Domain vs hosting vs SSL: what renews when (a plain-English guide for clients)
By the RenewRoster team · · 5 min read
If you have a website, you'll see up to three different renewal bills each year, often from three different companies. They're easy to mix up, and each one breaks something different if it's missed. This page explains them in plain English.
The short version
| What it is | Typical renewal | What breaks if it lapses | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Domain name | Your address on the internet (yourbusiness.com) | Every 1 to 10 years, most often yearly | Website and email stop working |
| Hosting | The computer that stores and serves your website | Monthly or yearly | Website goes offline; email too if it's hosted there |
| SSL certificate | The padlock that makes your site load over https | Often automatic every 60 to 90 days; paid certificates up to a year | Browsers show a "Not secure" warning and many visitors leave |
The domain name: your address
The domain is the name people type to find you. You don't buy it outright; you rent it from a registrar (for example GoDaddy, Namecheap, Cloudflare or Spaceship) for one or more years at a time.
- Who it should belong to: you, the business. Even if your agency manages it, the domain should be registered in your business's name.
- What a renewal costs: usually the same order of magnitude every year, though some registrars charge more on renewal than in the first year.
- If it lapses: your website and your email addresses at that domain stop working. There's usually a short grace period to renew, then a more expensive recovery period, and after that someone else can register it. See what happens when a domain expires.
Hosting: where the website lives
Hosting is the server that runs your website. It might be a hosting company, a website builder subscription, or your agency's own hosting plan.
- How it renews: monthly or yearly, usually by card.
- If it lapses: the site goes offline. If your email is with the same company, that can stop too.
- Worth knowing: hosting and the domain are often with different companies. Paying your hosting bill does not renew your domain.
The SSL certificate: the padlock
The SSL certificate proves your site is really yours and encrypts the connection. Without a valid one, browsers warn visitors that your site is "Not secure".
- How it renews: most hosts now issue free certificates that renew automatically every couple of months. Paid certificates renew yearly. Certificate lifetimes across the industry are getting shorter over the next few years, so automatic renewal matters more and more.
- If it lapses: the site still exists, but visitors see a full-page warning. Online forms and checkouts effectively stop working.
- Worth knowing: automatic renewal can fail quietly, for example after a DNS or hosting change.
Who usually pays for what
It depends on your agreement with your agency. The three common setups:
- You own and pay for everything. Your agency may remind you, but the bills and the registrar account are yours.
- You own it, your agency manages it. The account is in your name; your agency has access and handles renewals.
- Your agency registers and bills you back. The renewal shows up on your agency invoice.
If you're not sure which applies to you, ask your agency. It should be written into your contract.
Three things you can do today
- Find out where your domain is registered and when it expires. Your agency can tell you, or you can check it yourself with a free domain and SSL expiry check.
- Check the card on file with your registrar and hosting company hasn't expired.
- Make sure renewal emails reach someone who reads them. Registrar emails go to the account's contact address, which is often an old employee's inbox.
For agencies: send this page to clients when they ask "what's this bill for?". RenewRoster tracks every client's domain and SSL expiry dates and sends reminders at 60, 30, 14 and 3 days, under your agency's name on paid plans. Free for 5 domains.
Let RenewRoster watch every renewal for you
RenewRoster tracks every client's domain and SSL expiry dates, sends reminders at 60, 30, 14 and 3 days (under your agency's brand if you like) and gives you a monthly renewals report. Free for 5 domains, no card needed.