.ae Domain
The UAE's Gateway to Digital Business
Register your .ae domain from just £43.99/yr. Free DNS management, email forwarding, and 10GB mailbox included with every domain.
This domain has registration restrictions
Names directly under .ae are open to anyone worldwide, but co.ae is a restricted zone requiring a UAE trade licence, a UAE free-zone licence or a UAE trade mark. Read the full eligibility rules.
What is a .ae domain?
The .ae domain is the official country code for the United Arab Emirates, managed by .aeDA (the .ae Domain Administration). Dubai and Abu Dhabi have become global business hubs, and .ae is the domain that connects local and international companies to the Emirati market. Registration at the second level is open to anyone, with no documentary evidence required. Do not confuse that with co.ae, which is a hard gate: that one needs a UAE trade licence, a free-zone licence or a UAE trade mark, and the name has to match it. For UK businesses expanding into the Gulf, a .ae domain signals commitment to the region.
Who should register .ae?
UAE-based businesses, Dubai free zone companies, international firms targeting the Gulf market, and UK exporters to the Emirates.
Why choose .ae?
- Official UAE country code
- Connects you to a booming Gulf economy
- Open to international registrants
- Strong signal for Middle Eastern customers
Who runs .ae, and since when
Registry data from the .ae delegation record held by IANA, which maintains the internet's root zone. Eligibility comes from the registry's own policy, and the prices are ours.
- Extension type
- Country-code (ccTLD)
- Registry operator
- Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority (TDRA)
- The organisation that runs the extension
- In the root zone since
- 1992
- Delegated 1 December 1992
- Who can register
- Open to anyone worldwide at the second level; co.ae requires a UAE trade licence
- Checked against the registry's own policy
- Our price
- £43.99 a year
- Ex VAT. Renews at the same price
The .ae rule that catches UK exporters out
The second level of .ae is open, and the policy says so in plain words. Section 10 of the .ae Domain Name Policy, published by the TDRA, states that applicants for a name directly under .ae are not required to provide any documentary evidence, nor meet any requirement other than the general ones. No trade licence, no Emirati partner, no residency.
Where British exporters come unstuck is co.ae. It looks like the obvious choice to an eye trained on .co.uk, and it is a restricted zone. Holding one needs a valid UAE trade licence, a licence from a UAE free zone, or a UAE trade mark, and the name itself has to be an exact match, an acronym, an abbreviation or closely connected to a company you control or a mark you hold. That is two tests, not one, and a buyer who passes the first can still fail the second on the name they wanted.
One more thing to plan around: an .ae is issued as a licence for one to five years rather than a permanent grant, and the registry keeps a reserved names list that can block a name outright.
Who is allowed to register .ae?
Names directly under .ae are open to anyone worldwide, but co.ae is a restricted zone requiring a UAE trade licence, a UAE free-zone licence or a UAE trade mark.
- The second level is open
- Section 10 of the .ae Domain Name Policy says applicants for a name under .ae need not provide documentary evidence or meet any requirement beyond the general ones. A UK company can register one without any UAE presence at all.
- co.ae needs a licence
- Section 11 restricts co.ae to holders of a valid UAE trade licence, entities licensed in a UAE free zone, and applicants for or holders of a UAE trade mark. Being a long-standing exporter to the Emirates is not itself enough.
- The name must match
- A co.ae name must be an exact match, an acronym, an abbreviation or closely connected to the name or trade mark of a company in which you hold 50 per cent or more, or which you control, or to an organisation you control. A newly invented marketing phrase will not qualify.
- If you do not qualify
- The registry maintains a reserved names list and states that it reserves the right to revoke a domain name licence where the registrant is in breach of the policy. Because the registration is a licence of one to five years, revocation is the stated remedy rather than an unusual one.
Rules taken from the TDRA .ae Domain Name Policy. Registry policy can change, so check before you buy if the answer matters to you.
Not sure whether you qualify? Ask us before you order and we will check the registry rules with you. We would rather answer the question than take an order the registry will refuse.
Is .ae the right choice for you?
We would rather sell you the right extension once than the wrong one twice.
.ae works well if
- You are opening in Dubai or Abu Dhabi and want the address Emirati customers expect to see before they will type a card number into it.
- You ship to the Gulf from the UK and want a landing site that reads as local without registering a company there, which the open second level allows.
- Your brand name has gone in .com across the region but is free in .ae, which happens often because the namespace is younger than the global ones.
Look elsewhere if
- You wanted co.ae to mirror your .co.uk. That zone is restricted, and a British trade mark will not open it; you need a UAE licence or a UAE mark.
- Nobody in the business reads Arabic and there is no one in the region to answer the phone. A local address raises an expectation of local service.
- The annual cost is roughly three times a .co.uk and it buys nothing in British search results, so a speculative registration is dead money.
Testing the Gulf rather than committing to it? Start with the .co.uk and add the .ae when there is somebody there to answer. See .co.uk pricing.
.ae vs .com: which should you register?
A .com works everywhere and says nothing about where you are. A .ae says one thing loudly: this business is here. In the Emirates that matters more than it sounds, because a market with a lot of cross-border sellers uses the domain ending as a rough sorting signal for who has a local presence and who is shipping in from somewhere else.
What .com still wins on is the fingers of anyone who is not thinking about it. Most people default to .com, and a .ae has to be seen written down first. Register both if the Gulf matters commercially: the .com on the invoice, the .ae on the regional campaign, and redirect whichever one is not carrying the main site.
.ae domain questions, answered
What people ask us before registering a .ae domain.
Can't find what you're looking for?
Ask us directlyYes, for a name directly under .ae. The TDRA policy states that applicants for a second-level .ae name need not provide documentary evidence or meet any requirement beyond the general rules, so no UAE company, licence or address is needed. The restriction applies one level down: co.ae is a restricted zone requiring a UAE trade licence, a free-zone licence or a UAE trade mark, and the domain must correspond to the company or mark you hold.
One is open and one is not. A name under .ae itself carries no eligibility test. A name under co.ae is limited to commercial entities trading in the UAE, and the policy requires both a qualifying credential and a name that is an exact match, acronym, abbreviation or close connection to a company you control or a trade mark you hold. British buyers often assume co.ae is the natural equivalent of .co.uk and order it first, which is the wrong way round.
It should help for searches made in the Emirates, because Google treats a country-code extension as a signal that a site is aimed at that country. It does nothing in Google UK, where the .co.uk carries the local signal. If you are trading in both markets, the answer is two domains with separate content rather than one address trying to serve both, since duplicated pages on two endings end up competing with each other.
Included with Your .ae Domain
DNS Management
Full DNS zone editor to manage A, CNAME, MX, TXT, and all record types.
Email Forwarding
Set up professional email addresses and forward to any inbox.
Auto-Renewal
Never lose your domain with automatic renewal protection.
Free 10GB Mailbox
One 10GB mailbox (POP3/IMAP) included with every domain, on any TLD.
Other Geographic Domains Extensions
Register your .ae domain today
Secure your .ae domain from just £43.99/yr. Free DNS management, email forwarding, and 10GB mailbox included.
