.world Domain: A General Ending for Global Reach
The .world extension entered the root zone on 11 September 2014; its ICANN agreement is dated 12 June 2014 and the contracting party is Binky Moon, LLC, part of Identity Digital. The word carries scale and inclusiveness, which is why international brands, community projects, event series and subject-led publications take names here.
On 14 August 2026 the zone held 688,207 registrations, making it the second largest space in this group. The public interest section of the agreement commits the operator to open registration: the string may sound like a global claim, but eligibility still cannot be limited by identity. Try roots on the .world domain search page.
The ending makes a plain promise to visitors: this speaks to a wide audience rather than one city. Break that promise and address and content pull against each other. The decision rule has three parts: publish in at least one international language, state plainly which countries your contact and delivery information covers, and keep local assumptions such as time zone or currency out of the running text. Meet those and the extension states your scale in one word; miss them and a local ending is the more honest signal.
.WORLD Domain at a Glance
- Registry operator Binky Moon, LLC
- Root zone entry 11 September 2014
- Registry agreement 12 June 2014; carries an open registration clause
- Zone size 688,207 registrations (14 August 2026)
- Document Requirement No documents are required to register a .world 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.
.world 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
$4.49 /year -
Transfer
$41.59 /year -
Renewal
$44.79 /year -
Restore
$129.90 -
Late Renewal
$6.98
Included With Every .world 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.
.world Domain Lifecycle
What happens day by day after it expires
Day 0 is the domain's expiry dateIn short: your .world 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 .world 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 .world 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 $6.98 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 .world 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
.world Domain Specifications and Registration Rules
Registration conditions, supported features and the registry's own timelines in a single table.
.world Domain Registration
- Document Requirement No documents are required to register a .world domain
- Character Length 1 - 63 characters
- Registration Period 1 - 10 years
- Name Server Count 2 - 10 servers
.world Domain Support
- IDN Support Yes
- Transfer Support Yes
- Late Renewal Support Yes
Frequently Asked Questions About .world Domains
The questions people actually ask before registering — answered plainly.
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No, there is no eligibility test and the agreement commits the operator to open registration.
The clause forbids limiting eligibility by identity, so a local association or a one-person project can hold a name just as easily. The real question is not legal but communicative: the address promises to speak to a wide audience, and visitors expect the page to deliver on that.
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This is a positioning question rather than a question of quality.
The root you want is probably taken in the classic extension, while the same root may still be free here and the address stays short. Habit, on the other hand, favours the familiar ending. The decision rule: if your brand is known and the address travels in writing, a newer ending causes no trouble; where addresses are mostly spoken aloud, familiarity wins. Compare both with bulk domain search.
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With 688,207 registrations this is the second largest zone in the group, so common single words are taken.
What remains findable are subject-plus-brand pairings, two-part descriptors and words from less widely used languages. A practical method: instead of shortening the root, add a second word that carries meaning — availability improves and the address explains itself. Reviewing results in bulk saves time.
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The most common approach is to keep languages in subdirectories and declare a language tag for each.
Working under one root rather than separate subdomains or domains concentrates link equity in one place and simplifies administration. Reciprocal links between the language versions tell search engines how they map to each other. All languages can share one certificate, so there is no extra cost; see the options on our SSL certificate page.
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Yes, it is a generic top-level domain with standard transfer rules.
Remove the lock, request the authorisation code and start the process from the domain transfer page. A 60-day hold can apply to recently registered names. A transfer does not change your DNS settings; the name keeps resolving, and downtime only appears if you switch name servers at the same moment.
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