The .ngo Domain: A Validated Zone for Civil Society
The .ngo domain entered the root zone on 10 July 2014 and its ICANN agreement is classified as Base, Community (Specification 12), Non-Sponsored. Public Interest Registry is the contracting party. As measured on 13 August 2026 the zone holds 7,847 registrations, of which 4,503 appear in the zone file.
Associations, foundations, humanitarian organisations, advocacy networks and community initiatives make up the registrant base. The .ngo domain is not open to unrestricted registration: an applicant must demonstrate affiliation through a non-governmental membership organisation or supply evidence of NGO status. Try candidates in .ngo domain search and see the sibling zone under the same policy on the .ong page.
The agreement limits not only who may register but which name they may hold. A registered label must be one of four things: the organisation's name or part of it, an acronym representing the organisation, a name that generally describes it, or a name tied to its mission and activities. Use is binding too: the site must be developed to promote the organisation's existing mission rather than serve as purely commercial marketing. Enforcement runs through random compliance audits and a dedicated restrictions dispute procedure, with registry lock first and cancellation if nothing is corrected.
.NGO Domain at a Glance
- Registry operator Public Interest Registry
- Root zone entry 10 July 2014
- Agreement type Base, Community (Specification 12), Non-Sponsored
- Eligibility NGO affiliation or evidence of NGO status is mandatory
- Zone size 7,847 registrations, 4,503 in the zone file (nTLDstats, 13 August 2026)
- Document Requirement No documents are required to register a .ngo domain
- Character Length 3 - 63 characters
- Registration Period 1 - 10 years
- Name Server Count 2 - 10 servers
.ngo 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
$49.90 /year -
Transfer
$49.92 /year -
Renewal
$54.91 /year -
Restore
$109.90
Included With Every .ngo 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.
.ngo Domain Lifecycle
What happens day by day after it expires
Day 0 is the domain's expiry dateIn short: your .ngo 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 .ngo 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 .ngo 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 .ngo 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
.ngo Domain Specifications and Registration Rules
Registration conditions, supported features and the registry's own timelines in a single table.
.ngo Domain Registration
- Document Requirement No documents are required to register a .ngo domain
- Character Length 3 - 63 characters
- Registration Period 1 - 10 years
- Name Server Count 2 - 10 servers
.ngo Domain Support
- IDN Support Yes
- Transfer Support Yes
- Late Renewal Support No
Frequently Asked Questions About .ngo Domains
The questions people actually ask before registering — answered plainly.
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Only non-governmental organisations and structures attached to them. Specification 12 of the registry agreement requires an applicant to demonstrate affiliation through an NGO membership organisation or to supply evidence of NGO status. Validation runs in two steps, and a name whose second step is never completed is deleted and returned to the pool. Begin with .ngo domain search.
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The operator publishes a list of seven characteristics. The organisation must act in the public interest, must not distribute profits, must decide its own policies independently of direct government or political control, must not be a political party or part of a government, must pursue its mission regularly and actually use the name, must operate under bylaws or comparable governance, and must act lawfully.
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There is no policy difference at all: the two agreements carry word-for-word identical community text and the same operator runs both. The distinction is linguistic, since .ong is the abbreviation used across Spanish, Portuguese, French and Italian speaking regions. Pick the one matching your working language, and compare on the .ong page.
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Within limits, yes. The label may be your organisation's name or part of it, an acronym representing it, a term that generally describes it, or a name connected to your mission. Anything outside those four categories, such as a campaign slogan or an unrelated dictionary word, runs into the name selection rule. For campaign names look at other zones using bulk domain search.
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The registry conducts random compliance audits and examines third-party challenges through a dedicated procedure. A name whose eligibility can no longer be confirmed is placed under registry lock first, the holder receives notice to correct the problem, and cancellation follows if nothing changes. Keeping organisational records and contact details current is therefore a condition of holding the name, not merely good practice.
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On 13 August 2026 the zone held 7,847 registrations with 4,503 present in the zone file. Three names in every five therefore resolve, which places the zone in the middle band of everything examined in this programme. A smaller zone also improves the odds that your organisation's own name is still free. Confirm the current holder through whois search.
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