.biz Domains: The Restricted Business Extension
.biz was accredited in the round ICANN announced on 15 May 2001, alongside .info, and entered the root zone database on 26 June 2001. The name comes from the colloquial short form of "business". The extension moved to Registry Services, LLC on 19 October 2020, and that company appears as the sponsoring organisation in the current IANA record.
What sets .biz apart from its classic siblings is its classification: the IANA root zone database lists it as a restricted generic top-level domain. The records for .com, .net and .org carry no such marker. ICANN's .biz registration restrictions document frames the extension around bona fide business or commercial use, and places registering a name purely to sell or lease it outside that definition.
.BIZ Domain at a Glance
- Registry operator Registry Services, LLC
- Entered the root zone 26 June 2001
- Operator transfer 19 October 2020
- IANA classification Restricted generic top-level domain
- Stated purpose Bona fide business or commercial use
- Document Requirement No documents are required to register a .biz domain
- Character Length 1 - 63 characters
- Registration Period 1 - 10 years
- Name Server Count 2 - 10 servers
.biz 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
$23.39 /year -
Transfer
$23.39 /year -
Renewal
$25.19 /year -
Restore
$109.90 -
Late Renewal
$4.00
Included With Every .biz 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.
.biz Domain Lifecycle
What happens day by day after it expires
Day 0 is the domain's expiry dateIn short: your .biz 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 .biz 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 .biz 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 $4.00 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 .biz 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
.biz Domain Specifications and Registration Rules
Registration conditions, supported features and the registry's own timelines in a single table.
.biz Domain Registration
- Document Requirement No documents are required to register a .biz domain
- Character Length 1 - 63 characters
- Registration Period 1 - 10 years
- Name Server Count 2 - 10 servers
.biz Domain Support
- IDN Support No
- Transfer Support Yes
- Late Renewal Support Yes
Frequently Asked Questions About .biz Domains
The questions people actually ask before registering — answered plainly.
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No company registration document or tax certificate is requested at registration. The framing does differ from other extensions, though: the IANA root zone database classifies .biz as a restricted generic top-level domain, and ICANN's registration restrictions document ties it to bona fide business or commercial use. If you carry on a commercial activity, or intend to, the extension matches its stated purpose.
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The clearest difference is recognition. .com has been the default address for four decades and visitors type it by reflex. .biz is an alternative when your name is gone in .com and you want the address itself to signal a commercial operation. If brand protection matters, registering both and redirecting one to the other is the usual answer; check free pairings with a bulk domain name search.
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ICANN's .biz registration restrictions document places that use expressly outside the definition. Registering a domain solely to sell, trade or lease it, or making unsolicited offers to do so, does not count as bona fide business or commercial use. The same document also excludes use exclusively for personal, non-commercial purposes or purely for expressing non-commercial ideas.
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Ask your current registrar to release the transfer lock and send you the EPP code. Once both steps are done, start the transfer from the domain transfer page. The extension's restricted classification does not affect the move: the domain is already registered, so no fresh assessment of purpose takes place. Check the current registration record through whois search.
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A mandatory administrative proceeding applies under the framework ICANN defined for .biz. When someone claims a domain is not being used primarily for a bona fide business or commercial purpose, the matter is dealt with through that procedure. It is called the Restrictions Dispute Resolution Policy (RDRP) and is specific to .biz as a restricted extension; the classic generic extensions have no equivalent.
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You can, but weigh both sides on a commercial site. With the service on, a lookup returns the privacy provider's details instead of yours and ownership stays with you. On the other hand, letting customers see genuine business contact details builds trust — and on a commercially framed extension that tends to matter more. Review the current state from the whois search page.
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