The .schule Domain: A School Address for German Markets
The .schule domain entered the root zone on 11 April 2014 under an ICANN agreement dated 6 March 2014, and its registry operator is Binky Moon, LLC. The word means school in German and the extension speaks directly to German-language markets. On 13 August 2026 the zone held 6,149 registrations, 4,653 of them in the zone file.
Private schools in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, music and dance academies, driving schools, vocational colleges and adult education centres make up the register. There is no eligibility requirement and no teaching permit is verified. Try candidates in .schule domain search and compare the .school page for an international reading.
This extension and its English counterpart belong to the same registry operator and carry identical sets of contractual commitments. The choice therefore rests on the language of your audience rather than on any policy difference. If you publish in German and address local parents, this spelling reads directly; if you run an international programme, the English form reaches a wider audience.
.SCHULE Domain at a Glance
- Registry operator Binky Moon, LLC
- Root zone entry 11 April 2014
- Eligibility None; the registry verifies no teaching permit or accreditation
- Zone size 6,149 registrations, 4,653 in the zone file (nTLDstats, 13 August 2026)
- Document Requirement No documents are required to register a .schule domain
- Character Length 1 - 63 characters
- Registration Period 1 - 10 years
- Name Server Count 2 - 10 servers
.schule 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
$15.49 /year -
Transfer
$28.59 /year -
Renewal
$30.79 /year -
Restore
$109.90 -
Late Renewal
$4.10
Included With Every .schule 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.
.schule Domain Lifecycle
What happens day by day after it expires
Day 0 is the domain's expiry dateIn short: your .schule 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 .schule 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 .schule 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 $4.10 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 .schule 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
.schule Domain Specifications and Registration Rules
Registration conditions, supported features and the registry's own timelines in a single table.
.schule Domain Registration
- Document Requirement No documents are required to register a .schule domain
- Character Length 1 - 63 characters
- Registration Period 1 - 10 years
- Name Server Count 2 - 10 servers
.schule Domain Support
- IDN Support Yes
- Transfer Support Yes
- Late Renewal Support Yes
Frequently Asked Questions About .schule Domains
The questions people actually ask before registering — answered plainly.
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Yes, there is no country or residency requirement. The agreement forbids identity-based eligibility limits, and no one asks where the applicant is based. The value of the extension is linguistic: if you address a German-speaking audience, the address is understood immediately. Try candidates on the .schule search page.
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No, neither is requested. The registry verifies no school licence, no state approval and no accreditation certificate, because the agreement already forbids that kind of limit. This is why language courses, tutoring centres and online learning projects can register too. Knowing that the address certifies nothing is an important distinction for parents.
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There is no policy difference, so the choice follows the language. If you publish in German and speak to local parents, this spelling is recognised instantly. If you run an international curriculum or enrol students from several countries, .school carries meaning for a wider audience. Both extensions share the same registry operator.
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On 13 August 2026 the zone held 6,149 registrations with 4,653 in the zone file, about seventy-six per cent. Because the zone is small, your institution's full name has a good chance of being free. The rule that follows: query the full spelling before you try an abbreviation, since it usually produces a more memorable address.
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Lift the lock, request the authorisation code and open the request at the gaining registrar. In education the address often remains registered to a former administrator or a service provider, so move the contact address onto an institutional mailbox first. Run the process from the domain transfer page and verify the record with whois search.
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