How much should a startup spend on a domain name?
What you are paying for when you buy a domain someone already owns, how asking prices and offers work, and a practical way to set a budget for your stage.
There are two very different prices for a domain name. Registering a .com nobody owns costs a small annual fee at any registrar. Buying one that somebody already owns costs whatever the owner and you agree, and that figure has nothing to do with the registration fee. Most of the confusion about domain budgets comes from comparing the two.
What you are actually paying for
When you buy an existing domain you are buying one particular string of letters, with the .com, that nobody else can register while you own it. Its asking price is set by its owner. Length, how easily it is said and spelled, how clearly it fits a category and what comparable names have sold for are all commonly weighed, but none of them tells you what the name is worth to your company — and that is the number your budget should rest on.
Asking prices, offers and "price on request"
Some names carry a fixed asking price. Others ask for offers, and many — including most of the names on Webba — show "price on request". On Webba, requesting the price opens a conversation with Webba about that name; the price comes back in that conversation, where you can also make an offer or ask a question.
Either way, the sequence that protects you is the same. Get the asking price. Decide your own ceiling privately before you respond. If the price is above what the name is worth to you, make a serious offer. There is no need to share your budget, your funding, your timeline or how important the name is to your plans; an offer does not need a justification. Keep the conversation and the payment inside the marketplace's own messaging and transaction process, so there is a record of what was agreed.
A budget that fits your stage
There is no correct percentage, but there is a sensible order of priorities.
- Before you have customers: spend little. The name may change once you learn who you are really selling to, and the money is worth more in the product. Choose a name whose .com is affordable now, or start on a modifier and plan to upgrade.
- When the name has been tested and you are about to spend on launch: in our view this is the moment to decide. Compare the price with what you are about to spend putting the name in front of people; of that spend, the domain is the part you keep.
- When you already have traction under another name: you are no longer pricing a domain, you are pricing a rebrand. Include the redirects, the signage and packaging, the reprinted materials and the months of people still using the old name.
A useful test at any stage: what does not buying cost? If the answer is a modifier people forget, email that goes to someone else and a rebrand you already expect, that cost is real even though it does not arrive as an invoice.
The costs around the price
- Renewal. Every .com has an annual registration fee for as long as you own it. Set it to renew automatically.
- Escrow. An escrow service holds the payment until the domain is in your account. Who pays its fee depends on the deal; on Webba's current terms it is borne by the seller, so the price a buyer sees is the price they pay — see Transactions, Escrow & Cancellations.
- Transfer. Moving a domain between registrars takes an authorisation code and some time. On Webba the transfer normally completes in one to five days, and Webba handles the authorisation code and the registrar push.
Protecting yourself
- Say the name out loud to a few potential customers before you pay for it.
- Check that nobody is already trading under the name in your field, and take advice if you are unsure.
- Get the price and what is included in writing.
- Pay through escrow or a marketplace that manages the transfer, never directly to an unverified seller.
- Confirm the domain is in an account you control before the purchase is final.
Webba adds one more protection to every name it sells: a 100% Money Back Guarantee — you get the domain, or your money back.
Where to start
If your budget is still open, browse by what you are building — finance and fintech, healthcare and health tech, marketing and advertising — or see every name A–Z. Each page lets you request the price, make an offer or ask a question before you commit to anything.
Finance, fintech & insuranceNames for payments, trading, benefits and insurance.