Country extensionUnder .uk
.co.uk domain registration
The commercial form of the British extension: co, short for company, under uk, telling your customer there you’re a business, and open to anyone, person or company, from any country, with no documents.
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Score card
.co.uk in six cells
Our score out of five, as we see it when we help a customer choose.
- Trust
- 5 out of 5
- Easy to remember
- 4 out of 5
- Global reach
- 2 out of 5
- Price stability
- 5 out of 5
- Short names available
- 3 out of 5
- Local meaning
- 5 out of 5
Overview
What is .co.uk
.co.uk sits under .uk, the extension that entered the internet’s root in 1985 for the United Kingdom, and its manager in the IANA record is Nominet UK. The part co is short for company, so it tells whoever reads it that you’re a business in Britain or one addressing it.
Nominet intends it for commerce, but neither requires nor polices it: anyone, person or company, from any country can register it, with no documents and no address in Britain. So it suits a store, a company or a service office there, and a Syrian selling to customers in Britain from anywhere.
It supports DNSSEC signing, but Nominet doesn’t offer internationalized names, so no names in Arabic. Its price with us is lower than .com and fixed every year. It is three characters longer than .uk, and says nothing to your customer in Syria or the rest of the world, so .com.sy or .com is closer to them.
- Type
- Country extension (ccTLD)
- Parent extension
- .uk
- In the root since
- 24 July 1985, with .uk
- Name’s origin
- company + United Kingdom
- Responsible body
- Nominet UK
- Who may register
- Anyone, person or organization, from any country
- DNSSEC
- Supported
- Names in Arabic
- Not supported
Who it suits
For your field: is .co.uk the best fit?
Every field has an extension that says something about it. Here is what .co.uk says in each, and which extension completes it.
A British store or company
Excellent · The first choice
It tells your customer there you’re a business from their country; add .uk for the short form.
Register it with.co.uk.uk
A Syrian exporter to Britain
Good · A good fit with .com
It’s open to you with no address there, so you can address the British importer; add .com for the rest of the world.
Register it with.co.uk.com
A freelancer or sole trader
Good · A good fit
A business address for your work; add .me.uk for your personal name.
Register it with.co.uk.me.uk
A limited company registered there
Good · A good fit with .ltd.uk
Your brand on .co.uk, and your company’s official name on .ltd.uk, which no one else can register.
Register it with.co.uk.ltd.uk
An association or charity
Consider another · Consider .org.uk
co says “company,” and donors trust .org.uk, which says “non-profit.”
Register it with.org.uk.org
A local business in Syria
Consider another · Consider .com.sy
Your customers are here, not in Britain, and .com.sy tells them you’re a company from here.
Register it with.com.sy.sy
What it does for you
What you gain when you register it
Says “a company in Britain”
The part co places you among businesses, and uk says where you work.
Open from any country
You need no company or address in Britain to register it.
Email for your importers
orders@fustuq-morek.co.uk is an address telling the British importer you’re speaking to them.
Less than .com
Its price with us is lower than .com, and fixed for the first year and every renewal.
And where its value shows
On invoices and contracts
Says “company” before your name is read.
On product boxes
A link leading British buyers to your store.
In ads there
A form customers understand with no explaining.
In your email signature
A business address, written once and kept.
Pros and cons
What you should know before you register
Frankly, as we’d tell a customer who asks us before registering.
Pros
- 01Says “a business in Britain”
- 02Open to everyone from any country, with no documents
- 03Lower-priced than .com with us, and fixed every year
- 04Under .uk, which entered the internet’s root in 1985
- 05Supports DNSSEC signing
Cons
- 01Three characters longer than .uk
- 02Says nothing to a customer outside Britain
- 03Its commercial meaning doesn’t suit an association
- 04Doesn’t support names in Arabic
Rules
Registration terms for .co.uk
What the registry requires and what we add, in one place.
- Who may register
- Anyone, person or organization, from any country
- Documents
- None required
- Name length
- Up to 63 characters
- Characters
- a–z, digits and hyphens, never first or last
- Names in Arabic
- Not supported
- Registration term
- 1 to 10 years
- DNSSEC
- Supported
- Privacy protection
- Your name and address don’t show in WHOIS unless you agree
- Transfer
- By a tag change at Nominet, free and with no change to the expiry date; with a transfer code from February 9, 2027
Life cycle
From registration until the name is free again
What happens to your name if it isn’t renewed, and when you can still get it back.
- 01Registration1 to 10 yearsThe name is yours from the moment you pay, for the term you chose.
- 02After expiryThe first 30 daysThe website and email keep working, and you can renew it.
- 03SuspensionUntil day 90The name stops working, but it can still be renewed.
- 04DeletionUntil day 95It can’t be renewed after day 90, and is free again on day 95.
Tips
Before you register
- 1Register it with .ukThe same name in both forms, so no one stands beside you in the other.
- 2Your store’s name as on the productMake the name on the box and the invoice the same before .co.uk, so buyers find you on the first search.
- 3A short name, read as it’s writtenIf it needs spelling out on the phone, it’s too long or too complicated.
- 4No digits or hyphens that need explainingEvery hyphen or digit has to be said, and what has to be said gets forgotten.
- 5Renew automatically, or register for yearsUp to 10 years at once, so you never miss a date.
- 6Make sure the name isn’t someone else’s trademarkA registered trademark’s owner can recover the name from whoever registered it first.
Nearby extensions
If your name is taken in .co.uk
- .ukThe shorter form of the same extension.$15 first year
- .ltd.ukFor a limited company registered in Britain.$15 first year
- .org.ukFor an association or non-profit body.$15 first year
- .comThe best known, for customers everywhere.$17 first year
- .com.syThe national one for business, for customers in Syria.$0.55 first year
- .coTwo letters many read as “company.”$49 first year
FAQ5 questions
Frequently asked questions about .co.uk
Didn’t find your answer? Our technical support team is with you around the clock.
Contact support$15 a year, for the first year and every renewal: the price you see when you search, with no other fees at registration.
Anyone, person or organization, from any country, with no documents and no address in the UK.
Yes. Until February 9, 2027 a transfer is a “tag” change at Nominet, free and with no change to the expiry date; from that day it takes a transfer code valid for 14 days, with an optional renewal at transfer.
Under Nominet’s current rules the name keeps working for 30 days after it expires and can be renewed; then it stops until day 90 and can still be renewed; then it is deleted and is free again on day 95. From February 9, 2027, .uk follows grace periods like the generic extensions’.
No. IANA’s repository of internationalized names (IDN) holds no Arabic table for .uk, so names in it use Latin letters, digits and hyphens.
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