No, you don't need a domain name to start a website for your business. A free builder address or a page like in.bio/yourname works today, and Google's Business Profile doesn't ask you to own a domain. Buy one when you want email at your own address, a name to paint on the van, or an address you can take from one website tool to the next. From 1 November 2026, the fees behind every .com add up to $11.17 a year, and builder "free domains" cover only the first year.
Checked October 2026 against ICANN's expiry and transfer rules, Verisign's .com fee notice, Google's Business Profile guidelines, and the registrar and builder pages named below.
Starting without one
Every free website builder puts you on its own domain. Wix gives a free site an address like siteprefix.wixsite.com/siteaddress, WordPress.com yoursite.wordpress.com, Webflow a webflow.io address, and Square Online a subdomain ending in square.site. So yes, free hosting without a domain exists: it's free because the address belongs to the builder. Wix and WordPress.com also show their own ads on free sites.
A link in bio page works the same way. InBio gets you a page at in.bio/yourname in minutes, with your phone number as a tap-to-call icon, a Google map, your links and your photos. We make InBio.
Google's Business Profile treats the website field as optional, and its rule is about the page:
"Provide a website that represents your individual business location."
"Do not provide phone numbers or URLs that redirect or "refer" users to landing pages or phone numbers other than those of the actual business, including pages created on social media sites."
Google, "Guidelines for representing your business on Google"
Google doesn't say whether an address on someone else's domain counts. Nothing in the rule asks you to own one. More on the field in Google Business Profile website.
When a domain earns its keep
Email at your own address. hello@joesplumbing.com needs a domain. Receiving mail on it can be free: Cloudflare Email Routing forwards it to the inbox you already use, on Cloudflare's free plan, if Cloudflare runs the domain's DNS settings. It only receives. To send from that address as well, you need a paid mailbox service such as Google Workspace.
Print and signs. joesplumbing.com on the side of the van is short enough to remember at a red light. A long builder address isn't.
An address you can move. A free subdomain belongs to the builder. Leave Wix and your wixsite.com address stays behind, along with every business card, directory listing and local news link that points at it. Your own domain goes with you: point it at the new site and all of them keep working. If you plan a bigger site with service pages and a blog, start it on an address you own.
What a .com costs, first year and every year after
Verisign, which runs .com, raises its wholesale fee from $10.26 to $10.97 a year on 1 November 2026, for new names and renewals (Verisign's Q1 2026 results). ICANN adds $0.20 a year. That $11.17 is the floor: every registrar pays it, every year.
| Where you buy it | First year | Every year after |
|---|---|---|
| Cloudflare Registrar | About $11.17 from 1 Nov 2026 | The same: Cloudflare charges what the registry and ICANN charge |
| WordPress.com | Free with an annual plan, otherwise $13 | $13, "independent of the plan" |
| Squarespace | Free with an annual website plan | Its "standard rate", not published on its pricing page |
| Wix | Free with your first Premium plan, for a new domain bought from Wix | Not published on its plans page |
Cloudflare promises no markup but doesn't list a .com price; the figure above is the two fees added together. WordPress.com's $13 is its price for new names. Outside the US, VAT or GST is added, and country endings like .co.uk, .ca and .com.au have their own registries and prices.
The catch in a "free domain"
A free first year is a real saving, and it's tied to a plan you pay for. Squarespace's pricing page says names registered through the offer "will renew at our standard rate." Wix's voucher covers your first Premium plan and a new domain bought from Wix.
The catch shows when you leave. Wix's blog says that if you cancel the plan, the site "reverts to a free Wix site, your custom domain connection is removed and Wix ads appear." The domain, meanwhile, "will continue to renew according to its own renewal settings unless you turn off auto-renew separately."
You can keep the name where it is and point it at your next site, or move it to another registrar. ICANN lets a registrar refuse a transfer in the first 60 days after registration, so plan a move after that.
Turn on auto-renew: what happens when a domain lapses
ICANN sets minimums for .com and the other generic endings. Your registrar must remind you at least twice before the name expires. After expiry, you can still renew for at least eight days, but your site and email may stop working in that time.
If the name isn't renewed, the registrar deletes the registration. A 30-day redemption period follows, in which you can usually still get the name back, for a fee. Past that, it's no longer yours to recover.
Keep the card on file current, and send the reminders to an inbox that doesn't depend on the domain. Country endings follow their own registry's rules.
Connect the domain to a builder, or forward it to your page
InBio pages can't use a custom domain; they live at in.bio/yourname.
If you want your own domain on the site itself, connect it to a builder that supports one: Wix and Squarespace on paid plans, Webflow from its Basic plan, or Google Sites with a www address.
If you mainly want the domain for print and email, forward it instead. Cloudflare's redirect rules, free on every Cloudflare plan, send anyone who types joesplumbing.com on to the page you choose, such as in.bio/joesplumbing. Other registrars call this URL forwarding. Your email keeps running on the domain either way.
One caution: in your Google Business Profile, enter the page's real address, not the forwarding domain. Google's rule names URLs that "redirect", and there's nothing to gain by testing it.
Buy it now, or wait
Buy it now if you're about to print signs, letter a van or hand out cards, or you want email at your own name. Pick a registrar that shows the renewal price before you pay. Cloudflare charges cost if you're happy to run the domain's DNS there; WordPress.com lists $13 a year.
Wait if you're testing an idea, or your customers find you on Google Maps and Instagram and then call. A free builder address or a page at in.bio/yourname does that job today. The trade-off is that links other sites give you point at an address you don't own.
For the bigger picture, from one page to a full site, read how to make a website for your business. The whole series is in A website for your business.
Once you've bought it:
- Switch on auto-renew.
- Set up email on it, or forwarding to the inbox you use.
- Connect it to your site, or forward it to your page.
- If your site's address changed, update the website field on your Business Profile. Then print.
