Black Friday and Cyber Monday: Ranking the Last Five Years of Domain Deals

Black Friday and Cyber Monday have become cornerstone events in the domain name industry, with registrars and registries using these dates to drive customer acquisition and bulk transactions through aggressive pricing, flash sales, and limited-time coupon campaigns. Over the last five years, these annual events have evolved from generic discounts on .com domains to highly targeted promotions across new gTLDs, ccTLDs, and bundled services. For domain investors, developers, and digital agencies managing large portfolios or launching new brands, knowing which year offered the best deals can be the difference between marginal savings and major budget wins. Examining and ranking the last five years of Black Friday and Cyber Monday domain offers reveals both the peaks of promotional creativity and the troughs of uninspired repetition.

The 2020 Black Friday and Cyber Monday season remains the standout performer in recent history. In the heart of the global pandemic, as businesses pivoted rapidly to online operations, registrars capitalized on the spike in digital demand by launching their most aggressive pricing ever. Namecheap led the charge with $0.98 .com registrations, paired with heavily discounted privacy protection, and offered up to 97% off on a rotating list of new gTLDs including .xyz, .club, and .design. Dynadot, not to be outdone, launched one of its rare multi-TLD flash sales that included .co for under $3 and .io for $28—a record low at the time. Porkbun and Cloudflare sweetened the pot with renewal discounts, a rarity during holiday promos, bringing long-term portfolio holders into the mix. The breadth, depth, and timing of these promotions marked 2020 as the high-water mark for value and strategic opportunity.

Coming in a close second is 2022, which saw registrars shift from volume-based discounts to usage-based targeting. Rather than blanket pricing, many providers introduced segmentation logic behind the scenes, offering better deals to active users or those with high engagement metrics. Namecheap returned with $0.98 .com and .net deals, but only for accounts that hadn’t registered in the prior three months, rewarding reactivations. Meanwhile, GoDaddy’s domain discounts were tied to bundled hosting and security services—offering domains as low as $0.99 only if customers committed to at least a year of website builder or email services. This approach proved effective at drawing in more committed customers and rebalancing the loss-leader dynamics that often accompany ultra-low domain prices. Radix-run registries used 2022 to push massive cross-promo events for .tech, .store, and .space, with prices dipping below $1 across multiple registrars. Despite the strategic shift from raw pricing to ecosystem lock-in, 2022 maintained its place as one of the most comprehensive and aggressive years on record.

The third-ranked year is 2019, which blended deep discounts with a high volume of participating registrars. This was the year that new gTLD operators aggressively tried to claw market share from legacy TLDs, resulting in unusual pairing deals such as “register a .online and get a .site free” from selected resellers. GoDaddy’s promotions were straightforward—$0.99 .coms with one-year commitments, but with tight coupon limits and one-time use constraints. Name.com, Gandi, and Epik also ran strong campaigns, with the latter offering pre-paid account credits with a 10% bonus during the holiday weekend. The 2019 environment was highly competitive but slightly less optimized than the campaigns that would follow, making it solid but not exceptional in hindsight.

In fourth place is 2021, which suffered slightly from post-pandemic fatigue in the promotional landscape. Although many registrars returned with familiar discount formats, there was a notable lack of innovation. Several .com campaigns remained unchanged from the year prior, and while some gTLDs like .xyz and .shop saw token markdowns, the registry-level support for deeper discounts appeared to be throttled compared to 2020. Namecheap introduced small-time flash promos with $0.88 registrations for selected TLDs, but quantities were often limited to the first 2,000 checkouts. Many domainers reported frustration with expired coupons and deal fatigue, as registrars recycled past campaigns without offering meaningful new incentives. The one silver lining was the appearance of more generous multi-year renewal offers, particularly at Porkbun and Dynadot, which rewarded loyalty rather than just first-time purchases.

Bringing up the rear is 2023, which saw the industry grapple with increasing registry wholesale costs and tighter profit margins. This was the first Black Friday/Cyber Monday cycle in which Verisign’s .com price hike fully rippled through to retail, leading to fewer ultra-low .com deals and more restrained marketing overall. Most registrars pivoted to highlighting non-domain products—SSL, email, or hosting—as their primary Black Friday offerings. While some creative bundling appeared, like Cloudflare offering free domain privacy bundled with paid registrar transfers, the overall depth of discounting was subdued. Even registries like Radix and Identity Digital, which had historically anchored the gTLD promo slate, opted for flat 30-40% discounts rather than headline-grabbing sub-$1 offers. The 2023 promotions felt more conservative, reflecting a maturing market less willing to subsidize speculative registrations with fire-sale pricing.

In comparing these five years, a few patterns emerge. The years with the best deals combined two key factors: broad registry support and creative registrar execution. When registry operators subsidized wholesale costs in coordination with registrar campaigns—as seen in 2020 and 2022—the resulting promotions reached historic lows and attracted both new customers and serious investors. Conversely, in years where registrars were left to subsidize discounts on their own, the result was shallower pricing and a heavier reliance on bundling or restrictive coupons. Also notable is the shift from pure pricing plays to conversion-focused strategies. As customer acquisition costs rose and speculative registrations declined in profitability, registrars began using the holiday season to upsell, cross-sell, and foster deeper platform engagement.

For domain buyers, understanding the year-over-year evolution of these campaigns is more than historical trivia—it’s tactical insight. Knowing which registrars consistently deliver during Black Friday, which TLDs are reliably discounted, and how coupon structures change over time helps buyers time their purchases, shift renewal strategies, and prepare for promotional windows with clear targets. While no two years are identical, the trajectory is clear: the days of indiscriminate discounting are fading, replaced by increasingly data-driven campaigns that reward timing, loyalty, and spending behavior.

Looking ahead, the most successful domain discounts on Black Friday and Cyber Monday are likely to be those that blend aggressive pricing with smart targeting and bundled value. For domain professionals who plan and act strategically, these sales remain a rare window of leverage—offering the opportunity to lock in meaningful savings across portfolios, launch new projects at minimal cost, and position their holdings for long-term success in a market that never sleeps.

Black Friday and Cyber Monday have become cornerstone events in the domain name industry, with registrars and registries using these dates to drive customer acquisition and bulk transactions through aggressive pricing, flash sales, and limited-time coupon campaigns. Over the last five years, these annual events have evolved from generic discounts on .com domains to highly…