ENS Marketplace Fees Compared
There is a widespread misunderstanding about what you pay when you renew or register a .eth name. The protocol price is fixed and identical everywhere. Anything else is a platform charge, and those vary considerably.
The protocol price is not a marketplace fee
Registration and renewal pricing is set by ENS. A name of five characters or more costs $5 in ETH per year, a four character name costs $160 per year, and a three character name costs $640 per year. That rate applies no matter which tool you use.
No marketplace can change it, discount it, or charge less for it. This is important when comparing services: the base price is a constant, so the only real difference between platforms is what they add on top.
The three things you actually pay
- The protocol price. The rate above, paid to the ENS protocol. Identical everywhere.
- Gas. The Ethereum network fee for the transaction. Paid to the network, not to ENS and not to any platform.
- The platform fee. Whatever the tool you use chooses to charge. This is the only variable a user can influence by choosing a different service.
How platform fees differ
Platforms take different approaches to charging, and the difference compounds across a portfolio.
| Approach | What it means for you |
|---|---|
| No platform fee | The protocol price and gas only. The platform monetises elsewhere, or not at all. |
| Optional contribution | You choose whether to add a percentage, and how much. Ranges from nothing upward. |
| Fixed percentage on renewals | Added automatically to every renewal. A five per cent charge on a portfolio recurring annually is a material cost. |
| Subscription | A flat monthly charge regardless of how much you renew, which favours large portfolios. |
The base price itself is fixed by length; ENS pricing explained sets out the tiers.
What a percentage actually costs
Platform fees are usually expressed as a small percentage, which makes them easy to underestimate. On a single five dollar renewal, one per cent and five per cent are both trivial sums.
Across a portfolio, the arithmetic changes. A holder renewing a large portfolio annually pays that percentage every year, indefinitely, on top of a protocol price that would otherwise be the same everywhere. The percentage is the only part of the bill that rewards shopping around.
How ENSVision charges
Base registration and renewal payments go directly to the ENS protocol, never to us. For how the protocol price is set, see ENS pricing by name length. Renewals are executed through the ENSVision batch router, verified on-chain and in production since January.
Our revenue comes from an optional contribution on renewals, which starts at one per cent and is set by the user, and from a fee on names promoted through this site. There is no token, no hidden markup, and no compulsory percentage added to a renewal.
What to check before choosing a renewal tool
- Is the platform fee compulsory or optional? Optional means you decide, and it can be zero.
- Is it a percentage or a flat fee? Flat fees favour small portfolios, percentages cost more as a portfolio grows.
- Does it support bulk renewal? Renewing many names in one transaction reduces gas, which is often the larger cost.
- What happens at expiry? A tool that warns you in advance is worth more than one that only acts when you remember.
Next steps
See the ENS learning hub for the full guide set. Read how ENS renewals work, or why premium names go unrenewed for the wider picture.
Sources
- ENS Documentation - registration cost by name length
- ENS Support - registration and renewal fees
- ENS Documentation - gas and rent price