---
title: Porkbun
slug: porkbun
url: "https://toolweight.com/options/porkbun"
homepage: "https://porkbun.com/"
categories: domain-registrars, domain-api-providers
last_verified: 2026-07-23
license: CC-BY-4.0
---

# Porkbun

> Near-cost pricing with free privacy, SSL and forwarding, and a clean exit.

Porkbun is run by Top Level Design, the registry operator behind .design, .ink and .wiki, which is part of why its pricing sits unusually close to wholesale. Free WHOIS privacy, free SSL, free email forwarding and one-click DNSSEC are standard rather than upsells. The interface is idiosyncratic and the brand is deliberately silly, but the transfer-out path is one of the cleanest in the category.

## Identity

|  |  |
| --- | --- |
| Name | Porkbun |
| Company | Top Level Design |
| One-liner | Near-cost pricing with free privacy, SSL and forwarding, and a clean exit. |
| Site | https://porkbun.com/ |
| Docs | https://porkbun.com/api/json/v3/documentation |
| Founded | 2014 |
| Open source | No |
| Brand | https://toolweight.com/vendors/Porkbun |
| Compared in | 2 |

## Where it is compared

### [Domain registrars](https://toolweight.com/compare/domain-registrars)
Ranked **#1 of 15** on default weights.
| Field | Value | Confidence | Verified | Source | Note |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Free WHOIS privacy | ● | Vendor-claimed | 2026-06-30 | https://porkbun.com/ | - |
| DNSSEC | ● | Inferred | - | - | - |
| DNS hosting | standard | Inferred | - | - | - |
| Email forwarding | ● | Vendor-claimed | 2026-06-30 | https://porkbun.com/ | Free forwarding; paid mailboxes sold separately. |
| Bulk management | ● | Inferred | - | - | - |
| TLDs offered | 600 TLDs | Inferred | - | - | Approximate; one of the broader retail catalogues. |
| Public API | ● | Inferred | - | - | - |
| Support quality | 5 | Community-reported | - | - | Consistently reported as fast and technically literate over email and chat. |
| .com first year | $11.98 /yr | Inferred | - | - | Approximate. Porkbun prices .com near cost year-round rather than discounting year one, and has passed through each Verisign increase. |
| .com renewal | $11.98 /yr | Inferred | - | - | Approximate; registration and renewal are the same price on .com. |
| Renewal jump | $0 /yr | Inferred | - | - | Promotional pricing appears on newer TLDs, not on .com. |
| At-cost pricing | ◐ | Inferred | - | - | A thin margin above wholesale, close to cost, but not cost. |
| Fee transparency | ● | Inferred | - | - | - |
| .com.au renewal | - | Unknown | - | - | We have not confirmed whether .com.au is sold, or at what price. |
| Transfer-out friction | 1 | Community-reported | - | - | Unlock toggle and auth code sit together in the domain management panel; no retention interstitial. |
| Auth code delivery | instant-dashboard | Inferred | - | - | - |
| Registry lock | ○ | Inferred | - | - | - |
| 2FA methods | totp | Inferred | - | - | - |
| .au accredited | - | Unknown | - | - | - |
| Account recovery | 4 | Inferred | - | - | - |
| Domains managed | - | Unknown | - | - | - |
| Ownership | registry-affiliated | Inferred | - | - | Operated by Top Level Design, the registry behind .design, .ink and .wiki. |
| Upsell aggression | 1 | Inferred | - | - | - |
| Ad parking | ○ | Inferred | - | - | - |
| Positioning | Everything the expensive registrars charge extra for, included. | Inferred | - | - | - |

**Verdict.** The best general-purpose registrar on this page and the right default for anyone who does not want their domains inside Cloudflare. Near-cost pricing with no renewal cliff, everything bundled, and an exit that takes ninety seconds.

### [Domain APIs](https://toolweight.com/compare/domain-api-providers)
Ranked **#15 of 15** on default weights.
| Field | Value | Confidence | Verified | Source | Note |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Spend to first call | $0  up front | Vendor-claimed | 2026-07-23 | https://porkbun.com/api/json/v3/documentation | Key and secret are generated free from account settings. API access must then be enabled per domain before domain-level calls work. |
| Sandbox / OTE | ○ | Inferred | - | - | There is a ping endpoint for checking credentials, nothing that simulates a registration. |
| Reseller contract | ○ | Inferred | - | - | - |
| Min prepaid balance | $0  float | Inferred | - | - | - |
| ICANN accredited | ● | Inferred | - | - | - |
| API auth | api-key | Vendor-claimed | 2026-07-23 | https://porkbun.com/api/json/v3/documentation | apikey plus secretapikey in the JSON body of every request. |
| TLDs offered | 500  TLDs | Inferred | - | - | - |
| .au support | ○ | Inferred | - | - | The catalogue is wide but does not carry .au, and there is no eligibility-field support anywhere in the API. |
| Register endpoint | - | Unknown | - | - | The documented v3 surface covers pricing, availability, nameservers, DNS, URL forwarding and SSL. A create/register endpoint is not clearly documented and is widely reported as absent, confirm before designing around it. |
| Bulk availability | ○ | Community-reported | - | - | One name per check call, and the call is throttled to roughly one every ten seconds. |
| Suggestion API | ○ | Inferred | - | - | - |
| Transfer in/out | ○ | Inferred | - | - | - |
| DNS record API | ● | Vendor-claimed | 2026-07-23 | https://porkbun.com/api/json/v3/documentation | Per-record create, edit and delete, including retrieval by type and subdomain. The strongest part of the API. |
| EPP code via API | ○ | Inferred | - | - | - |
| Auto-renew control | ○ | Inferred | - | - | - |
| Webhooks / events | ○ | Inferred | - | - | - |
| Contact model | account-default | Inferred | - | - | Registrant details come from the account; there is no contact-object model for registering on someone else's behalf. |
| Privacy via API | free-and-default | Vendor-claimed | 2026-07-23 | https://porkbun.com/api/json/v3/documentation | - |
| Rate limit | 6  req/min | Community-reported | - | - | Reflects the availability check, which is the binding limit at roughly one call per ten seconds. Other endpoints are looser but undocumented. |
| Pricing basis | retail | Inferred | - | - | - |
| Renewal price in API | ● | Vendor-claimed | 2026-07-23 | https://porkbun.com/api/json/v3/documentation | The pricing endpoint needs no authentication and returns registration, renewal and transfer prices for the whole catalogue. |
| .com renewal | $11.06 /yr | Inferred | - | - | Approximate. |
| MCP server | ○ | Inferred | - | - | - |
| Machine-readable spec | ○ | Inferred | - | - | - |
| API since | 2019 | Inferred | - | - | - |
| Positioning | Cheap retail registrar whose API exists mainly so developers can automate DNS. | Inferred | - | - | - |

**Verdict.** The best free pricing and DNS API in the category, attached to a registration story that may not exist. Superb as a price oracle and as DNS control for names you already own; verify the create path before you build a signup flow on it.

## Alternatives

- [Dynadot](https://toolweight.com/options/dynadot), Domainer-oriented registrar with strong bulk tools and a built-in marketplace.
- [Gandi](https://toolweight.com/options/gandi), European registrar with huge TLD breadth and post-2023 premium pricing.
- [GoDaddy](https://toolweight.com/options/godaddy), The default registrar for people who have never compared registrars.
- [Namecheap](https://toolweight.com/options/namecheap), The mainstream cheap registrar: heavy first-year discounts, higher renewals.
- [NameSilo](https://toolweight.com/options/namesilo), Flat renewals, free privacy and portfolio tooling for people holding hundreds.
- [Netim](https://toolweight.com/options/netim), French registrar with unusually deep ccTLD coverage and corporate controls.
- [Synergy Wholesale](https://toolweight.com/options/synergy-wholesale), Australian wholesale registrar, near-cost .au if you can open an account.
- [Cloudflare Registrar](https://toolweight.com/options/cloudflare-registrar), At-cost registration bolted to Cloudflare DNS, no markup, ever.
- [Crazy Domains](https://toolweight.com/options/crazy-domains), Australian bait pricing: single-digit first year, then several times that.
- [Direct EPP (own accreditation)](https://toolweight.com/options/direct-epp), Become the registrar: ICANN accreditation plus an EPP client per registry
- [Hexonet](https://toolweight.com/options/hexonet), Wholesale platform with 1,000+ TLDs, bulk checks and a free OT&E on signup
- [Hover](https://toolweight.com/options/hover), Expensive, calm and upsell-free, with the best phone support in the category.

## Licence and attribution

Data from toolweight (https://toolweight.com), licensed CC-BY-4.0.

- Licence: [CC-BY-4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
- Canonical HTML: https://toolweight.com/options/porkbun
- Machine-readable: https://toolweight.com/options/porkbun.md · https://toolweight.com/api/v1 · https://toolweight.com/mcp
- toolweight takes no affiliate revenue and sells no placements. Corrections: https://toolweight.com/suggest