Affordable domain names for startups: setting a budget that makes sense

Most founders arrive at the domain question with no reference points at all. They check a registrar, see $12, then check the aftermarket, see $8,000, and have no idea which number is the real one. Both are.

What each band actually buys

• $10–$50 (registrar). Whatever is unclaimed. In .com that now means long compounds, misspellings, or three words joined together. Free of charge in money, expensive in friction forever.
• $500–$2,000 (lower aftermarket). Longer .com compounds, narrower categories, or good names on non-.com extensions. Real names, with a compromise attached — usually length or specificity.
• $2,000–$10,000 (working band). Where most usable, meaningful, aged .com compounds trade. Two clean words, one clear meaning, no spelling problems. This is where the CenturyName portfolio sits.
• $25,000+. One-word .coms and category-defining names. Worth it for some businesses, and genuinely out of reach for most pre-seed companies.

A rough rule

If you are pre-revenue and bootstrapping, a domain in the low thousands is defensible and a domain in the tens of thousands is not. If you have raised, the domain is one of the cheapest permanent assets on your balance sheet — it does not depreciate, it does not need maintenance, and it is the one piece of the brand you can never quietly swap out later.

Compare it honestly against what else the money buys. A $5,000 name against $5,000 of ads is not a close call — the ads run out in a month and the name is on every invoice, email signature and business card for the life of the company.

Instalments change the maths

The reason many founders settle for a weak name is cash flow, not valuation. A $6,000 name is a hard cheque to write at seed stage. The same name at $250 a month for two years is a line item you barely notice.

Many listings on the CenturyName storefront carry lease-to-own over 6, 12, 24 or 36 months, with the monthly figure and any down payment shown on the listing page. If the budget is the blocker rather than the name, look at the instalment figure before you compromise.

What "affordable" should mean

Not cheap — proportionate. An affordable name is one whose price is small relative to what a weak name will cost you in explanation, correction and lost recall over the next five years. That calculation almost never favours the $12 option.

When to wait instead

If nothing in your budget passes the phone test, do not force it. Buy a placeholder you are not attached to, launch, and come back when either the budget or the inventory has moved. Rebranding later is painful but survivable. Being stuck with a name nobody can spell is a slow, permanent tax.

Practical order of operations

1. Write down five to ten names that pass the phone test, before checking availability.
2. Check the .com on each. Expect most to be taken — that is normal and not a signal to give up.
3. Check aftermarket prices on the ones that are taken. Some will be surprisingly reachable.
4. Run a trademark search on your two favourites in the markets you will sell in.
5. Buy, point it at a holding page, and move on. The naming decision should take days, not months.

Common questions