Auto-renew on a domain here is off until you switch it on, and it means one specific thing. Knowing exactly which thing is the difference between a name that renews and a name that does not.
What it does
With auto-renew on, a renewal invoice for the domain is raised automatically ahead of its expiry date, without you having to remember or ask. That is the whole of it.
What it does not do
It does not tell the registry anything. Nothing is sent to the registrar and nothing is paid on your behalf when the date arrives: the invoice is raised, and the name is renewed once that invoice is paid. An unpaid renewal invoice with auto-renew switched on is a domain heading for expiry exactly as if the switch were off.
So the honest version of the advice is in two halves. Switch it on, so that the invoice exists and arrives. Then pay it when it does.
Where the switch is
Open Domains in your client area and click the domain. The auto-renew setting is on that page with the registrar lock and the other per-domain settings, and it can be changed at any time.
It is a separate setting from the one on a hosting service. A domain and the hosting it points at are two different things with two different renewal dates, and switching one does nothing to the other.
Turning it off deliberately
Off is the right setting for a name you have decided to let go. With it off, no renewal invoice is raised, nothing is charged, and the domain expires on its date.
Expiring a name you meant to keep is expensive. Once it lapses, most extensions go through a redemption period where recovering the name costs several times what the renewal would have, and after that the name is released and anybody can take it.
Two habits worth more than the switch
- Keep the e-mail address on your account one you actually read, and never one at the domain itself. If that name lapses, the mailbox warning you about it goes with it.
- Put the expiry date in a calendar as well. A reminder you control does not depend on our mail reaching your inbox.