The .kids Domain: A Zone That Sets Rules for Children
.kids was recorded in the root zone on 5 March 2022, making it the newest ending in this group. Its ICANN registry agreement is dated 13 August 2021, the operator is the Hong Kong based DotKids Foundation Limited, and the zone is run together with DotAsia Organisation. The nTLDstats page accessed on 12 August 2026 shows 8,857 registrations, of which 7,039 appear in the zone file.
Specification 12 of the agreement names the community plainly: children, the charities, non-governmental bodies and public institutions working for their wellbeing, parents and educators, and schools serving children. Nothing turns on who you are; the conditions attach to what you publish. Try candidates through a .kids domain search, and see the family-oriented .family page as well.
The name selection passage of Specification 12 treats a domain as a child's first point of contact with the internet and therefore counts the string itself as part of the content. A name carrying an inappropriate word breaches the rules even when the pages behind it are spotless. The conditions bind the whole site too: content and services must suit an audience under eighteen, and material tied to gambling, illegal drugs, pornography and obscenity, violence, alcohol, tobacco or criminal activity is prohibited. Enforcement runs through the operator's online complaint and response system, and a breach can lead to suspension or cancellation. In the same document the operator commits to avoiding pre-screening and unnecessary censorship.
.KIDS Domain at a Glance
- Sponsoring organisation DotKids Foundation Limited
- Operating partner DotAsia Organisation
- ICANN registry agreement 13 August 2021
- Root zone record 5 March 2022
- Registered domains 8,857 (nTLDstats, 12 August 2026)
- Present in the zone file 7,039 names, about 79%
- Document Requirement No documents are required to register a .kids domain
- Character Length 3 - 63 characters
- Registration Period 1 - 10 years
- Name Server Count 2 - 10 servers
.kids 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
$35.99 /year -
Transfer
$35.99 /year -
Renewal
$36.99 /year -
Restore
$135.00
Included With Every .kids 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 forwarding
Point the domain at your existing site, a campaign page or a social profile — at no extra cost.
.kids Domain Lifecycle
What happens day by day after it expires
Day 0 is the domain's expiry dateIn short: your .kids 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 .kids 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 .kids 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 .kids 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
.kids Domain Specifications and Registration Rules
Registration conditions, supported features and the registry's own timelines in a single table.
.kids Domain Registration
- Document Requirement No documents are required to register a .kids domain
- Character Length 3 - 63 characters
- Registration Period 1 - 10 years
- Name Server Count 2 - 10 servers
.kids Domain Support
- IDN Support Yes
- Transfer Support Yes
- Late Renewal Support Yes
Frequently Asked Questions About .kids Domains
The questions people actually ask before registering — answered plainly.
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No. The operator asks for no document or status describing who the applicant is.
The community defined in the agreement covers children, parents, educators, schools and bodies working in the children's field, but that description is not a screening list. The conditions attach to what you publish once the name is yours: content and services must suit an audience under eighteen. The measure is your site, not your identity.
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The agreement lists the prohibited areas one by one: gambling, illegal drugs, pornography and obscenity, violence, alcohol, tobacco and criminal activity.
Material that induces children towards those behaviours falls under the same ban. Unlawful content such as trafficking, substance abuse, phishing and copyright infringement is prohibited separately. The rule reaches your services and not only your page text, so review embedded material and any advertising networks you carry.
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It could. In this zone the string itself counts as content.
The agreement treats a domain as a child's first meeting with the internet and regards a name carrying an inappropriate word as a breach even when the pages are spotless. So when you shortlist candidates, check how the word reads in other languages and whether it carries slang meanings. Build that shortlist through the bulk domain name search.
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The operator handles reports through an online complaint and response system.
Once a report arrives, a review opens according to the type of complaint, and the name can end up suspended or cancelled. In the same document the operator states that it will not pre-screen registrations and will avoid unnecessary censorship, so the design is review-on-report rather than blocking at the gate.
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Of 8,857 registrations, 7,039 appear in the zone file according to the nTLDstats page accessed on 12 August 2026, roughly 79 percent.
Among new endings that is a high share, and it yields a practical rule: if the short name you want is taken, it is probably in genuine use, so waiting for it to expire is a poor strategy. Check who currently holds it through whois search.
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Because most visitors here arrive with an adult alongside them.
A parent or teacher who meets a browser warning closes the page and rarely returns. Some school networks go further and block addresses served without a certificate outright. If you collect forms or sign-ups the certificate also becomes an obligation; review the options on the SSL certificate page.
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