.dev Domains: Renewal Cost, Lifecycle & HTTPS Rules
.dev is Google Registry's developer-focused TLD, launched publicly in 2019. It is a fully standard ICANN gTLD with one hard technical rule that surprises new owners: every .dev domain is on the HSTS preload list, so it will not load over plain HTTP in modern browsers — ever.
Renewals are cheap, the lifecycle is textbook, and the audience is exactly what the label says.
- Registry operator
- Charleston Road Registry (Google Registry)
- Type
- New gTLD (ICANN-regulated)
- Typical annual renewal
- Typically $12-$20/yr at most registrars
- Minimum registration
- 1 year (max 10)
- Redemption / grace
- Registrar grace (0-45 days), 30-day redemption, 5-day pendingDelete
- RDAP / WHOIS
- Yes — standard gTLD RDAP
What .dev is and who uses it
.dev is operated by Charleston Road Registry, Google's registry subsidiary, and sold through normal registrar channels. Its registrant base is developers, developer tools, documentation sites, and project pages — a narrow audience, but one that treats the extension as credible by default. Google's own developer properties use it, which anchored that credibility early.
Renewal costs
Standard .dev names typically renew for $12-$20 per year at most registrars. Like most new gTLDs, .dev has registry premium tiers: certain short or high-value names carry elevated prices that recur at renewal, not just at registration. Always confirm the renewal rate on any premium-tier name before buying.
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The HTTPS requirement
The entire .dev zone is on the HSTS preload list shipped inside Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge. Browsers will refuse plain HTTP connections to any .dev domain and force HTTPS. Practically: you must have a valid TLS certificate before the site will load at all. This is invisible when hosting anywhere modern (certificates are automatic), but it breaks naive redirects, old internal tooling, and any use of .dev as a local development suffix — which was common before 2019 and is exactly what this rule ended.
What happens when a .dev domain expires
.dev follows the standard ICANN gTLD lifecycle with no registry quirks: a registrar auto-renew grace period of 0-45 days at the normal price, a 30-day redemptionPeriod with a restore fee (typically $70-$200), a 5-day pendingDelete, then the drop. Drop-catch competition on .dev is light compared with .com — genuinely good expired .dev names are occasionally still catchable at registration cost.
Transfer rules and gotchas
- •Standard EPP transfers adding one year; 60-day locks after registration and transfer.
- •Premium-tier renewal pricing follows the name across registrars — transferring does not reset it.
- •The HSTS rule applies to every subdomain too; there is no way to opt out for internal hosts.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does a .dev domain cost to renew?
Typically $12-$20 per year at most registrars for standard names. Registry premium names renew at elevated rates that persist every year, so check the renewal price rather than the first-year price.
Why does my .dev domain not work over HTTP?
The whole .dev TLD is on the browser HSTS preload list, so browsers force HTTPS for every .dev domain and subdomain. You need a valid TLS certificate before anything will load. There is no opt-out.
What happens when a .dev domain expires?
The standard gTLD sequence: registrar grace period of 0-45 days, 30-day redemptionPeriod with a restore fee, 5 days of pendingDelete, then the domain drops and becomes available for registration.