A quiet contract detail could reopen door to .com price increases in 2026

For much of the past year, many in the domain industry assumed that wholesale .com prices would remain unchanged until at least 2027. That belief rested on a long standing interpretation of Verisign’s pricing cycle and on how the company handled previous increases. However, a closer look at the underlying agreements now suggests that assumption may not fully hold.

At the center of the discussion sits the six year pricing framework that governs Verisign’s authority to raise .com prices. Under this structure, Verisign can apply price increases in four of the six years within each cycle. Because the last increase took effect in September 2024, many observers concluded that both 2025 and 2026 fell outside the allowable window. Over time, that view hardened into common wisdom.

Yet the contracts themselves tell a more precise story. The relevant agreements define each pricing year as running from October 26 through October 25. Importantly, each six year cycle also begins on October 26. When read strictly, this structure means that a new pricing year begins in late October 2026, not at the start of the calendar year.

Past behavior added to the confusion. During the pandemic, Verisign chose not to raise prices in 2020, even though it had the contractual right to do so. When increases resumed, the company implemented them late in each eligible pricing year, starting in September rather than October. Because this pattern repeated through 2024, many industry watchers came to associate pricing rights with those September dates rather than the actual contract boundaries.

Further uncertainty emerged after the U.S. government renewed Verisign’s Cooperative Agreement in November 2024. A public statement from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration suggested that no increase would be allowed until September 2026. However, that guidance appears to reflect prior practice more than the formal language of the agreement.

If Verisign follows the contract as written, it could raise wholesale .com prices again after October 26, 2026, provided it gives the required advance notice. That move would likely push the base price close to eleven dollars.

Whether Verisign will act at that point remains unclear. The company has delayed increases before. Still, the episode highlights how timing choices can blur contractual realities and reshape expectations across the domain market.