// transfer guide
how to transfer a domain away from NameSilo.
The actual steps, the gotchas that stop people halfway, and an honest answer on whether moving is worth it for your domains.
read these first
- NameSilo prices renewals flat rather than running a cheap first year, so there's often no promo-to-renewal gap to escape. check you're genuinely saving before paying for a transfer year.
- free WHOIS privacy is included here. if you move, confirm the receiving registrar includes it too rather than charging for it separately — that's where an apparent saving quietly goes.
- the outbound transfer costs nothing, but the gaining registrar bills a year's renewal. that year is added to your expiry date, so it's prepaid time rather than money burnt.
step by step.
- sign in and open "Manage My Domains" — NameSilo's main domain list.
- click the domain to open its detail page.
- switch the registrar lock off. the domain list shows lock status as a column, so you can confirm it actually flipped.
- WHOIS privacy is free and on by default at NameSilo; if the auth code doesn't arrive, turn it off temporarily and request again.
- check the registrant contact email — that's where the EPP code is sent.
- request the EPP/auth code from the domain's detail page.
- start the transfer at the gaining registrar with the code, then approve NameSilo's confirmation email to release early rather than waiting out the five-day window.
is it worth it?.
prices verified 10 August 2026 · methodology
Here is where NameSilo sits against the cheapest registrar we track, on the TLDs where the gap is widest. If none of your domains are on this list, the transfer probably is not worth your afternoon.
| TLD | NameSilo | cheapest we track | saving / yr | over 5 yrs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| .ai | £78.00 | Cloudflare £58.00 | £20.00 | £100.00 |
| .online | £32.00 | Porkbun £22.78 | £9.22 | £46.10 |
| .tech | £44.00 | Dynadot £35.00 | £9.00 | £45.00 |
| .de | £9.99 | Porkbun £3.22 | £6.77 | £33.85 |
| .co.uk | £10.50 | Porkbun £4.47 | £6.03 | £30.15 |
| .uk | £10.50 | Porkbun £4.47 | £6.03 | £30.15 |
| .dev | £14.50 | Cloudflare £8.57 | £5.93 | £29.65 |
| .app | £14.20 | Cloudflare £8.57 | £5.63 | £28.15 |
where to move it
There is no single right answer, because registrars price per TLD — the cheapest place for a .com is often not the cheapest for a .io. The honest approach is to check the TLD you are actually moving: browse renewal prices by TLD, or use the free price check on the exact domain.
One more thing worth doing before you transfer anything: confirm which registrar the domain is really at. Reseller and wholesale arrangements mean the name in a WHOIS record is often not the company billing you. The registrar lookup reads it straight from the registry.
questions people actually ask.
How long does a transfer away from NameSilo take?
Usually five to seven days. Once you submit the auth code at the new registrar, the losing registrar has five days to release the domain — approving the confirmation email yourself skips most of that wait. The domain keeps resolving throughout, provided you do not change nameservers mid-transfer.
Does transferring away from NameSilo cost money?
The gaining registrar charges one year's renewal to accept the transfer, and that year is added to your existing expiry rather than replacing it. So you are prepaying a year you were going to buy anyway, at the new registrar's price. Most registrars, including this one, do not charge a separate outbound fee.
Will my website or email go down during the transfer?
No, as long as you leave the nameservers alone. A registrar transfer moves who bills you and who manages the registration; it does not touch DNS records by itself. Change nameservers before or well after the transfer, never during it.
Why can't I transfer my domain yet?
ICANN blocks transfers for 60 days after a domain is registered, after a previous transfer, and after a change to the registrant contact details. If you have just edited the registrant name or email, that clock has probably restarted. There is no way to shorten it — you wait it out.
// stop checking one at a time
find every domain worth moving, in one pass.
Doing this domain by domain is how people give up halfway. Owndle imports your whole portfolio, works out the gap on each one, and ranks them by how much moving would actually save — then alerts you before each renewal so nothing lapses in the meantime.
start free — 10 domains →// no card · magic-link sign-in · alerts at 90/30/7/1 days