Black Friday is here, and what I want to talk about is not just TVs or gadgets. I am talking about the best Black Friday domain deals for 2025. This is, to be honest, a critical time for anyone who is looking to build a new website or expand their digital presence.

All the big domain registrars, you know, like Namecheap, GoDaddy, Hostinger, they all come out with these huge “90% off” deals. But here is the problem. Every single one has a different strategy. It is not just about getting a cheap domain.

Some are pushing bundles with web hosting, others are targeting domain investors with transfer deals. So what I wanted to do in this report is to not just list the deals, but to actually give you the intelligence behind them, so you can understand what you are really buying.

The reason this is so important is because choosing the wrong registrar or the wrong deal can cost you a lot of money in the long run, with high renewal fees or features you do not need. This is part of your business’s, uh, whole online strategy.

It is like the foundation. This report will basically act as your guide. We are going to break down the offers from each company, what is the real value, who is offering free WHOIS privacy, who has the best premium DNS, and who is just trying to upsell you with a cheap first-year price.

By understanding their strategy, you can create your own. You can find the perfect deal that matches your actual needs, whether you are a brand new entrepreneur who needs a full hosting package or an investor just looking for the cheapest .com.

Black Friday 2025 Domain Registrars List

Registrar: Namecheap

Company Information

So first up is Namecheap. Basically, Namecheap is a very big player, they are an ICANN-accredited registrar started way back in 2000 by Richard Kirkendall. They are based in Phoenix, Arizona.

To be honest, their scale is huge. They are the second-largest registrar in the world you know. They have something like 24 million domains and 11 million customers. That is a lot. The company is private, but what is interesting is that in 2025, a big firm called CVC Capital Partners bought a majority stake. This is important because it means they are not just a founder-led company anymore, they are backed by private equity. So you can expect them to be very aggressive with growth.

Key Domain & DNS Features

WHOIS Privacy

Now, this is their main selling point. Namecheap gives “Free lifetime domain privacy”. This was a very big deal because other companies used to charge for this. They do this through another company called “Withheld for Privacy,” which is based in Iceland. The reason they chose Iceland is for trust. Iceland has very strong data privacy laws. Simple as that. It hides your personal details and gives you a special email to stop spam.

But remember this, it does not work for all domain types. Some extensions like .ca, .de, .us, and a few others, they do not allow this privacy due to registry rules.

DNS Management

They also give a “FreeDNS” service. If you use their nameservers, you can manage all your DNS records. And they include DNSSEC for free, which is actually a security feature to prevent people from hijacking your website traffic. It is a nice bonus.

Email Forwarding

This is a really useful feature. You get up to 100 free email forwarding addresses. You can even set up a “catch-all” address. So any email sent to your domain will be forwarded. The only limitation is that it is just for receiving emails. You cannot send or reply from that address. For that, you need to buy their paid “Private Email” plan. You cannot use both free forwarding and paid email on the same domain at the same time.

Black Friday 2024 Details

Their 2024 event was called “Temple of Deals.” It ran from November 29 to December 6.

Domain Registration Deals

The headline was “up to 97% off”. But you need to understand the marketing here. This is what we call a loss-leader. The huge 97% discount was only for the .my domain, which not many people use. The real deals for most people were 50% off .com and 73% off .net.

TLD	Regular Price (First Year)	Sale Price (First Year)	Discount	Promo Code
.com	$14.98	$7.49	50%	BFCMTLD24
.net	$14.98	$3.98	73%	BFCMTLD24
.biz	$18.98	$1.78	91%	BFCMTLD24
.me	$18.98	$1.98	90%	BFCMTLD24
.my	$32.98	$0.98	97%	BFCMTLD24

Now this is very important. The promo code had a limit of only 5 domains per person. Just five. This deal was for new registrations only, not for renewals.

Domain Transfer Deals

Here is where the strategy becomes clear. For transfers, they offered up to 40% off with a different code. But look at the limit. The limit was 50 domains. Fifty.

TLD	Transfer Discount %
.com	40%
.net	25%
.org	25%
.ca	25%
.in	31%

So why a low limit for new domains but a high limit for transfers? The reason is they are targeting two different groups. The registration deal is for new customers, but the transfer deal is aimed at domain investors and professionals who have large portfolios with other registrars. They want those big customers to move all their domains over to Namecheap. It is a very smart strategy.

Other Offers

They also had discounts on all their other products, like hosting, email, VPN, all these things.

• Up to 78% off Shared Hosting (Code: BFCMSHARED24)
• 88% off EasyWP WordPress hosting (no code required)
• Up to 50% off Private Email (Code: BFCMMAIL24)
• Up to 35% off SSL Certificates (Code: BFCMSSL24)
• 95% off FastVPN
• Up to 39% off PremiumDNS
• Up to 76% off Build & Grow toolkit

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Registrar: GoDaddy

Company Information

Next, GoDaddy. Everyone knows GoDaddy. They are a huge, publicly traded American company. The biggest domain registrar in the world. No competition there. They manage over 82 million domains. That is an insane number. Their revenue in 2023 was $4.6 billion. They are a massive corporation.

Their target audience is what they call “everyday entrepreneurs.” Small businesses. So their products are all designed for that market. They have a website builder and even an AI tool suite called “GoDaddy Airo” to help with logos, content, you know, all those things.

Key Domain & DNS Features

WHOIS Privacy

So GoDaddy used to be famous for charging a lot of money for domain privacy. It was a big upsell. But now, things have changed. They now include “free domain privacy” with registrations. What happens is the market changed. Companies like Namecheap made free privacy standard, so GoDaddy had to follow to compete. It is now a basic feature you must have. But, they still have an upsell. They will try to get you to upgrade to a paid “Domain Protection” plan for extra security.

DNS Management

Standard DNS management is included, but they have an upsell here too for something called “Premium DNS.”

Email Forwarding

Okay so their email forwarding is actually very complicated now. They moved to a new platform built on Microsoft 365. For a non-technical person, this is a real headache. By default, it will block you from auto-forwarding your domain email to a personal address like Gmail. You have to go deep into the administrator settings and manually turn this feature on. A lot of beginners will get stuck here. To be honest, it is not very user-friendly.

Black Friday 2024 Details

Their sale was around the Black Friday and Cyber Monday dates.

Strategy

GoDaddy’s strategy was completely different from Namecheap. They were not interested in selling cheap standalone domains. Zero focus on that. Instead, their entire promotion was about bundling. They offered discounted web hosting plans that came with a “free domain registration.”

This makes perfect sense for their target audience. A first-time business owner does not just need a domain. They need hosting, a domain, and email all in one package. GoDaddy provides that. So they are not competing for the domain investor, they are competing for the small business owner.

Bundled Domain Deals

• Web Hosting Economy: 41% off ($6.99/month) + free domain registration & email
• Web Hosting Deluxe: 41% off ($9.99/month) + free domain registration & email
• Web Hosting Ultimate: 31% off ($14.99/month) + free domain & free SSL for 1st year

Standalone Domain Deals

They did have a few standalone deals, but they were not the main focus at all.

TLD	Sale Price (First Year)
.co.in	$0.01
.in	$12.99
.it	$6.99
.ai	$68.19 (requires 2-year term)

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Registrar: Hostinger

Company Information

Hostinger is another big global web hosting provider. They started in Lithuania in 2004. Now they are a huge international company with over 4 million customers in 150 countries. They are a private company.

One of their main differentiating factors is their control panel. They do not use the standard cPanel that most hosts use. They built their own custom panel called “hPanel” back in 2011. They claim it is more user-friendly and efficient. Their main business is high-performance web hosting.

Key Domain & DNS Features

WHOIS Privacy

Hostinger provides “free WHOIS privacy protection.” It is included automatically when you buy a domain. It is pretty standard now. They also note that if you are in the EU, your details are already hidden because of GDPR rules, so the privacy feature is an extra layer on top of that.

DNS Management

All the DNS stuff is managed through their custom hPanel.

Email Forwarding

Their email forwarding system is quite good. It is managed in hPanel and gives you a lot of control. You can set up internal forwards (from one Hostinger email to another) and external forwards (to Gmail, etc.). It also supports catch-all addresses and email aliases. Pretty flexible.

Black Friday 2024 Details

Hostinger had a very long sale period. It started in late October and went all the way to mid-December.

Strategy

Hostinger’s strategy was 100% focused on bundling. Exactly like GoDaddy. There were no standalone domain deals at all. The only offer was a “Free Domain for 1 year” when you bought a web hosting plan.

This is a pure customer acquisition strategy. The “free” domain is the hook to get you to sign up for a long-term hosting contract, like a 48-month plan. They make their money on the hosting, not the domain.

Bundled Domain Deals (up to 85% off hosting)

• “Premium Hosting” Plan: $1.95/month (85% discount) + 1 Free Domain
• “Business Hosting” Plan: $2.95/month (80% discount) + 1 Free Domain

The free domain offer was for popular TLDs like .com, .org, .co, .tech, and others.

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Registrar: Porkbun

Company Information

Okay, now Porkbun. I personally like their approach. They are an ICANN-accredited registrar from Portland, Oregon. Their entire brand identity is built around being the “anti-registrar.”

Their marketing is all about being different, easy, and affordable. They promise not to constantly upsell you on things you do not need. Their core strategy is to give you a bunch of premium services for free with every domain. So they compete on value, not just on the lowest price.

Key Domain & DNS Features

This “premium-for-free” model is central to what they do.

WHOIS Privacy

Of course, they provide “Free WHOIS Privacy” with every eligible domain. It is enabled by default.

Included Free Services

This is where they really shine. Look at what you get for free.

• Free SSL Certificates: They provide free Let’s Encrypt SSL certificates. This is great.
• Free URL Forwarding: Standard.
• Free Premium DNS: This is a very high-value feature. Most companies charge extra for “Premium DNS.” Porkbun gives it for free because they use Cloudflare’s amazing global infrastructure. So you get one of the fastest and most secure DNS networks in the world at no extra cost. This is a huge selling point.
• Email Forwarding: You get up to 20 free email forwards with each domain. Like others, it is a receive-only service.

Black Friday 2024 Details

Their sale ran through Cyber Monday, ending on December 2.

Strategy

Porkbun’s strategy was very smart and very different. They completely refused to get into a price war on the big TLDs. In fact, .com, .net, and .io were not on sale at all. They were listed at their normal “Everyday Price.”

So what did they do instead? They offered huge, aggressive discounts on a massive list of alternative TLDs. Things like .art, .design, .live. Their target market is not the person buying hundreds of .com domains. It is the creative person, the developer, the startup who wants a modern, brandable domain name. A completely different segment.

Domain Registration Deals

TLD	Regular Price (First Year)	Sale Price (First Year)	Discount
.com	$11.08	$11.08 (Everyday Price)	0%
.net	$12.52	$12.52 (Everyday Price)	0%
.io	$46.65	$46.65 (Everyday Price)	0%
.art	$21.11	$2.12	90%
.bar	$52.01	$2.57	95%
.info	$20.08	$2.57	87%
.live	$26.26	$2.57	90%
.bond	$9.78	$1.28	87%
.cfd	$9.78	$1.28	87%
.sbs	$9.78	$1.28	87%
.buzz	$26.26	$2.05	92%
.click	$10.81	$2.06	81%
.icu	$9.78	$2.06	79%
.xyz	$12.98	$2.06	84%
.cloud	$21.11	$3.88	82%
.co	$25.03	$9.58	62%
.design	$41.71	$9.78	77%
.diy	$31.41	$4.63	85%

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Registrar: Bluehost

Company Information

Bluehost is a very well-known web hosting company, they started in 2003. They are one of the hosting providers officially recommended by WordPress.org, which is a big deal.

Now, this is an important point. Bluehost is owned by a company called Newfold Digital. This parent company owns a lot of different web brands. Bluehost’s main focus is web hosting, especially for WordPress.

Key Domain & DNS Features

WHOIS Privacy

Here is a major difference. Unlike Namecheap, Porkbun, and even GoDaddy now, Bluehost’s WHOIS privacy is a paid add-on. They call it “Domain Privacy + Protection.”

It costs $11.99 per domain, per year. It is not even included for free in their cheapest hosting plan. You only get it for the first year if you buy one of their more expensive plans. After that, you have to pay to renew it. This feels very outdated compared to the competition.

DNS Management

They use the standard cPanel “Zone Editor” for DNS management.

Email Forwarding

Email forwarding is also managed through cPanel, which is pretty standard. It allows you to forward one address to multiple people and also supports a catch-all feature.

Black Friday 2024 Details

Their sale ended on December 3, 2024.

Strategy

Bluehost’s strategy was identical to Hostinger’s. 100% bundling. There were no standalone domain deals. The whole promotion was about selling hosting plans (with up to 81% off) that came with a “Free Domain for 1st year.”

Bundled Domain Deals

• “Basic Plan”: $1.99/month (75% off) + Free Domain (1st Year)
• “Choice Plus Plan”: $2.65/month (81% off) + Free Domain (1st Year) + Free Domain Privacy (1st Year)

The free TLDs included a wide range like .com, .net, .org, and many others.

“Free Domain” Conditions

Now, you need to be very careful with the term “free” here. It comes with some big conditions. The domain is only free for the first year. And if you decide to cancel your hosting plan within the 30-day money-back guarantee period, Bluehost will deduct the full price of the domain from your refund. The domain fee is non-refundable. So what happens is this policy makes it very hard to cancel, because you end up paying for the domain anyway. It is a retention tactic.

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Registrar: Name.com

Company Information

Name.com is another ICANN-accredited registrar, based in Denver, Colorado.

And here is the interesting part. Just like Bluehost, Name.com is also owned by Newfold Digital. So they are sister brands. What the parent company is doing is running multiple brands that look like they are competing with each other, but they are actually targeting different market segments. It is a very common corporate strategy.

Key Domain & DNS Features

WHOIS Privacy

WHOIS privacy is not free. You have to buy a package called “Advanced Security” to get it. This bundle also includes some other features like “Domain Lock Plus.”

DNS Management

Standard DNS management is available.

Email Forwarding

They offer free email forwarding, but honestly, it is one of the most restrictive services I have seen.

• It does not support catch-all forwarding.
• You cannot forward one address to multiple people.
• It fails if an email attachment is bigger than 10MB.
• You cannot use it if you have any other paid email product on the domain.
• And of course, you cannot reply from the forwarded address.

Black Friday 2024 Details

Their sale ran from November 27 to December 3.

Strategy

This is where the multi-brand strategy of Newfold Digital becomes crystal clear. Bluehost, their sister brand, only did bundling. Name.com did the exact opposite. They engaged in a very aggressive price war on standalone domains.

So Newfold uses Bluehost to capture the beginner who wants an all-in-one bundle. And they use Name.com to capture the price-sensitive domain investor who just wants the cheapest domains.

Domain Registration Deals

• .com Registration: $4.99. This is a very, very competitive price. It is much cheaper than Namecheap’s sale price of $7.49.
• .com + .pro Bundle: $4.49
• .io Registration: $9.99

And the best part for investors? There was no per-user limit on the $4.99 .com deal. This was a huge attraction for people buying domains in bulk.

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Registrar: Dynadot

Company Information

Dynadot is an ICANN-accredited registrar started in 2002 by Todd Han, who is still the CEO. They are based in California.

A very important part of their identity is their corporate structure. They market themselves heavily as being “debt-free and privately held.” They say they have “no plans to go public or become acquired by a faceless corporation.” This is a direct shot at competitors like the publicly-traded GoDaddy and the private-equity-owned Namecheap. They are trying to build trust by positioning themselves as a stable, independent company.

Key Domain & DNS Features

WHOIS Privacy

Dynadot provides free Whois privacy for the life of the domain. You can even choose between “Partial” or “Full” privacy, which is a nice little feature.

Included Free Services

• Every domain comes with a free, simple website builder.
• Full DNS management is included.

Email Forwarding

Their free email forwarding system is actually one of the most generous out there. You have two ways to do it.

• Using “Email Settings,” you can create up to 10 free forwarding addresses, and it supports catch-all.
• Using “DNS Settings,” you can create up to 50 free forwarding addresses, and this also supports catch-all.

This is much more flexible than most of their competitors.

Black Friday 2024 Details

Their sale ran from November 25 to December 2.

Strategy

Dynadot’s strategy was not about discounting the .com domain. Instead, they focused on deep discounts on other specific TLDs and, very interestingly, a TLD bundle aimed at a tech audience.

Domain Registration Deals

• Bundle Deal: You could get a .io + .tech domain bundle for just $8.99. This is a great deal for developers and tech startups.
• Standalone TLD Deal: .biz Registration was only $1.49.

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Registrar: FastComet

Company Information

FastComet is a web hosting provider started in 2013. They are based in Delaware. They also position themselves as one of the few “privately-owned, independent global web hosting companies,” similar to Dynadot. They have a very good reputation, with a 4.9 out of 5 rating on TrustPilot.

Their main product is managed cPanel web hosting.

Key Domain & DNS Features

WHOIS Privacy

FastComet offers a paid WHOIS privacy service called “ID Protect.” They make a distinction between this and the basic privacy you get from GDPR. They say that while GDPR hides your data, their paid service provides an extra layer of protection against spam and unwanted communications.

DNS Management

Standard DNS management is provided through cPanel.

Email Forwarding

Standard cPanel email forwarders are included with their hosting plans.

Black Friday 2024 Details

The sale was active in the period leading up to Black Friday.

Strategy

FastComet’s offer was completely unique and designed for maximum customer retention. Instead of offering a domain for free for just one year, they offered “Free for-life domains” when you bought one of their hosting plans.

What happens is, as long as you keep your hosting plan active with them, they will renew your domain for free, forever. This creates a very, very high barrier to switching. It is an extremely powerful way to lock in customers.

Eligible “Free-for-Life” TLDs

This amazing offer did not apply to .com domains. It was valid for a specific set of modern TLDs: .site, .store, .online, and .tech.

Other Offers

They also had a separate promotion for “up to 85% OFF on Selected Domains,” but the specific TLDs were not detailed.

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Registrar: InMotion Hosting

Company Information

InMotion Hosting is a privately-owned technology company from Virginia, founded in 2001. They serve over 170,000 customers and are well-regarded for their expert human customer support.

An important technical detail is that InMotion Hosting is not actually a direct domain registrar. They are a reseller. Their domain registrar partner is Tucows Inc. So when you register a domain with them, the actual registrar on record is Tucows.

Key Domain & DNS Features

They offer registration for a variety of TLDs, including .com, .net, .org, and many newer ones like .app, .blog, and .cloud. They do have a requirement that for a .us domain, you must have a physical U.S. address.

Black Friday 2024 Details

Their sale ran from late October to early December.

Strategy

InMotion’s strategy was the same as Bluehost and Hostinger. No standalone domain discounts. Their entire promotion was a “Free Domain” bundled with the purchase of a web hosting plan.

Bundled Domain Deals

Their hosting plans were discounted by up to 80%, and customers who bought one received a free domain name. The research did not have details on which specific TLDs were eligible for this free offer.

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Registrar: HostPapa

Company Information

HostPapa is a Canadian-based, privately owned web hosting company founded in 2006. They host more than 500,000 websites and have a global presence. They also focus on using renewable green energy for their operations.

Key Domain & DNS Features

(There was no specific data on their WHOIS privacy, DNS, or email forwarding features in the research I saw.)

Black Friday 2024 Details

Their sale concluded on December 6, 2024.

Strategy

HostPapa followed the exact same bundling strategy as the other hosting-focused companies. The domain was offered as a free incentive to get people to buy a hosting plan.

Bundled Domain Deals

HostPapa’s hosting plans were discounted by up to 88%. Customers who purchased a hosting plan received a “free domain.” Again, no specific details on which TLDs were eligible.

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Comparative Analysis: Black Friday 2024 Domain Registrar Strategies

So after looking at all these companies, what did we learn? We can basically break down all their Black Friday strategies into three distinct groups.

Strategy Segmentation

1. Aggressive Standalone Domain Discounting

This group includes Namecheap, Name.com, Porkbun, and Dynadot. These registrars competed directly on the price of the domain itself. They were targeting domain investors and anyone else who is very price-sensitive. Namecheap and Name.com fought over the .com price, while Porkbun and Dynadot were smarter and focused on discounting alternative TLDs for creative and tech audiences.

2. Bundled Hosting + Domain Strategy

This group includes Bluehost, Hostinger, InMotion, and HostPapa. These companies completely avoided the domain price war. They were not interested. Instead, they used the “free domain” as a tool to acquire new, long-term hosting customers. Their target is the beginner, the entrepreneur who needs an all-in-one package.

3. Hybrid Premium Strategy

This was really only FastComet. They created a unique offer with their “free-for-life domains” to create extreme customer loyalty and lock-in. A very powerful long-term strategy.

Key Takeaways for Consumers

So depending on who you are, here is my final thought.

• Best for Cost-Conscious Domain Investors: Go with Name.com. Their $4.99 .com with no user limit was the most aggressive deal for bulk buyers.
• Best for Alternative TLDs: It has to be Porkbun. They had massive 90%+ discounts on so many creative extensions like .art, .bar, and .design.
• Best for Bundled Solutions: If you are a beginner and need hosting, Bluehost and Hostinger had the best deals, with hosting for just a couple of dollars a month plus a free domain. Just be aware of the renewal costs.
• Best Value-Add Features: I would say Porkbun wins here. The free premium DNS through Cloudflare is a huge benefit that others charge for. Plus you get free SSL and 20 free email forwards. Amazing value.
• Best for Lifetime Deals: This is a unique category, and FastComet is the only player. If you want one of their eligible TLDs (.site, .store, .online, .tech) and plan to stick with a host for a long time, getting a free-for-life domain is an incredible deal.

Conclusion

So, after looking at all this data, what is the final takeaway? It is actually very simple. You must understand that your domain registrar, and the Black Friday deal you choose, it has a direct impact on your long-term SEO and business.

A cheap $1 domain from an aggressive discounter feels great, but that domain itself does not help you rank. What does help you rank is site speed, security, and reliability. This is why the “bundler” strategy from companies like Hostinger or Bluehost is so popular, they are selling you the hosting, which is a core technical SEO factor.

A fast server, good uptime… these things matter to Google. Even more, a registrar like Porkbun that gives you premium DNS for free is, to be honest, offering a better SEO value because fast DNS resolution can slightly improve your site’s loading speed, which Google definitely measures.

In the end, this report shows that the biggest mistake you can make is choosing a deal just based on the first-year price. That is a trap. The $0.99 domain is a loss-leader designed to get you into an ecosystem where the renewal prices are very high, or where you have to pay extra for critical features like WHOIS privacy or even an SSL certificate.

For your business and your SEO, a website that goes down because your DNS is slow, or one that gets marked as ‘Not Secure’ by Google because your free SSL expired, is a disaster. So, you must look at the total cost over three or five years.

A “free domain” is completely useless if it is bundled with slow hosting, because a slow website will never rank well. Simple as that. Use this intelligence to see the full picture, not just the Black Friday sales tag.