How do I turn off autorenewal/cancel my domain name?

Domain names purchased through us are automatically set to auto-renew. This is because it's much worse to lose a domain you wanted to keep than to pay the $6-12 year registration fee for a domain you meant to drop.

If you no longer want a domain name, you can turn off auto-renewal in the Hub. You need to turn off auto-renewal at least 72 hours before your domain name is due to renew to stop it from renewing. Turning off auto-renewal is something you do on a per-domain basis and does not affect your web hosting plan or hosting costs.

Turning off auto-renewal means that once the domain reaches its expiry date, you won't be charged for the renewal and you'll no longer be able to use it (until that date arrives, you are still the owner). Domains then typically go through a grace period (where you can retain your domain but at a higher cost) and eventually are released altogether, becoming available for someone else to register.

It's not always possible for you to be the person that re-registers it, as many companies try to register dropped domains as soon as possible using automated scripts, and some registrars send them to auction first. Domains can be considered valuable for their backlinks, not just their name, so if your domain has any age and backlinks, it could be snatched up by someone else very quickly rather than you just being able to re-register it a few months down the line.

For these reasons, we strongly recommend only turning off autorenewal if you're completely sure you don't want to keep your domain anymore. It's much easier and cheaper to keep hold of a domain name you like or may want to use again in the future, rather than letting it go and regretting not being able to get it back or seeing it listed for hundreds/thousands by a reseller.

If you still want your website to be online, i.e. you want to rebrand/change the name, please contact our support team and they'll help you with the switch. (Side note: Without any domain name at all, people won't able to access your website but you'll still have your files if you keep your web hosting, which is separate).

If you rebranded in the past and have an old domain name redirecting to your new one, turning off auto-renewal will break the redirect when the domain name expires. If you want to let the old domain name go, we recommend contacting as many people linking to that domain name as you can and asking them to update their links to your new domain name.

To turn off auto-renewal in the Hub and stop your domain renewing:

  1. Head to the Client Area of the Hub by following this link: https://hub.lyricalhost.com/clientarea.php

  2. Click "Domains" to view a list of your domains.

  3. Click the wrench/spanner icon to the right of the domain name you want to change.

  4. Click "Auto Renew" in the sidebar.

  5. Click "Disable Autorenew." The status should then change to "Auto Renew: Disabled."
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