Atlas survey

Cheapest registrar for .com & .be when DNS lives on Cloudflare (2026)

Split the registrar: .com to Cloudflare/Porkbun at cost (~€10), .be to a cheap EU host (Strato/mijn.host/Combell) since neither at-cost registrar sells .be.

15 sources ~4 min read #221 domains · registrar · dns · cloudflare · dnscontrol · belgium · homelab

Decision: split the registrar by TLD — neither at-cost registrar sells .be.

.com (laoujin.com): move to Cloudflare Registrar, ~US$10.46 / ≈€9.70 at cost[1][2]. You already run DNS on Cloudflare, so its "must use Cloudflare nameservers" rule is a non-issue[3]. Equally good: Porkbun ~US$11.08 / ≈€10.30[5].

.be ×4 (sangu.be, ttc-aalst.be, pongit.be, stockoma.be): Cloudflare and Porkbun both refuse .be[1][5]. Cheapest reputable renewals — Strato ≈€4.96, mijn.host ≈€6.99, or Combell ≈€9.99 (Belgian)[6]. Leave one.com, TransIP and Versio — their .be/.com renewals are 2–6× higher[6][7].

The constraint that decides everything

The two cheapest "at-cost" registrars — Cloudflare and Porkbun — do not sell .be. Cloudflare's catalogue omits it[1]; Porkbun's TLD list omits it too (it brokers many ccTLDs via CentralNic but not .be)[5]. .be is run by DNS Belgium and most resellers of it are EU hosting companies. So consolidating all five domains at one registrar means either paying a premium on the .com at a .be host, or accepting a split. The split is cheaper and barely more work — you manage records in Cloudflare via dnscontrol regardless of who the registrar is.

TLD support — who can even hold what

Registrar.com.beModel
Cloudflare✓ at costTransfer-only; locks NS to Cloudflare[3]
Porkbun✓ at costFull registrar + API[5]
Strato / mijn.host / Combell / TransIP / one.comEU hosts; .be resellers[6]

.com — renewal price is what matters

First-year promos are noise; you hold these for years, so compare renewal. The registry wholesale price climbs ~7%/yr through 2030, so every number below drifts up together — relative ranking holds[14].

Registrar.com renewalNotes
Cloudflare≈€9.70 (US$10.46)At cost, no markup[1][2]. Free WHOIS privacy.
Porkbun≈€10.30 (US$11.08)At cost; free WHOIS privacy + API[4][5]
Combell€9.99Belgian; flat reg=renew[7]
mijn.host€11.99Flat reg=renew; clean API[7]
Strato€12.40[7]
Namecheap≈€14 (US$14.78)Free privacy; transfer adds +1yr[12][13]
Gandi≈€15.50+Pricey since 2023 hikes[15]
Hostinger€16.99Cheap reg, steep renew[7]
Versio€21.99[7]
one.com€23.99Your current host — overpriced[7]
TransIP€27.99Your current host — overpriced[7]

EUR figures for Cloudflare/Porkbun are USD converted at ≈1.08; they bill in USD, so FX moves them a little.

.be — pick a cheap EU reseller, ignore the upsell traps

Registrar.be renewalVerdict
Strato€4.96Cheapest tracked; German host[6]
Above.com€5.71Cheapest aggregator rate[9]
Junda€5.50[6]
Theory7€6.60[6]
mijn.host€6.99Flat reg=renew, good API — best balance[6]
Combell€9.99Belgian, local support, flat pricing[6]
Hostinger€14.99Renew jumps from cheap promo[6]
TransIP€21.99Your current host — leave[6]
Versio€32.99⚠ classic bait: €4.99 reg → €32.99 renew[6]

WHOIS privacy: a non-factor for .be, free at the .com winners

For .be, privacy is automatic and free — DNS Belgium hides a private individual's registrant data from WHOIS by GDPR default, and third-party privacy add-ons are explicitly not allowed (because they're unnecessary)[8]. So ignore "privacy" as a .be selection axis entirely. For .com, Cloudflare, Porkbun and Namecheap all include WHOIS privacy free[2][5][13] — don't pay anyone for it.

dnscontrol & nameservers: a near-non-issue

Your records live in Cloudflare and dnscontrol pushes them there via the cloudflareapi provider — that's independent of who registers the domain. The registrar's only DNS job is the nameserver delegation, which you set to Cloudflare once and never touch again. dnscontrol can automate that delegation, but only for registrars it has a registrar provider for — Cloudflare, Namecheap, OVH, Gandi and Porkbun qualify[10][11]; the cheap .be hosts (Strato, mijn.host, Combell, TransIP) do not. Because NS is set-and-forget, this barely matters — set the Cloudflare NS by hand in the .be host's panel and let dnscontrol own the records. For Cloudflare Registrar the NS lock is automatic and is exactly what you already run.

⚠ ttc-aalst.be carries live email (MX/SPF/DMARC). Those are DNS records in Cloudflare, not registrar settings — a registrar move doesn't touch them as long as the nameservers stay pointed at Cloudflare. Transfer the registration, leave the zone alone.

Transfer mechanics

  • .com: an inbound transfer to Cloudflare/Porkbun/Namecheap adds +1 year to the expiry at the at-cost price — effectively a renewal, not a surcharge[13]. Unlock + get the EPP/auth code at one.com/TransIP first. Cloudflare is transfer-only, which fits since the domain already exists[3].
  • .be: DNS Belgium transfers move the registration between resellers; they don't always add a year, so transfer when renewal is due. No privacy step needed[8].

Bottom line for your 5 domains

DomainTodayMove toRenewal
laoujin.comTransIPCloudflare Registrar≈€9.70
sangu.beone.commijn.host / Strato / Combell€5–10
ttc-aalst.beTransIPsame .be host€5–10
pongit.beTransIPsame .be host€5–10
stockoma.beone.comsame .be host€5–10

Net: two registrars instead of two, but both cheap — Cloudflare for the lone .com, one EU host for all four .be. Pick Combell if you value a Belgian provider and local support at €9.99; mijn.host (~€7, strong API) or Strato (~€5, cheapest) if you optimise purely on price. Versio, one.com and TransIP renewals are the ones actively costing you money today.

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