A .ai starts around $69 to register and $70 a year to renew, with a best three-year total of $210 at Cloudflare. No ICANN fee, no promo games. But the per-year price means the renewal math matters more here than anywhere.
The short version
A .ai costs roughly $69 to $83 for the first year depending on registrar, renews between $70 and $93, and the cheapest honest three-year total is $210 at Cloudflare. There are no $0.99 promos here and no traps: every registrar prices .ai within a $25 band because the registry gives them no room to play games.
That makes .ai the simplest ending to shop for and the easiest to overspend on. The whole comparison fits in one line: register at Spaceship for $68.98, or pay $210 over three years at Cloudflare and never think about it again.
No ICANN fee, no promo codes
.ai is a country-code ending administered for Anguilla, so the $0.18 ICANN fee that applies to .com and friends does not exist here. None of the six tracked registrars currently lists a promo code for .ai either.
Both facts cut the same way: the price you see is the price, at every registrar. Comparison shopping still matters. $68.98 versus $82.70 in year one is real money. But there is nothing hidden to uncover.
The renewal math matters more at $70 a year
On a $10 ending, picking the wrong registrar costs you a few dollars. On .ai, the spread between the cheapest renewal ($70 at Cloudflare) and the priciest ($92.98 at Namecheap) is nearly $23 a year, or $69 over three years. That is a second domain.
Because .ai has no promo distortions, the rule is boring and reliable: the registrar with the cheapest renewal wins the three-year total. Today that is Cloudflare at $210, with Dynadot next at $224.97.
Transfer before you renew
Already holding a .ai somewhere expensive? Transfers run from $69.98 at Spaceship to $165.09 at Porkbun, and a transfer includes a year of renewal. Moving a .ai from a $93-a-year registrar to Cloudflare pays for its own paperwork in the first year.
Check the transfer column on the .ai page before your renewal date, not after. Registrars rarely remind you that leaving is an option.
Questions this article answers
What is the cheapest registrar for .ai over 3 years?
Cloudflare, at $210 total: roughly $70 a year with no markup. Spaceship has the cheapest first year at $68.98, but Cloudflare wins years two and three.
Does .ai charge an ICANN fee?
No. .ai is a ccTLD run for Anguilla, so the $0.18 ICANN fee does not apply. The prices you see are the whole price.
Why is .ai so much more expensive than .com?
Registry pricing. The .ai registry charges registrars far more per year than Verisign charges for .com, and that flows straight through: every registrar prices .ai between roughly $69 and $93 a year.