Switching from custom domain back to WordPress.com subdomain

  • Unknown's avatar
    felixfelicitated · Member ·

    Hello,

    I currently have a WordPress.com Personal Plan with my site at felixfelicitatedblog.wordpress.com, and I’ve connected the custom domain anwesharc.com to it. The domain is already paid for, and I’m fine keeping it until it expires (November 15, 2025). However, after the expiration date, I don’t want to renew the custom domain anymore.

    My questions are:

    1. If I let the domain anwesharc.com expire, will my site automatically stay online at its WordPress.com address (felixfelicitatedblog.wordpress.com) without interruption?
    2. Can I change that WordPress.com address now (for example, from felixfelicitatedblog.wordpress.com to [anothername].wordpress.com) so that after the custom domain expires, my blog will still be reachable at that new subdomain?
    3. Since the domain is on auto-renew, if I remove my saved payment method now, will that affect my custom domain immediately, or will it remain active until the already-paid period ends?

    I just want to confirm that my content and Personal Plan benefits (active until November 15, 2027) will remain intact even if I stop renewing the custom domain.

    I’d appreciate an official confirmation so I can plan ahead with confidence.

    Thanks in advance!

    The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)

  • Unknown's avatar
    josefhtest · Member ·

    Hi there!

    I can confirm a few things for you:

    1. Letting the custom domain expire: Yes, your site will remain online at its free WordPress.com address (felixfelicitatedblog.wordpress.com) with no interruption, even if you let anwesharc.com expire.
    2. Changing the WordPress.com address: You can change the first part of your WordPress.com site address by following these steps: Change your WordPress.com site address
      After you make the change, links to the old site address will stop working.
    3. Removing payment method: Removing your saved payment method now won’t affect the current registration — the domain will stay active until its paid-through date (November 15, 2025). To avoid renewal, I’d recommend turning off auto-renew directly for the domain in your dashboard. That way it will remain active until expiry but won’t renew automatically.
      Guide: Turn Automatic Renewal On or Off
    4. Personal Plan benefits: Your plan and all its features will remain active through November 15, 2027, regardless of what happens with the custom domain.

    So you’re safe to continue as you are — just turn off auto-renew if you don’t want the domain to renew next year.

  • Unknown's avatar
    felixfelicitated · Member ·

    Hello,

    If I change my free WordPress.com site address from felixfelicitatedblog.wordpress.com to something new (for example, anewname.wordpress.com), will my custom domain anwesharc.com automatically redirect to the new address until it expires in December 2025?

    And after the custom domain expires, will the Personal Plan include a redirect such that anewname.com would redirect to anewname.wordpress.com until 2027, or does the redirect only work with the old site address?

    Thanks for clarifying!

  • Unknown's avatar
    elcristofue · Member ·

    Hello @felixfelicitated! If you change your site address to anewname.wordpress.com and still have your custom domain connected, visitors who go to anwesharc.com will be taken to your new WordPress.com address automatically.

    Please keep in mind that once you change your site address, the old WordPress.com site address can’t be reused. If you’d like to update your site address, you can follow the steps in this guide:

    https://wordpress.com/support/changing-site-address/

    About your second question, if you let the custom domain anwesharc.com expire, it will no longer point to your WordPress.com site, regardless of your plan. That’s because once it expires, the domain becomes available for anyone to register. Without a custom domain, visitors would use your WordPress.com site address (like anewname.wordpress.com) to reach your site.

    Please let us know if you have any questions or need any extra help, and we’ll be happy to assist you.

  • Unknown's avatar
    themagicrobot · Member ·

    One thing to consider is how many people have bookmarked your paid for .com domain and has it been popular? Once you let it go the chances are someone else may buy it and use it for genuine or even nefarious purposes hoping to piggy back on your previous traffic. There have been many cases where people have used their own name (or nickname) for a domain and then let it expire and come to regret doing so (or regret even setting up the domain in the first place!).

  • Unknown's avatar
    elcristofue · Member ·

    @felixfelicitated, the point that @themagicrobot mentioned is also worth considering. Also, just a friendly reminder that if you choose to let your domain expire, it could become more challenging and costly to recover later on.

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