The .host Domain: An Address for the Hosting Trade
.host was recorded in the root zone on 22 May 2014 and its ICANN registry agreement is dated 17 April 2014; the party to that agreement today is Radix Technologies Inc., incorporated in the Cayman Islands. The nTLDstats page accessed on 12 August 2026 shows 33,236 registrations, 22,716 of them in the zone file. The operator markets the ending squarely as the signature address of the hosting industry.
Hosting companies, data centres, server rental services and the teams writing panels or infrastructure software all use it. There is no eligibility condition; during general availability the only binding document is the operator's Acceptable Use and Anti-Abuse Policy. Try candidates through a .host domain search, and look over our own plans on the hosting page.
The two endings describe the same trade, but the contracting parties behind them differ: .host belongs to Radix Technologies Inc. and .hosting to XYZ.COM LLC, companies registered on different continents. That has a practical consequence. Policy changes, dispute procedures, renewal terms and promotional calendars run separately in each zone, and a rule you read in one does not have to apply in the other. If you are considering both for brand protection, read each zone's own rules rather than assuming you are dealing with a single operator.
.HOST Domain at a Glance
- Sponsoring organisation Radix Technologies Inc. (Cayman Islands)
- Infrastructure provider CentralNic
- ICANN registry agreement 17 April 2014
- Root zone record 22 May 2014
- Registered names 33,236 (nTLDstats, 12 August 2026)
- Present in the zone file 22,716 names, about 68%
- Document Requirement No documents are required to register a .host domain
- Character Length 3 - 63 characters
- Registration Period 1 - 10 years
- Name Server Count 2 - 10 servers
.host 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
$99.99 /year -
Transfer
$109.99 /year -
Renewal
$110.59 /year -
Restore
$289.90 -
Late Renewal
$20.13
Included With Every .host 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.
.host Domain Lifecycle
What happens day by day after it expires
Day 0 is the domain's expiry dateIn short: your .host 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 .host 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 .host 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 $20.13 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 .host 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
.host Domain Specifications and Registration Rules
Registration conditions, supported features and the registry's own timelines in a single table.
.host Domain Registration
- Document Requirement No documents are required to register a .host domain
- Character Length 3 - 63 characters
- Registration Period 1 - 10 years
- Name Server Count 2 - 10 servers
.host Domain Support
- IDN Support Yes
- Transfer Support Yes
- Late Renewal Support Yes
Frequently Asked Questions About .host Domains
The questions people actually ask before registering — answered plainly.
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No; the operator defines no eligibility or sector condition.
The ending speaks to the hosting trade, but registration is open to anyone. Even so, visitors notice quickly when the promise in the name and the content of the page do not match: an address suggesting hosting invites details about services, infrastructure and support. For a personal page, a more neutral ending usually works better.
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If your brand reads sensibly with both endings, taking the pair is a reasonable defensive move.
Because separate companies run the two zones, their rules and calendars also run separately. One may be free while the other is taken, so test both in the same search round. For a side-by-side reading visit the .hosting page, and sweep your candidates at once with bulk domain name search.
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22,716 of 33,236 registrations appear in the zone file, roughly 68 percent.
So about one registered name in three has never gone live. When a short name you like is taken, the odds that nothing is actually running behind it are not small; widening the root beats waiting for an expiry. Adding a service word or a region to the brand is the most productive route.
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Resource limits, backup frequency, data-centre location and support channels belong on the page.
These four items shorten a purchase decision more than anything else, and most pages leave them out. Keep your terms and cancellation procedure on a separate page, and date every change to versions and packaging. If you want a comparison, our own hosting page is a reasonable starting point.
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Release the lock on the name, take the authorisation code, then start the move; no papers are needed.
Hosting brings its own trap: the same address can serve as both your brand and your customer panel. Note the DNS records and panel hostnames before the move, then rebuild the zone file exactly after it. Confirm who currently holds the registration through whois search.
Ready to Claim Your .host Domain?
Type a name and see in seconds whether it is free on .host. If it is taken, we list close alternatives right away.
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