The .hiv Domain: A Purpose Written Into the Contract
.hiv was recorded in the root zone on 22 May 2014; its ICANN registry agreement is dated 13 March 2014, and the party that first signed it was a non-profit association formed under German law. The IANA record today names Internet Naming Co. as the contracting party and was last updated on 16 June 2026.
This is a small zone: the nTLDstats page accessed on 12 August 2026 shows 224 registrations, 199 of them present in the zone file. The address is used by awareness campaigns, health associations and information projects. Try candidates through a .hiv domain search, and see the clinical side on the .health page.
This zone is unusual in carrying a public interest commitment that governs what happens to profit. The text states that the registry operator, as a social enterprise, is driven solely by its mission to support the global HIV response, and that it will therefore reinvest all excess profits in projects serving that mission. Because the undertaking sits in the agreement itself, it does not lapse when the operator changes: assigning the agreement carries the obligation with it. Very few endings in this category contain any comparable clause.
.HIV Domain at a Glance
- Sponsoring organisation Internet Naming Co.
- ICANN registry agreement 13 March 2014
- Root zone record 22 May 2014
- IANA record updated 16 June 2026
- Registered names 224 (nTLDstats, 12 August 2026)
- Present in the zone file 199 names, about 89%
- Document Requirement No documents are required to register a .hiv domain
- Character Length 1 - 63 characters
- Registration Period 1 - 10 years
- Name Server Count 2 - 10 servers
.hiv 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
$281.00 /year -
Transfer
$269.09 /year -
Renewal
$296.00 /year -
Restore
$419.90 -
Late Renewal
$59.20
Included With Every .hiv 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.
.hiv Domain Lifecycle
What happens day by day after it expires
Day 0 is the domain's expiry dateIn short: your .hiv 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 .hiv 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 .hiv 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 $59.20 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 .hiv 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
.hiv Domain Specifications and Registration Rules
Registration conditions, supported features and the registry's own timelines in a single table.
.hiv Domain Registration
- Document Requirement No documents are required to register a .hiv domain
- Character Length 1 - 63 characters
- Registration Period 1 - 10 years
- Name Server Count 2 - 10 servers
.hiv Domain Support
- IDN Support Yes
- Transfer Support Yes
- Late Renewal Support Yes
Frequently Asked Questions About .hiv Domains
The questions people actually ask before registering — answered plainly.
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No. The agreement sets out no eligibility condition and no post-registration verification programme.
The zone does have a purpose, though, and that purpose is written into its contract. Taking this address for an unrelated project is technically possible but reads as a mistake. If health communication is not what you are doing, another ending serves both you and your visitors better.
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Yes. A public interest commitment in the registry agreement obliges the operator to reinvest excess profit in the mission.
The text describes the operator as a social enterprise whose sole mission is supporting the global HIV response. Because the undertaking is part of the agreement, it survives a change of operator. Clauses of this kind are rare among endings in this category.
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There are 224 registrations and 199 appear in the zone file — about 89%.
That makes it the smallest zone among its neighbours and one of the most fully used: almost every name taken is actually in service. Searching here will be straightforward. You can run your shortlist in one go through the bulk domain name search.
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Where the information comes from, when it was last reviewed, and where to go next.
Health guidance changes quickly, and a page without sources can become misleading within a season. Listing testing and counselling points by region is often the single thing a visitor came for. If you collect personal data, explain the privacy terms separately and serve the form over an encrypted connection.
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Yes. It runs on an authorisation code and the registry asks for no extra documents.
Avoid moving a campaign address while printed material is in circulation: even a brief interruption makes the address on a poster look broken. Once the move is done, confirm the certificate is being served correctly from the SSL checker page.
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