Lease · flat $100/month
Lease any domain in our library for $100/month.
Take the domain blank. Point it at your own site, your team’s work, your agency’s deliverable — whatever you want to build. As long as you keep paying, the domain is yours to use. Cancel anytime; the domain returns to inventory at the end of your billing cycle.
How the lease works.
Flat price, universal across every eligible domain in the library. The pricing collision with Studio’s $100 entry tier resolves cleanly: Studio is “we build you a beautiful site, you don’t think about the domain.” Lease is “you take the domain, you build the site yourself or with anyone you choose.” Different products, same floor, you self-select.
- Browse the library and pick a domain.
- Click Lease — $100/month. Short gate form: name, email, intended use, brand or organization (4 fields, ~30 seconds).
- Brian reviews. Auto-approval rules apply to leases (high-confidence approvals route through automatically).
- Approved lessees route to Stripe Checkout for monthly subscription. (Stripe is being wired in Pass 4; interim flow uses a partnerships email exchange.)
- On successful payment, DNS updates per your instructions (or Pillar maintains DNS at your direction).
- Auto-renew monthly until cancellation. Cancellation releases the domain back to inventory at the next billing cycle.
Live sites are different.
Some of our domains have active sites already producing organic traffic. These are a different product — the lessee would be paying $100/month for a domain whose live content already produces SEO authority and traffic worth substantially more. For these, the per-domain page shows “This domain has an active site producing organic traffic. Reach out for licensing options.” and routes the inquiry to the partnerships team for custom pricing.
The is_live flag on each domain gates this automatically; the “Live Site”
filter in the library UI surfaces these explicitly once the broader live-sites list is populated.
Want to own the domain outright?
Every leased domain can also be purchased — either with a single payment or financed over 12 to 60 months at 8% APR. Title transfers to you at the end of financing. Lease payments and purchase financing are separate paths; pick the one that fits your plans.
The purchase price is computed by Pillar’s valuation engine from comparable sales (NameBio, DNJournal, Sedo, GoDaddy/Afternic), discounted from comparable median (default 75%). For the per-domain page’s “How we priced this” transparency section, the 3 strongest comparables are visible with sale prices and dates. The valuation engine is shipping as a separate work product; until then, purchase prices show as “Pricing on request.”
Lease FAQ.
What does ‘lease’ actually mean?
Permanent rental at $100/month. Pillar retains ownership. You use the domain as long as you keep paying. Cancel anytime; the domain returns to inventory at the next billing cycle. The lease is not lease-to-own — payments don’t accumulate toward ownership.
How is this different from buying with financing?
Financing is purchase over time at 8% APR over 12-60 months. Title transfers to you at payoff. Default on financing for 60 days triggers repossession (with a 30-day reinstatement window at $250 fee). Lease has no path to ownership but no default risk either — cancel any time. Different products.
Can I lease a domain that already has an active site?
Not at the $100/month flat price. Domains with active sites producing organic traffic are a different product — you’d be paying $100/mo for SEO authority worth substantially more. For those, contact the partnerships team for custom licensing options.
What happens to DNS?
You decide. Either you manage DNS yourself (Pillar provides nameserver records pointing to your authoritative DNS), or Pillar manages DNS at your direction. The lease is on the domain itself; the technical configuration is yours to specify.
Can I add Studio to the lease?
Yes. The lease covers the domain ($100/mo); Studio covers the site built on it (also from $100/mo for Studio One, $500/mo for Suite, $1,000/mo for Network). Bundling: $200/mo for domain + Studio One, etc. The library and per-domain pages link directly into the Studio scoping flow.
What if I want to switch domains mid-lease?
Cancel the current lease, start a new one on the different domain. Each lease is independent (separate Stripe subscription).