.coop Domains: A Restricted Ending for Cooperatives
.coop entered the root zone on 15 December 2001, which makes it more than a decade older than the new generation of endings, and it is a sponsored top-level domain. The IANA record names DotCooperation LLC as the sponsoring organisation. The difference that matters here is legal rather than technical: the zone is not open to all comers, and only cooperatives and organisations serving them may register.
Eligibility is checked one registration at a time after the fact, and that check has real consequences. So the rule reads — where your organisation is democratically governed and owned by its members, this address states that identity in a single word and cannot be imitated. Where it is not a cooperative, the application is refused. Check a name with a domain name search.
DotCooperation, the sponsoring organisation, defines four eligibility categories: democratically controlled, member-owned cooperatives consistent with the International Cooperative Principles; associations made up of cooperatives; organisations majority-controlled by a cooperative; and entities whose practice is principally dedicated to serving cooperatives. Individuals are not eligible. After registration the registrant is emailed and asked for proof; if no answer comes, a further thirty days are granted, after which the name goes to serverHold and stops resolving. Registrations found ineligible are revoked with no refund.
View required documents →
.COOP Domain at a Glance
- Sponsoring organisation DotCooperation LLC
- Root zone record 15 December 2001
- Eligibility condition Cooperatives and organisations serving cooperatives only
- Eligibility check Mandatory after registration, evidence-based
- Zone type Sponsored top-level domain
- Document Requirement View required documents
- Character Length 3 - 63 characters
- Registration Period 1 - 10 years
- Name Server Count 2 - 10 servers
Related Domain Extensions
Registering the same name on more than one extension keeps someone else from taking your brand.
.coop 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
$99.00 /year -
Transfer
$99.02 /year -
Renewal
$108.92 /year -
Restore
$119.90
Included With Every .coop 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.
.coop Domain Lifecycle
What happens day by day after it expires
Day 0 is the domain's expiry dateIn short: your .coop 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 .coop 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 .coop 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 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 .coop 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
.coop Domain Specifications and Registration Rules
Registration conditions, supported features and the registry's own timelines in a single table.
.coop Domain Registration
- Document Requirement View required documents
- Character Length 3 - 63 characters
- Registration Period 1 - 10 years
- Name Server Count 2 - 10 servers
.coop Domain Support
- IDN Support No
- Transfer Support Yes
- Late Renewal Support No
Documents Required for a .coop Domain
Owner contact.
Eligibility Criteria
Members of the National Cooperative Business Association (NCBA) if otherwise eligible;
Members of the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) if otherwise eligible;
Organizations formed as and/or considered cooperatives under applicable local law;
Associations comprised of cooperatives;
Organizations that are committed to the seven cooperative principles;
Organizations that are majority controlled by cooperatives;
Entities whose operations are principally dedicated to serving cooperatives; and
For no more than 5,000 registrants, persons or entities whose use of a .coop domain name would, in the opinion of the DCLLC Board, advance the interests of the cooperative sector in general or would assist in the development of cooperatives worldwide.
The registrant has to agree and certify that his organization meets at least one of the .COOP following eligibility requirements:
a democratically controlled member-owned cooperative, consistent with the International 7 Cooperative Principles
an Association comprised of cooperatives
an Organization that is majority controlled by a Cooperative
an Entity whose operations are principally dedicated to serving Cooperatives
The registrant understands and agrees that DotCooperation LLC conducts audits of .COOP domain registrations and reserves the right to cancel or modify a domain name in accordance with their policies.
Frequently Asked Questions About .coop Domains
The questions people actually ask before registering — answered plainly.
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Only cooperatives and organisations that serve cooperatives may register.
DotCooperation, the sponsoring organisation, defines four categories: member-owned cooperatives, associations of cooperatives, organisations majority-controlled by a cooperative, and entities whose practice is principally dedicated to serving cooperatives. Individuals have no place in this zone. To see whether a name is free, run a domain name search.
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Right after registration the registrant is emailed and asked for proof of eligibility.
The first message allows two days to respond; if nothing comes back, a second notice grants a further thirty days. When that period ends without an answer, the name is placed on serverHold, which means the address stops resolving. Once eligibility is confirmed the hold is lifted and the domain works normally.
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Official or organisational records that establish your cooperative character.
Membership of a national or international cooperative alliance is the most direct proof. In its place you may submit the most recent annual report, audited financial statements, membership application materials, or promotional matter that refers explicitly to the organisation's cooperative status. Documents that match the registered entity name move the review along faster.
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Ownership and purpose decide: a cooperative belongs to its members and is not an association or a foundation.
A cooperative exists to meet a shared economic need of its members, and surplus can be distributed among them; in not-for-profit bodies no such distribution takes place. A civil society organisation therefore usually falls outside this zone. For a comparison, see the .charity domain page.
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It does — in this zone the address is a vetted claim about identity.
In most endings a domain says nothing about who holds it, because the registry runs no verification at all. Here the position is different: every registration is examined individually, and an organisation that loses its cooperative character can lose the name. For members and trading partners that turns the address itself into a signal of trust.
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Start by asking your current registrar for the authorisation code; your eligibility record carries over.
The transfer lock has to be open and sixty days must have passed since registration. In cooperatives the address is often opened in the name of a board member, so confirm through whois search that the record belongs to the organisation itself. Then continue on the domain transfer page.
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