How much did .au domain prices go up on 1 October 2026?

Prices from auDA’s statement of 6 August 2026. Chill Domains sells .au domains, so we have an interest here. Our own prices are near the end, after the answers.

How much did .au domain prices go up?

auDA’s wholesale price for a .au domain rose by 86 cents a year before GST (about 95 cents with GST), from $8.64 to $9.50. That’s the amount accredited registrars pay for each year of a .au licence, and it rose by just under 10%.

auDA says its wholesale prices “are exclusive of GST”. The with-GST figures add 10%. None of these is a retail price: each provider sets its own.

Which .au domains does it cover, and when did it start?

Every .au domain the public can register, from 00:00 UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) on Thursday 1 October 2026. It applies to new registrations as well as renewals, since auDA’s price is set per licence, per year. auDA says the price applies to a licence “in any .au namespace” (any .au ending), so .com.au, .net.au, .org.au, .id.au, .asn.au and direct .au names (yourname.au) all moved together.

Standard time applied everywhere that morning, because daylight saving didn’t start until Sunday 4 October.

Why did auDA raise the price?

auDA says the price supports its work as a self-funding not-for-profit and its investment in the security and resilience of .au. Its statement of 6 August 2026 adds: “It incorporates a CPI increase and the QPI rebate.” CPI is the consumer price index, which tracks inflation.

auDA reviews the wholesale price every year. It also says the new price “remains below” that of comparable top-level domains (TLDs, endings such as .com). That comparison is auDA’s; we haven’t tested it.

What is auDA’s QPI rebate, and does it come to me?

No, it doesn’t come to you. auDA’s QPI Program, new from 1 October 2026, offers a rebate of up to 45 cents per licence per year to accredited registrars that meet “prescribed levels of quality, compliance and security”. It’s for registrars, not domain holders, and resellers don’t receive it directly.

As at 6 October 2026, auDA hadn’t published:

• what the detailed criteria are;
• which registrars qualify (it says it will report results “on an aggregated basis”); or
• whether the 45 cents is before or after GST.

So if you read that the rebate will make up for the rise, treat it as a guess.

One naming trap: the registry for .org (Public Interest Registry) introduced its own, separate Quality Performance Index for .org registrars in 2019. Everything here is about auDA’s.

Who sets the price you actually pay?

Your provider does. auDA sets the wholesale price. Identity Digital Australia, the registry operator that runs the .au registry, charges it to accredited registrars. Each registrar, and each reseller that sells through one, then sets its own retail price.

A registrar is a company accredited by auDA to register and manage .au names. A reseller sells and supports domains through a registrar, without being a registrar itself. Either one can be your provider: the company you pay.

That’s why the same .com.au costs different amounts in different places, even though the rules are the same everywhere. Registry, registrar, reseller: who does what explains each link in the chain.

Will my renewal go up, and by how much?

Only if your provider raises its price: if it passed auDA’s change on exactly, a one-year renewal costs about 95 cents more including GST. For longer terms, it adds up like this:

This is arithmetic on auDA’s figures, not a forecast of anyone’s retail price. With-GST figures are worked from 94.6 cents a year and rounded to the cent, so they aren’t exact multiples of 95 cents.

The table compares with the price that applied from 1 October 2025. If you last paid before then, for example on a two-year term, auDA’s earlier rises can count too: see the price history below. Two things follow:

• A much bigger jump isn’t auDA’s. Even counting all three rises since 2024, auDA’s price went up by about $1.89 a year with GST. If your yearly price went up by several dollars, the rest comes from pricing further down the chain (your provider, or the registrar it buys from), and it’s fair to ask your provider why.
• Years you’ve already paid for usually aren’t charged again. Providers normally charge the price on the day you pay, so the new price applies at your next renewal.

Why do some pages say $9.50 was last year’s price?

Because $9.50 is two different prices. From 1 October 2026 it’s the wholesale price before GST. Before that, it was roughly the wholesale price with GST: $8.64 plus 10% is $9.504.

So a page that says the .au wholesale price was $9.50 in 2025 isn’t necessarily wrong. It may be quoting the with-GST figure without saying so. Whenever you see $9.50, check two things: which year, and whether GST is in.

Hasn’t this happened before?

Yes. This is the third October in a row that auDA has raised the wholesale price. It has gone from $7.78 to $9.50 a year before GST since 2024, a rise of about 22% over two years.

Before 1 October 2024 the price was $7.78 before GST ($8.56 with GST). We haven’t checked earlier years. With-GST figures are rounded to the cent. In 2024, auDA gave “inflation-based cost pressures” as the reason.

If you last paid before 1 October 2025, for example on a two-year term, more than one of these rises falls between that payment and your next one. auDA’s share of the difference is then about $1.16 a year with GST if you last paid while the price was $8.45 (1 October 2024 to 30 September 2025), and about $1.89 if you last paid while it was $7.78.

A rise every year makes it easy to read last year’s news as this year’s. Check the year on anything you read about .au prices, including answers from AI (artificial intelligence) tools, which can repeat older figures.

Can I renew early to dodge the next rise?

Only within the last 90 days of your licence. auDA says .au licences “can be renewed up to 90 days prior to the licence expiry date”, for one to five years at a time. So “renew now for five years” only helps if your domain is already inside that window.

auDA reviews its price every year. No change for 2027 had been announced when we checked on 6 October 2026, and we won’t guess at one. For what it’s worth, the last three changes were announced in statements dated between late June and early August, each taking effect on 1 October.

Renewal is also when the details behind a .com.au, such as its ABN (Australian Business Number), are checked again. If your business has changed, read the ABN check at .com.au renewal before you renew. Renewal and expiry covers the renewal window itself.

How do I check what my next renewal will cost?

Sign in to your provider’s dashboard, or find your last renewal invoice, and work through these five checks. They cost nothing.

1. Find the renewal price

   Not the first-year or sale price. The number that matters now is what you’ll pay to renew.

2. Check for GST

   GST adds 10% to a price shown without it. Compare like with like.

3. Check the term

   If the price covers two or more years, divide it to get a yearly figure.

4. Compare with what you paid last time

   Up by about 95 cents a year with GST (a little more if you last paid before October 2025: see the history table)? That’s auDA’s change passed on. Up by much more? That comes from pricing further down the chain (your provider, or the registrar it buys from), not auDA, and it’s a fair thing to ask your provider about.

5. Check who’s asking

   Renewal reminders come from your current provider (the registrar or reseller you pay), not auDA. A “price rise” notice from a company you don’t deal with is another matter: see domain renewal scams in Australia.

If you decide to move, a transfer changes the company you pay, not the name or who holds the licence. Moving can’t avoid auDA’s rise, because every registrar pays the same wholesale price; what can differ is the rest of the price. Getting your .com.au domain password is the first step, and Transfers, locks and status codes walks through the rest.

What do .au domains cost at Chill Domains?

As at 6 October 2026, $20 a year inc GST for each of the five .au endings we sell.

Questions people ask

Terms in this guide

auDA

.au Domain Administration Ltd, the not-for-profit organisation that administers .au and sets the wholesale price of .au licences.

Registry operator

The company that runs a registry’s systems day to day. For .au that’s Identity Digital Australia, under contract to auDA.

Registrar

A company accredited to add and change names in a registry.

Reseller

A business that sells and supports domains through an accredited registrar, without being a registrar itself.

Licence

What you actually hold when you register a .au domain: the right to use the name for a set period.

Renewal

Paying for another term so you keep the name. For .au that’s usually done before the licence expires, but auDA also allows renewal in a 30-day grace period after expiry.

Fake renewal notice

A letter or email dressed up as a renewal invoice from a company you’ve never dealt with.

Every term, in full, is in the glossary.

Sources

All read on 6 October 2026, except where marked.

• Introduction of .au registrar quality initiative and wholesale pricing update (auDA, statement dated 6 August 2026): the new price, when it took effect, the QPI Program, the annual review and auDA’s reasons.
• Wholesale .au domain pricing (auDA): the price applies in any .au namespace, excludes GST and is charged to accredited registrars by Identity Digital Australia; the rebate amount.
• Statement on .au domain name licence wholesale price (auDA, 24 June 2025): the 2025 change.
• .au domain name licence wholesale price (auDA, statement dated 23 July 2024): the 2024 change and its reason.
• How to renew your .au domain name (auDA): licence terms of one to five years, the 90-day early-renewal window, the 30-day grace period after expiry, and reminders coming from your provider (re-checked 7 October 2026).
• Goods and services tax (GST) (Australian Taxation Office): GST is 10%. This page wouldn’t load for us directly, so we confirmed its title and address by search.
• Public Interest Registry Proudly Introduces Its New Quality Performance Index (Public Interest Registry, 10 June 2019): the separate .org program with the same name (read 7 October 2026).

General information, not financial or legal advice. Prices are as at the dates shown; check your own provider’s terms.

Keep reading

• Domain renewal scams in Australia: how to tell a real renewal notice from a fake one.
• The ABN check at .com.au renewal: what gets checked when you renew.
• .com.au vs .au vs .com: choosing an ending, and what each costs to keep.
• Do you need the .au as well?: what a second name adds.
• Get your .com.au domain password: the first step if you decide to move provider.
• Registry, registrar, reseller: who does what: the chain behind every price.
• Renewal and expiry: the renewal window, and what happens if a name lapses.