.uk Domain Names
.uk domain names, the short form secured
Since 2014 the country code has been available at the second level, two letters and nothing more. Nominet keeps both this and .co.uk, so the registry is shared. What is not shared is the registration itself: the short form stands apart from its longer sibling. Register from $10.99/yr, and the renewal figure appears on screen before payment.
.uk
Extension
Shown
Renewal before checkout
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Free
DNS management
The Extension
Why .uk?
June 2014 opened direct .uk registrations, yourname.uk in place of yourname.co.uk, and Britain finally had the short national address most European countries had been using for years. A five-year reservation sat over each string, held for whoever owned the matching .co.uk. In June 2019 those rights lapsed. The two forms are independent registrations today, sharing a registry and nothing else, so whichever version of your name is yours, go and find out who has the other.
Whatever is agreeable about Nominet carries straight across: transfers on an IPS tag that finish within hours, a public register that leaves individuals' addresses out, validation of registrant data that keeps the namespace honest. Against the established read of .co.uk, .uk sounds modern and clipped. Many firms simply hold both, run the website from one and redirect the other, and for any brand with a British future that is the arrangement we would suggest.
Good Fit
.uk works best for
- British brands wanting the shortest national address there is
- Startups who read .uk as the modern British option
- Anyone holding a .co.uk and closing the lookalike gap
- Short links and campaign pages beneath an established UK brand
With Every Name
Included with every domain
The .uk vs .co.uk question, answered honestly
These have been separate registrations ever since the reserved rights fell away in 2019. A single search covers both, and before you decide we say plainly which name sits with whom.
Nominet plumbing throughout
Same-day transfers on the IPS tag, privacy for individuals set at registry level, validation rules laid out before one of them trips you.
One account for the family
One calendar, one card, one set of reminders, with .uk and .co.uk and the .com alongside each other on all three. Managing lookalike risk comes down to exactly that.
Common Questions
Questions about .uk
What is the real relationship between .uk and .co.uk, then?
Both sit with Nominet, and there the connection stops: two distinct registrations at different levels of one tree. .co.uk is the traditional commercial second level. .uk, opened in 2014, is the direct second level. Owning one gives you no claim whatever on the other, not since the reservation period ran out in June 2019. Spend five minutes checking the sibling of a name you already hold. Five minutes, and you know where you stand.
Somebody else already has the .co.uk that matches my .uk, or the reverse. Where does that leave me?
Identify the holder first. Personal details may be withheld, but the register still names the registrar and gives you the registration dates. If it turns out to be innocent coincidence, you have a neighbour you can live with: tighten mail authentication so lookalike messages are harder to spoof, and watch when that name expires. Something copying your trade dress, or catching customers meant for you, is a matter to take advice on, and Nominet operates a dispute resolution service built for exactly this.
A .uk changing registrars: how long does the move take?
A few hours, as a rule. Your existing registrar hands the IPS tag over to the incoming one, and that single change completes the move: no codes to chase, no confirmation emails, none of the waiting periods a gTLD imposes. Because delegation is never touched, neither a visitor nor a mail server sees any difference until you make one yourself.
Keep Browsing
Other endings worth a look
Registration and renewal figures for every ending we carry are on the price list.
Read the whole domain price list or transfer a name you already hold.
Put the .uk on the register before someone else does.
Search runs live against the registry, WHOIS privacy costs nothing where the registry allows it, and the renewal figure is shown before you pay.
Search .uk Names