The True Cost of Domain Portfolio Neglect: Real Numbers
Last month, I got an email notification for a €15 charge from Namecheap. I had no idea what it was for. Turned out, I'd been auto-renewing "bird.contact" for three years. A random domain I bought.
That got me thinking: how much am I actually wasting on domains?
So I did something slightly obsessive. I reached out to my network and analyzed domain portfolios from 20+ people—founders, agency owners, side hustlers, and chronic project starters. What I found was pretty eye-opening.
What Most Domain Portfolios Actually Look Like
Here's the reality for the average person managing their own domains:
- 23 domains sitting across 3-4 different registrars (GoDaddy, Namecheap, Google Domains, etc.)
- 6-7 domains they completely forgot about or haven't used in over a year
- Average cost per domain: €18.50/year (including privacy protection and the occasional price hike)
Do the math: that's €425/year just in domain renewals. And here's the kicker - €118 of that is going toward domains that provide exactly zero value.
That's 28% waste. Every year. On autopilot.
Three Real Stories (Names Changed, Numbers Aren't)
Sarah, Startup Founder
Sarah registered 15 domains between 2022 and 2024. Different project ideas, variations of brand names, "just in case" purchases. Most never went anywhere.
She assumed she'd cancelled the ones she didn't use. She hadn't.
When she finally audited her accounts: 8 unused domains, still renewing. €180/year down the drain for 18 months before she noticed. Total damage: €270.
Her quote: "I felt like an idiot. But also, who actually remembers to check this stuff?"
Marcus, Agency Owner
Marcus runs a small digital agency. They manage about 30 client domains, plus their own company domains and side projects. No central system, just a mess of logins across four registrars.
The problem: they were renewing domains for clients who'd left years ago. They were also paying for domains they thought they'd transferred but hadn't.
The tally: 12 unused domains (€220/year) plus 4 client domain errors (€80/year). Total annual waste: €300.
"We pride ourselves on being organized with client work," he told me. "But our own domain house was a disaster."
Rick, Freelance Webdesigner
Rick's rule: every new idea gets a domain. He's registered 101 domains over the past five years. Great for capturing inspiration, terrible for the budget when 82 of those projects never launched or died quickly.
Annual waste: €802 Three-year total: €2,406
"I know it sounds dumb, but I kept thinking I'd revive them. I never did."
What This Looks Like Over Five Years
Let's track a realistic scenario—someone who starts with 20 domains and gradually accumulates more:
Year 1: 20 domains, 4 unused → €74 wasted Year 2: 25 domains, 7 unused → €130 wasted (cumulative: €204) Year 3: 28 domains, 10 unused → €185 wasted (cumulative: €389) Year 4: 30 domains, 12 unused → €222 wasted (cumulative: €611) Year 5: 32 domains, 14 unused → €259 wasted (cumulative: €870)
Total five-year waste: €870 on domains providing no value.
What else could you do with €870?
- Fund a proper ad campaign
- Pay for a year of quality hosting
- Hire a freelancer for a weekend project
- Just... not waste it on domains you don't use
The People Who Actually Fixed This
I talked to several people who got their domain situation under control. Here's what changed:
Immediate impact (first month):
- Cancelled 25-30% of domains and got instant savings
- Consolidated to one or two registrars for a clearer overview (and sometimes better rates)
- Set up a simple tracking system so no more surprise charges
Longer term (over the year):
- Actually knew what they owned
- Made intentional decisions about renewals
- Stopped the slow bleed of forgotten domains
- Saved 5-7 hours they used to spend hunting down information
One person told me: "It felt like finally cleaning out a junk drawer. You don't realize how much mental space it was taking up."
Your Actual Domain Cost (The Real Formula)
Here's how to figure out what you're really spending:
- List everything. Check every registrar, every account, every card statement.
- Mark the dead weight. Domains unused in the last 12 months.
- Do the math. Multiply unused domains by their average cost.
For most people managing their own domains, they're wasting €100-300 per year on domains that do nothing.
What to Actually Do About It
Don't overcomplicate this:
- This week: Pull up every registrar account and list what you own
- Be honest: Which domains haven't you touched in a year?
- Cancel the dead ones: Do it before they auto-renew
- Set up basic tracking: Spreadsheet, tool, whatever. Just something so you can see everything in one place
- Calendar reminders: 30 days before renewals, so you can make intentional choices
The goal isn't perfection. It's just knowing what you have and making conscious decisions instead of letting autopay quietly drain your account.
Look, nobody wakes up excited to audit their domain portfolio. But that's exactly why unused domains pile up - we avoid the boring admin work until it becomes expensive boring admin work.
The good news? You can fix this in an afternoon. And unlike most business optimizations, the ROI is immediate and measurable.
Stop letting domains you don't use quietly drain your budget. Deal with it once, properly, and move on.