, but they’ve been big players in the space since 2002.
Do they offer domains only without hosting? Yes, you can purchase a domain only from Dynadot.com
FREE domain parking
They offer free domain parking with up to 10 email aliases.
FREE one-page website builder
They include a free one-page basic page builder with each domain, and allow you to do FREE ownership change in and out of Dynadot.com accounts.
FREE Grace Period
They offer a free domain return grace period.
ICAAN Accredited
They are an ICAAN accredited domain registrar.
Auction Domains
They also offer a domain auction service where you can bid and purchase unavailable domains.
Other Related Questions To Purchasing Domains Without Hosting
What are You Actually Buying When You Buy A Domain Name Without Hosting?
It is important you fully understand what you are buying when you purchase a domain name through any registrar. A domain name is your website’s address or location on the internet. It allows users to find your website content by typing in your unique domain. A domain is the alphanumeric representation of your website’s IP address.
It’s a lot easier remembering a catchy domain name like Google.com, than an IP address for each and every website you want to visit. The registrar isn’t actually selling you ownership to the domain, but it is selling you the service of forwarding that domain to your desired website. That’s why when you purchase a domain you select of the length of time from 1-10 years. You can extend the domain as much as you like once you own it before it expires. But you don’t actually own the domain name.
So, when you purchase a domain name without hosting, you are purchasing the rights to that domain name for the designated length of time you choose.
What Happens Next, When You Buy A Domain Name Without Hosting?
Once you purchase the domain name through a registrar. If you don’t forward it to a website on a web host it will be parked for you for FREE by most quality registrars.
This means a simple one-page website that says website coming soon will be put up if someone visits that domain name. This was a solution that came out of domain squatting rules. Rather than have the domain owner have to put up a quick website, the best registrars will do that for you at no extra charge. This is one of the reasons we recommend the registrars we do, among many.
Does It Matter It Matter Who You Buy A Domain From?
In the end, it doesn’t entirely matter who you purchase a domain through when it comes to ownership. Once you buy it through a properly ICANN accredited company it is yours as long as you maintain ownership.
There are some differences in Price, Terms, Duration, and Management that are dependent on the Registrar you choose. If you want, you can read our complete article on: Does it matter who You Buy a Domain Name From?
We make it easy to find the perfect domain name and best deals from reputable domain registrars with our NamingGenerator.com FREE tool.
Can I Keep A Domain Name Without Hosting?
Yes, you can keep a domain name without having a web hosting. You just need to keep renewing your domain name before it expires when the initial leasing term comes upon renewal. Your domain registrar will often just keep your domain name parked for you.
So, if you have a project in mind that but really want to secure the domain name for it now. Use our domain name generator tool and grab it before someone else does.
Can You Have a Website Without Buying A Domain?
So, this is kind of a tricky question. Everyone website on the internet has a domain, that is how people find the site. Just like each page on that site has a unique URL. There are no exceptions to this.
Now if what you are really wondering is do you need to necessarily purchase a unique domain to have a website, the answer is no. There are platforms that will allow you to build webpages, sales funnels, or e-commerce sites using their assigned domain if you don’t want to purchase your own domain. However, if you really want to build out a long-term web asset, we highly recommend you find your own domain.
Could you host a Shopify store on the domain like AmazingBenders.shopify.com or a winning sales funnel on a domain like fatburnerpills.clickfunnels.com, or an award-winning media empire on something like GaryGazzette.wordpress.com, well technically yes?
But, it doesn’t exactly exude the most trust or brand viability. So, if you are debating getting your own custom domain, or just using a subdomain on a platform like the examples given above, we highly recommend getting your own if you can swing the 10-15 bucks a year.
Get started with your own custom domain today. Find it for Free Here