.cologne Domains: The City of Cologne's Own Ending
.cologne entered the root zone on 13 March 2014, and the IANA record names dotKoeln GmbH as the sponsoring organisation. It is a geographic ending dedicated to the German city of Cologne, used by businesses, institutions, events and neighbourhood initiatives there. The nTLDstats page accessed on 11 August 2026 shows 4,422 names in the zone.
Despite being geographic, the ending carries no requirement to live or trade in Cologne: under the registry's registration conditions of December 2023, anyone with full legal capacity may apply once general availability has begun. The rule to weigh is this. With a genuine connection to the city, the address buys you local visibility; without one, your content will sit at odds with what visitors expect. Try candidates with a domain name search.
.cologne and .koeln are separate endings for the same city, both operated by dotKoeln GmbH under identical registration conditions. What separates them is language rather than policy: .koeln carries the German name of the city, .cologne its international spelling. A business addressing local customers usually picks the first, while a project reaching beyond the region picks the second; holding both and redirecting one is a common solution too.
.COLOGNE Domain at a Glance
- Sponsoring organisation dotKoeln GmbH
- Root zone record 13 March 2014
- Local presence Not required — no residence or business in Cologne
- Sibling ending .koeln, same registry and conditions
- Registered names 4,422 (nTLDstats, 11 August 2026)
- Document Requirement No documents are required to register a .cologne domain
- Character Length 1 - 63 characters
- Registration Period 1 - 10 years
- Name Server Count 1 - 13 servers
.cologne 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
$39.99 /year -
Transfer
$39.99 /year -
Renewal
$44.99 /year -
Restore
$175.08 -
Late Renewal
$9.00
Included With Every .cologne 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.
.cologne Domain Lifecycle
What happens day by day after it expires
Day 0 is the domain's expiry dateIn short: your .cologne 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 .cologne 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 .cologne 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 $9.00 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 .cologne 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
.cologne Domain Specifications and Registration Rules
Registration conditions, supported features and the registry's own timelines in a single table.
.cologne Domain Registration
- Document Requirement No documents are required to register a .cologne domain
- Character Length 1 - 63 characters
- Registration Period 1 - 10 years
- Name Server Count 1 - 13 servers
.cologne Domain Support
- IDN Support No
- Transfer Support Yes
- Late Renewal Support Yes
Frequently Asked Questions About .cologne Domains
The questions people actually ask before registering — answered plainly.
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No — the registry's registration conditions set no residence or business requirement.
Under the conditions dated December 2023, anyone with full legal capacity may apply once general availability has begun. A business from outside the city can therefore register one; since the address raises a local expectation, though, the content has to meet it. Check the state of a name with a domain name search.
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The difference is language: one carries the German name of the city, the other its international spelling.
Both are run by dotKoeln GmbH on identical conditions, so there is no policy difference at all. Businesses addressing local customers tend to take the German spelling, while projects reaching abroad take the international one. Holding both and redirecting one to the other is a common solution.
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Yes — the registry keeps certain predefined strings out of the registration process.
Under its registration conditions, strings obviously open to unlawful or offensive use are held on a blacklist, and names blocked by trademark holders under the Registry Agreement are not issued either. Applications for those names are refused. Check the state of your chosen name first.
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The address alone brings no ranking, but it states the local connection at a glance.
An address visible in a result tells the user the business is tied to the city, which affects the decision to click. The real work is done by the address details, opening hours and local content on the page. To run the site on separate infrastructure, see the hosting plans.
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You start by requesting the authorisation code from your current registrar; the process matches any other ending.
Being geographic adds no paperwork and needs no local approval, since the registry sets no residence condition. Make sure the lock is open and that sixty days have passed since registration. Check the email address on the record with whois search, then move to the domain transfer page.
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Quite easy — the zone holds 4,422 registrations, which is a small pool.
That figure comes from the nTLDstats page accessed on 11 August 2026. Combinations built on district names, trades and event names remain largely open. It is also worth testing early how the German spelling with oe instead of ö affects your address.
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