Buy .co.nz Domain Name

Enter the New Zealand market with a .CO.NZ Domain

Stand out in the New Zealand market with a local identity. Secure your brand before your competitors do.

$109.28 $46.99/year 57% Off
100K+ active customers in 200+ countries
23+ Years Experience Domain & Hosting
1,600+ TLDs ccTLD included
WHAT IS A .CO.NZ DOMAIN

.co.nz Domain: New Zealand's Commercial Address

.co.nz is the commercial zone inside .nz, New Zealand's country extension, and it is the standard address for businesses in the country. It has no separate registry: the delegation is held by InternetNZ in Wellington, which writes the rules and keeps every .nz name in a single shared registry system, while enforcement sits with the independently acting Domain Name Commission. The zone has been running since at least 1997 — a measurement found single-letter names there created in 1997 and 1998. Across the whole .nz namespace, 750,909 names were under management on 31 March 2025.

The zone is not moderated: the rules list the six moderated zones one by one and .co.nz is not among them. There is therefore no moderator, no moderation policy and no requirement to document commercial activity; what remains is the general rule, which grants names first come, first served. No New Zealand company, address or representative is required; the only condition is that the applicant be an identifiable individual over the age of 18 or a lawfully constituted entity. Check your candidate on the domain name search screen.

Two points matter on the commercial side. First, there is no .com.nz zone in New Zealand — the rules expressly forbid names ending in that suffix, and the commercial equivalent is .co.nz. Second, renewal is automatic by default and can be undone within a 45-day window, while a cancelled name stops resolving at once but remains reinstatable for 90 days. If you want a shorter address, compare the pool at .nz.

The privacy option is closed for commercial use: The rules do provide a privacy option, but they require two conditions together: the holder must be an individual, and must not intend to use the name to any significant extent in «trade» as the Fair Trading Act 1986 defines it. Because .co.nz is typically taken for commercial use, most registrations in this zone fall outside the option — a registration in a company's name already fails the first condition. If the regulator determines the conditions are not met the option is removed, but the holder is notified first.
.co.nz domain extension logo

.CO.NZ Domain at a Glance

  • Registry InternetNZ (Wellington); rules enforced by the independent Domain Name Commission
  • Position of the zone An unmoderated second-level zone inside .nz
  • Rules in force .nz Rules version 3.2, 17 March 2026
  • Age of the zone Records created in 1997 were found by measurement
  • After cancellation The name stops resolving at once but can be reinstated for 90 days
  • Automatic renewal It is the default; the window in which it can be undone is 45 days
  • Document Requirement No documents are required to register a .co.nz domain
  • Country New Zealand
  • Character Length 1 - 63 characters
  • Registration Period 1 - 10 years
  • Name Server Count 1 - 10 servers

Popular Domain Extensions for New Zealand

Registering the same name on more than one extension keeps someone else from taking your brand.

.co.nz 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.

  • Renewal

    $49.99 /year
  • Restore

    $71.58
  • Late Renewal

    $13.00

Included With Every .co.nz 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.

  • Free WHOIS privacy

    Your name, address and phone stay out of public WHOIS records, which cuts down spam and scam calls.

.co.nz Domain Lifecycle

Active registration term 1 - 10 years You choose it at registration
Grace period 45 days First window to renew after expiry
Redemption period 90 days You can still get it back by renewing

What happens day by day after it expires

Day 0 is the domain's expiry date

In short: for .co.nz the post-expiry timeline is set by the registry, so it differs from one extension to the next. The diagram below shows the windows that actually apply to .co.nz, day by day. One thing never changes, whichever extension you hold: renewing before the expiry date is always the cheapest and safest route.

What happens day by day after it expires Lifecycle diagram for .co.nz, left to right: the name starts out available; once registered it is yours for the term you chose and the site and e-mail work; day 0 is the expiry date. The windows that follow expiry are: Redemption (90 days). At the end of day 90 the name is open to anyone again. Renewal possible Recovery possible Open to anyone Available Registered 1 - 10 years Redemption 90 days Open to anyone EXPIRED Day 0 Expiry date Day 90 Name released Website and e-mail work Expired — you have to recover it
Swipe sideways to see the whole timeline

Domain Is Available (Available)

Open-ended

A .co.nz 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)

1 - 10 years

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.

Redemption Period (Redemption Period)

Day 0 – 90

The domain is not released the moment it expires — during this window it is still yours and can be recovered. Some extensions charge an extra restore fee at this stage, so renewing before expiry is always the cheaper route.

Domain Is Available Again

After day 90

Once deletion completes, the domain leaves the system and anyone can register it — popular names are often taken the same minute by someone watching. Keep auto-renewal on so a name you care about never gets this far.

.co.nz Domain Specifications and Registration Rules

Registration conditions, supported features and the registry's own timelines in a single table.

.co.nz Domain Registration

  • Document Requirement No documents are required to register a .co.nz domain
  • Country New Zealand
  • Character Length 1 - 63 characters
  • Registration Period 1 - 10 years
  • Name Server Count 1 - 10 servers

.co.nz Domain Support

  • IDN Support Yes
  • Transfer Support Yes
  • Late Renewal Support Yes

Frequently Asked Questions About .co.nz Domains

The questions people actually ask before registering — answered plainly.

  • No. .co.nz is not one of the moderated zones — the rules list the six moderated zones one by one and .co.nz is not among them. No document evidencing commercial activity, no local company and no representative is required. What remains is the general rule: any available name is registered first come, first served. The only condition concerns the person; the applicant must be an identifiable individual over the age of 18 or a lawfully constituted entity.

  • Because no such zone exists, and that is a written rule. The rules expressly forbid a .nz name from ending in .com.nz, .edu.nz, .gov.nz, .government.nz or .nic.nz. In New Zealand the commercial equivalent is .co.nz, and it is the standard address for businesses in the country. Looking for .com.nz is the mistake overseas buyers make most often. If you want a short alternative, look at the .nz pool directly.

  • The zone is old and full, so expectations for short names should stay low. A measurement on 14 August 2026 found single-letter names registered long ago: one had an original creation date of 1997, another of 1998. In practice the one- and two-letter pool in .co.nz is closed. The rules set no minimum length; the upper limit is 63 characters. The quickest way to check a candidate is the domain name search screen.

  • For most commercial registrations, no. The privacy option requires two conditions together: the holder must be an individual, and must not intend to use the name to any significant extent in «trade» as the Fair Trading Act 1986 defines it. A registration in a company's name already fails the first condition. Where the option does apply, a lookup shows only the name and country. You can inspect an existing record on the whois search screen.

  • If the registrar does nothing at expiry, the registry renews the name automatically, and that action can be undone within a 45-day window. If the registration is genuinely cancelled, the name is removed from the zone file pushed to DNS immediately — the site and email stop working — but it stays reinstatable for 90 days. During that period you may move it to another registrar and reinstate it there. After 90 days it is deleted and released.

  • Yes. The rules list DNSSEC among the additional security features the registry enables, describing its purpose as letting the public authenticate the DNS records of a .nz name. A measurement on 14 August 2026 found that the .co.nz zone carries DS records in its parent zone, which makes it a signed delegation. The rules also set a limit: the registry does not offer the service directly and does not require registrars to offer it, so confirm support with your registrar.

  • Not through UDRP but through the registry's own Dispute Resolution Scheme, which the regulator has appointed the New Zealand Dispute Resolution Centre to administer. The complainant must prove two things together: that they have Rights, and that the name is an «Unfair Registration» in the respondent's hands. The procedure has three steps: mediation first, then expert determination, and an appeal if needed. If mediation settles the matter, the file closes with a settlement agreement.

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