What is the difference between a registry, registrar and registrant?
A registry is the organisation that manages any particular TLD extension. A registrar is a company that registers a domain name for a registrant. A registrant is the owner of a domain name.
What is a registry, registrar and registrant?
ICANN: Maintains the definitive database of TLD and the registry operators for each.
TLD: Top Level Domain is the .ext you type into your web browser.
Registry: A registry is the organisation that manages any particular TLD extension.
Registrar: A registrar is a company that registers a domain name for a registrant.
Registrant: A registrant is the owner of a domain name.
Why do different domains have different prices?
Different TLDs are owned and run by different companies known as registries. These registries set the wholesale pricing rate for their TLDs for registrars like ourselves to register a domain on behalf of a registrant. Registrars add an administrative margin to the wholesale price and will often include a layer of management services such as a domain management control panel, DNS management services, URL forwarding and often have add-on services such as email or website hosting.
You’ll often find that many registrars will heavily discount the first year’s registration to look more competitive only to hike their prices up in subsequent years. Many registrants end up paying more overall by staying and renewing their domains with these registrars because they don’t know that they could move their domain name to another less expensive registrar.
purely.website’s approach to domain registration is to have consistent pricing that has identical low cost registration and renewal pricing.
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Can a domain name be moved between registrars?
Yes, almost any TLD can be transferred between registrars. The exact process can vary for different TLDs but is typically a straightforward procedure.
Learn more about demystifying domain names:
- What is a domain name?
- What are the different types of TLDs?
- What is a registry, registrar and registrant?
- What is DNS?
- What is the WHOIS database?
- How do I choose a domain name?
- How do I choose a TLD?
- The future landscape of domain names
Author: Gavin Kimpton A founder and CEO/CFO of Pipe Ten, Gavin has been a leader in the digital sector for over 30 years, specialising in website hosting, domain registration, and international site launches. He has navigated evolving internet governance, from new top-level domains to security and compliance. Under his leadership, Pipe Ten became a Nominet-accredited channel partner, reflecting his deep expertise in the digital ecosystem.
