.amsterdam: A City Extension Run by the City Itself
.amsterdam is a city extension delegated to the root zone on 20 November 2014, and the notable part is who owns it: the sponsoring organisation is the municipality of Amsterdam itself (Gemeente Amsterdam). Where most newer extensions are operated by commercial registry businesses, here the namespace stays with the city administration. The registry's site presents it as the top-level domain of Amsterdam.
It works for anyone who wants the address to state a place at first glance: businesses in the city, venues, events, cultural institutions and neighbourhood initiatives. When a restaurant or a hotel carries the city name in its address, neither a search result nor a business card needs further explanation. Without a tie to the city, the same address only raises a question. Compare candidates with a bulk domain name search.
.AMSTERDAM Domain at a Glance
- Sponsoring organisation Gemeente Amsterdam (City of Amsterdam)
- Delegated to the root zone 20 November 2014
- Country Netherlands
- Eligibility No restriction is declared on the registry site
- Document Requirement No documents are required to register a .amsterdam domain
- Character Length 3 - 63 characters
- Registration Period 1 - 10 years
- Name Server Count 2 - 10 servers
.amsterdam Domain Prices — No Surprise Fees
Registration, transfer and renewal fees are listed separately. The renewal price can differ from the first-year price, so you see both up front.
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New Registration
$49.90 /year -
Transfer
$49.99 /year -
Renewal
$54.99 /year -
Restore
$283.04 -
Late Renewal
$11.00
Included With Every .amsterdam Domain
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Free DNS management
Change A, MX, TXT and CNAME records yourself from the panel — no waiting on anyone when you move a site or mailbox.
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Domain lock
While the lock is on, nobody can move your domain to another registrar without your approval.
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Domain forwarding
Point the domain at your existing site, a campaign page or a social profile — at no extra cost.
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Free WHOIS privacy
Your name, address and phone stay out of public WHOIS records, which cuts down spam and scam calls.
.amsterdam Domain Lifecycle
What happens day by day after it expires
Day 0 is the domain's expiry dateIn short: your .amsterdam domain is put on Client Hold on its expiry date, so the site and e-mail stop that same day. You can still renew during the first 20 days, but from this point a late renewal fee is added on top of the renewal price. On day 20 the registration is deleted and until day 50 only a paid restore brings it back. Nothing at all can be done in the 5 days that follow, and on day 55 the name is open to anyone. There is exactly one way never to enter this chain: keep auto-renewal on.
Domain Is Available (Available)
A .amsterdam address at this stage has not been taken yet, and it goes to whoever registers first. Check the name you have in mind — if it is free, it can be yours within minutes.
Domain Is Active (Active Period)
Once registration is complete, the domain is registered to you for the term you selected. You can renew at any point before it expires to keep it active, or switch on auto-renewal so you never have to watch the date.
Renewal Window (Client Hold)
On its expiry date your .amsterdam domain is put on Client Hold: the site and e-mail go down that day, but the registration is still yours. A single renewal within these first 20 days brings everything back exactly as it was — nothing is lost. The only difference is that a $11.00 late renewal fee is now added to the renewal price; renewing before the expiry date avoids that fee entirely.
Redemption Period (Redemption / RGP)
On day 20 the registration is deleted and the 30-day redemption period that ICANN requires of every gTLD registry begins. The name is not released to anyone during this time; only you can take it back, by paying the restore fee, until day 50. That fee is far higher than a renewal — renewing on time is always the cheaper route.
Pending Delete (Pending Delete)
Once the redemption window closes too, the domain enters its final 5 days and there is no way back. Neither renewal nor restore works here; nobody — your registrar included — can return the name to you. The registry uses this window as the last hold before the name goes back into the pool.
Open to Anyone Again (Released)
On day 55 the name .amsterdam returns to the pool and anyone can register it. Sought-after names are often gone within seconds, and there is no guaranteed way to get one back. Yet staying out of this timeline is entirely in your hands: leave auto-renewal on and the expiry date will never catch you off guard.
The timeline above is the schedule Atak Domain applies and publishes. The ICANN chart you will find elsewhere shows a renewal window of up to 45 days after expiry; ICANN's policy on expired registrations (section 2.2.1) lets registrars delete an expired domain at any time, provided they disclose their policy in advance. We apply that window as 20 days and publish it here in plain sight. Full text of the policy: ICANN Expired Registration Recovery Policy
.amsterdam Domain Specifications and Registration Rules
Registration conditions, supported features and the registry's own timelines in a single table.
.amsterdam Domain Registration
- Document Requirement No documents are required to register a .amsterdam domain
- Character Length 3 - 63 characters
- Registration Period 1 - 10 years
- Name Server Count 2 - 10 servers
.amsterdam Domain Support
- IDN Support No
- Transfer Support Yes
- Late Renewal Support Yes
Frequently Asked Questions About .amsterdam Domains
The questions people actually ask before registering — answered plainly.
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No eligibility restriction is declared on the registry site. There appears to be no requirement to live in the city or be listed with the municipality; the page presents the extension as a way for anyone to become an Amsterdammer online. The address still states a place, though: without a tie to the city, visitors start looking for one. Check the current terms your registrar passes on before ordering.
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The sponsoring organisation is the municipality of Amsterdam itself, so the namespace sits with the city administration. That separates it from the many newer extensions operated by commercial companies and ties it more directly to the city's identity. According to the registry site, the technical backend is provided by SIDN — so a back-end provider handles day-to-day operations.
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Search engines declare no ranking advantage tied to an extension, so expect no automatic gain. What actually drives local visibility sits elsewhere: an accurate map listing, consistent address and phone details, local links and reviews. Where the ending contributes is in reading rather than ranking — in a result list, the address itself carries location information.
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Scope decides. If your business operates across the country, the Dutch country extension frames it more broadly. If your activity is bound to the city — a neighbourhood business, a venue, a local event — the city ending speaks more precisely. There is a third route as well: take both, run one as the working address and redirect the other. Check whether both are free in one pass with a bulk domain name search.
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Setup matches any other extension. Point the domain at your hosting account and direct the MX records to your email provider. A business site operating at city scale runs comfortably on shared hosting. Publish SPF, DKIM and DMARC records so your mail reaches recipients; if you send booking or order confirmations, those records affect your business directly.
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