The .nrw Domain: An Address Tied to North Rhine-Westphalia
The .nrw domain represents North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous federal state in Germany. It entered the root zone on 29 May 2014 under an ICANN agreement dated 21 November 2013, and the contracting party is Minds + Machines GmbH, based in Cologne. The zone contained 22,848 registrations when measured on 13 August 2026.
Businesses, municipalities, clubs, agencies and local service providers across the state form the registrant base. Unlike many city extensions, the regional connection here is a registration condition rather than a marketing theme, as explained below. Try candidates in .nrw domain search and compare two neighbouring zones on the .koeln page.
The registration policy defines eligibility through three routes: individuals resident in a North Rhine-Westphalia postal code area, individuals with a place of business there in connection with self-employment or freelance work, and legal entities with a place of business in the same area. The registry publishes the list of qualifying postal codes on its own website, which turns the requirement into a measurable test rather than a statement of sentiment. An address outside the state can lead to the application being refused.
.NRW Domain at a Glance
- Registry operator Minds + Machines GmbH (Cologne)
- Root zone entry 29 May 2014
- Eligibility Residence or place of business inside a North Rhine-Westphalia postal code
- Zone size 22,848 registrations (nTLDstats, 13 August 2026)
- Document Requirement No documents are required to register a .nrw domain
- Character Length 1 - 63 characters
- Registration Period 1 - 10 years
- Name Server Count 2 - 10 servers
Related Domain Extensions
Registering the same name on more than one extension keeps someone else from taking your brand.
.nrw 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
$49.90 /year -
Renewal
$54.89 /year -
Restore
$384.90 -
Late Renewal
$10.98
Included With Every .nrw 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.
.nrw Domain Lifecycle
What happens day by day after it expires
Day 0 is the domain's expiry dateIn short: your .nrw 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 .nrw 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 .nrw 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 $10.98 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 .nrw 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
.nrw Domain Specifications and Registration Rules
Registration conditions, supported features and the registry's own timelines in a single table.
.nrw Domain Registration
- Document Requirement No documents are required to register a .nrw domain
- Character Length 1 - 63 characters
- Registration Period 1 - 10 years
- Name Server Count 2 - 10 servers
.nrw Domain Support
- IDN Support Yes
- Transfer Support Yes
- Late Renewal Support Yes
Frequently Asked Questions About .nrw Domains
The questions people actually ask before registering — answered plainly.
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As a rule, no. The registration policy limits eligibility to three routes and each one is anchored to the state's postal code area: individuals resident there, individuals with a self-employed or freelance place of business there, and legal entities with a place of business there. An address outside the state can lead to refusal. Review candidates in .nrw domain search.
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No document list is filed at registration. The policy asks instead for a valid postal address, a working email address and telephone number, and an administrative contact who can act for you. In exchange, the registry expressly reserves the right to refuse orders and to delete or deactivate a name that does not comply with its policies.
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The registry's own policy allows a label of at least one and at most sixty-three characters. A name may not begin or end with a hyphen, and the policy states that certain German umlaut characters are admissible. Your registrar interface may present a narrower limit, which reflects a product decision rather than a rule set by the registry.
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The deciding factor is the width of your service area. A business tied to a single city is described more precisely by the city extension, whereas customers spread across the state are better matched by the regional one. The two zones are run by different organisations and their conditions are not identical. Compare them on the .koeln page.
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The agreement contains an eleven-point voluntary regime. The registry undertakes to publish acceptable use rules, to bind registrants to them during sign-up, to run a flagging process open to the public and to law enforcement alongside a single point of contact, to suspend or delete abused names, and where necessary to close other names held by the same registrant. Complaints travel through that channel.
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The agreement obliges the registry to run a sixty-day Sunrise through the Trademark Clearinghouse, giving rights holders a window to apply before general availability opens. Geographic names and intergovernmental organisation names are also protected at the second level. Today the practical route is defensive registration; scan several zones together with bulk domain search.
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