The .inc Domain: An Ending After a Company Name
.inc entered the root zone on 3 July 2018; its ICANN registry agreement is dated 10 March 2018 and was assigned on 26 May 2018 to Intercap Registry Inc., incorporated in the Cayman Islands. This is the youngest ending in the group. The nTLDstats page accessed on 12 August 2026 shows 9,211 registrations, 7,319 of them present in the zone file.
The ending lifts the suffix that follows a company name in English-speaking markets straight into the address; corporate sites, investor pages and internal portals use it. The operator states that it keeps every name in a single price tier and applies no separate premium tier for keyword or short names. You can weigh your candidates against the .international page.
The operator asks for no company register entry or certificate of incorporation at registration. The ICANN agreement, however, requires registrars to obtain from the registrant a representation that it holds the authorisations, charters and licences needed for the sector, and to require that material changes to those credentials be reported. Where doubt arises, the operator consults the relevant national supervisory authorities. The conclusion follows: a page carrying this address does not show that a registered company stands behind it. When you assess a counterparty, read the registration number and the official register rather than the spelling of the address.
.INC Domain at a Glance
- Sponsoring organisation Intercap Registry Inc. (Cayman Islands)
- ICANN registry agreement 10 March 2018
- Root zone record 3 July 2018
- Price tiering Single tier; no premium name tier
- Registered names 9,211 (nTLDstats, 12 August 2026)
- Present in the zone file 7,319 names, about 79%
- Document Requirement No documents are required to register a .inc domain
- Character Length 1 - 63 characters
- Registration Period 1 - 10 years
- Name Server Count 1 - 13 servers
Related Domain Extensions
Registering the same name on more than one extension keeps someone else from taking your brand.
.inc 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.
-
New Registration
$2,499.99 /year -
Renewal
$2,799.99 /year -
Restore
$4,079.90
Included With Every .inc Domain
-
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.
-
Domain lock
While the lock is on, nobody can move your domain to another registrar without your approval.
-
Domain forwarding
Point the domain at your existing site, a campaign page or a social profile — at no extra cost.
.inc Domain Lifecycle
What happens day by day after it expires
Day 0 is the domain's expiry dateIn short: your .inc 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 .inc 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 .inc 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 .inc 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
.inc Domain Specifications and Registration Rules
Registration conditions, supported features and the registry's own timelines in a single table.
.inc Domain Registration
- Document Requirement No documents are required to register a .inc domain
- Character Length 1 - 63 characters
- Registration Period 1 - 10 years
- Name Server Count 1 - 13 servers
.inc Domain Support
- IDN Support Yes
- Transfer Support No
- Late Renewal Support No
Frequently Asked Questions About .inc Domains
The questions people actually ask before registering — answered plainly.
-
No register entry or certificate of incorporation is requested at registration.
The agreement sets a duty to represent instead: your registrar makes you state that you hold the authorisations and charters needed to operate in the sector. Forming a company remains a matter for your own jurisdiction, and the address is no substitute for it. Publishing your registration number on the page makes verification easier for visitors.
-
The operator states that it keeps all names in one tier and applies no separate premium tier.
That means short and keyword-style names sit in the same tier as everything else. For your decision this matters: a short root on your candidate list need not be ruled out on tiering grounds before you test it. Sweep a long list in one pass with bulk domain name search.
-
Choose .inc to foreground the legal identity, .international to foreground what you do.
The first reads as a continuation of the company name and sets a corporate tone; the second describes cross-border activity and explains more. Try both zones in one search round and see which keeps your root shorter; the .international page suits that comparison.
-
7,319 of 9,211 registrations appear in the zone file, roughly 79 percent.
The zone is small yet its usage rate is high, so names here are used rather than held. Single-word generic roots will mostly read as taken, while the brand-plus-sector pattern remains widely open. Starting the search with your own brand name is the most productive route.
-
Legal name, registration number, registered address, tax identifier and an authorised contact channel.
Those five items cut the time a counterparty needs to verify you from minutes to seconds, and most pages scatter them. Gather them on a single company information page and date every change. Check how your own record appears through whois search.
Ready to Claim Your .inc Domain?
Type a name and see in seconds whether it is free on .inc. If it is taken, we list close alternatives right away.
Get Help for .inc Domain Registration
Need help registering a .inc domain? Our team is ready to assist.