# Fees URL: https://docs.arcns.io/pricing/ > Pay once, own forever — no renewals. How ArcNS pricing works — a one-time registration in USDC priced by name length and namespace, an optional tokenize fee for @handle, and the 2% marketplace fee once the marketplace ships. ArcNS is designed to be simple: **you pay once and own your name forever.** There are no renewals, no subscriptions, and no expiry dates, in any of the three namespaces (`@handle`, `.arc`, `.circle`). Here's the full picture. > **Note** > Every figure on this page is the on-chain pricing config the contracts read (`ArcNSPriceOracle`, mirrored in `docs/pricing-tiers.json` in the repository), and the launch prices were checked against live `/quote` answers on 2026-09-09: `@alice` 10 USDC, `alice.arc` 5 USDC, `@alexander` 5 USDC. The app and the API always show the live figure before you pay. ## One-time registration [#one-time-registration] Registering a name is a **single, one-time payment** in **USDC** — Arc's own gas and settlement asset, so one balance covers both the fee and the price. After that, the name is yours to keep; you never pay again to hold it. > **Note** > Because there's no renewal, your name can't lapse and can't be snatched by someone else because you missed a payment. That permanence is the whole point of a name people send money to. ### Priced by length [#priced-by-length] Shorter names cost more. Here's the current **launch price** at every length for `@handle` — one payment to register, plus an optional one-time fee if you ever want to tokenize the handle: | Length | Tier | Register (launch price, one-time) | Tokenize (optional) | | -------------- | --------- | --------------------------------- | ------------------- | | 1 character | Legendary | 25,000 USDC | +20 USDC | | 2 characters | Uncommon | 2,500 USDC | +15 USDC | | 3 characters | Uncommon | 250 USDC | +10 USDC | | 4 characters | Uncommon | 50 USDC | +3 USDC | | 5 characters | Common | 10 USDC | +1 USDC | | 6–9 characters | Common | 5 USDC | +0.75 USDC | | 10+ characters | Common | 2.5 USDC | +0.5 USDC | > **Warning** > **These are launch prices — 25% of the full ("ceiling") price.** Each length's ceiling is 100,000 / 10,000 / 1,000 / 200 / 40 / 20 / 10 USDC (same row order). The price climbs on **two independent dials that multiply together**: elapsed time since the namespace launched (2026-09-06), and how many `@handle` names have been sold — each dial starts at 50% and steps up 12.5 points every 91 days (time) or every 500 paid registrations (volume), capping at 100%. Because you pay once and own the name forever, **registering earlier locks in a lower price** — a name registered today never costs more later. ### `.arc` and `.circle` pricing [#arc-and-circle-pricing] The two TLD namespaces share the same length-tier shape at half of `@handle`'s ceiling per length: launch prices of 12,500 / 1,250 / 125 / 25 / 5 / 2.5 / 1.25 USDC for lengths 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6–9 / 10+, with ceilings of 50,000 / 5,000 / 500 / 100 / 20 / 10 / 5. `.circle` is priced identically to `.arc`. A `.arc` or `.circle` name is an ERC-721 token from the moment it's registered (the verbatim ENS registrar), so there is no tokenize fee for a TLD name. > **Note** > Prices are set on chain and read live — the exact figure is always shown in the app and by `GET /quote/:name` before you confirm, so you never pay anything you haven't seen. Gas on Arc is paid in the same USDC; the two transactions of a registration (commit, then register) each cost a little gas on top of the price. ## Reserved names [#reserved-names] Some names aren't available for ordinary registration. At genesis, **20,307 reserved names** were minted to the ArcNS treasury in each of the three namespaces — the same list across `@handle`, `.arc` and `.circle` — and resolve today to the treasury as their controller with no payment address set. Three things can happen to a reserved name: * **Blocked outright.** System words, lookalike variants and a profanity list — never registrable by anyone, including us. This is the impersonation-risk tier. * **Released free to the rightful holder.** Trademarks, tickers and well-known identities are held, not sold: a company proves it controls its domain (the app's [claim page](https://app.arcns.io/claim) verifies a DNS record), a person is verified by hand, and the name is released at no charge. Charging someone for their own name would be exactly the behavior this list exists to prevent. * **Sellable as premium inventory** — short names and sought-after words — through the marketplace at a multiplier over the length price, rather than by ordinary registration. The marketplace is **not live yet** (see [What you can do](/features/#not-live-yet)), so this tier is simply held for now. ## The 2% marketplace fee [#the-2-marketplace-fee] When a name is **sold** through `ArcNSMarket` — a fixed-price listing, an accepted offer, or an auction — a **2% fee** applies to the sale. If you're just registering and holding your own name, this never touches you; it only applies when a name changes hands through a sale. `ArcNSMarket` is already **deployed and configured on Arc testnet**, with sales fees flowing to the treasury — but the app's `/marketplace` page is still behind a feature flag that hasn't been switched on yet (see [What you can do](/features/#not-live-yet)), so no sale can happen through the app today; the fee is recorded here because it is fixed in the same pricing config as everything else. ## Optional: tokenizing a `@handle` [#optional-tokenizing-a-handle] A `@handle` is **soulbound by default**: it moves only through an explicit `transfer` call by its owner, through recovery, or (once the marketplace ships) a sale — not like an ordinary token. Turning it into a fully transferable, standard ERC-721 (so it can move through any NFT tooling) is **entirely optional** and carries its own **separate one-time fee** (the "Tokenize" column above — also priced by length, and much smaller than registration). Most holders never need this. If you never tokenize, you never pay it. > **Warning** > Tokenizing is a **one-way step**: it permanently disables the on-chain **recovery** option for that handle (recovery and "the NFT holder is simply the owner" are mutually exclusive). See [What you can do](/features/#a-safety-net). `.arc` and `.circle` names skip this entirely — they're ERC-721 from registration. ## Registering through the API [#registering-through-the-api] Agents that register through [registration-as-a-service](/api/#registration-as-a-service) pay the same on-chain price **plus the gas of the two transactions and a small margin**, in one x402 payment; the `402` challenge states the exact total before anything is settled. On testnet the gas component is visible in that total, because Arc's gas floor is 20 Gwei in USDC. ## At a glance [#at-a-glance] | What | Cost | When | | ------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------- | | Register a name | One-time, in USDC, priced by length and namespace (tables above) | Once, when you register it | | Hold your name | **Free forever** | No renewals, ever | | Tokenize a `@handle` (optional) | Separate one-time fee (table above) | Only if you choose to; not applicable to `.arc` / `.circle` | | Sell a name on the marketplace | 2% of the sale | Only when it sells — marketplace not live yet | > **Note** > Whatever you're about to pay is always shown before you confirm. Nothing is charged without you approving it in your wallet first. ## Questions [#questions] Questions: [support@arcns.io](mailto:support@arcns.io).