We don't sell domains — and that's the point

The domain is the only part of a website that cannot be rebuilt. Files can be re-uploaded, databases restored, hosts replaced in an afternoon — but every link you have ever earned, every bookmark, every ranking and every business card points at the name. Whoever controls the registration controls all of it.

That is exactly why so many hosts want to sell you one. A “free domain with hosting” is rarely generosity: it is free in year one, renews above market rate, and — the important part — sits inside the account of the company you would be negotiating with if you ever wanted to leave. The domain becomes the lock, and the renewal invoice becomes the leverage. None of that requires bad faith on the host's part; the structure does the work by itself.

Keeping the registration with an independent registrar removes the leverage entirely. Your host can be replaced by editing one DNS record; your registrar can be replaced with a standard transfer; and no single company can hold the whole site hostage, us included. We built Traxio around that separation on purpose: if we ever stopped deserving your £0.99, you should be able to act on that by Friday.

It also keeps our incentives clean. Hosts that retail domains make much of their margin on registration renewals and upsells — privacy protection, premium DNS, transfer fees. We would rather have one honest product than a checkout full of them.

Any established registrar works with Traxio — the requirements are only that you can edit nameservers and that renewals are priced sanely. When comparing, check three things: the renewal price rather than the first-year teaser (the same trick hosting pulls lives here too); that WHOIS privacy is included free, as it now is at most reputable registrars; and that transfers out are unhindered — a registrar confident of keeping you does not need to make leaving tedious.

Expect to pay roughly £8–£12 a year for a .co.uk and £10–£15 for a .com at honest renewal rates. Once registered, pointing it here takes minutes: the exact records are in the knowledgebase, and the DNS explainer covers what each one means if you would like to understand rather than copy.