.berlin Domain
Germany's Capital Gets Its Own Domain
Register your .berlin domain from just £62.99/yr. Free DNS management, email forwarding, and 10GB mailbox included with every domain.
This domain has registration restrictions
Only registrants who can show an economic, cultural, historical, social or other connection to Berlin may hold a .berlin domain, and the domain has to be in use within 12 months. Read the full eligibility rules.
What is a .berlin domain?
The .berlin domain represents one of Europe's most dynamic cities. Berlin's tech startup scene, creative industries, and lively culture make it a global brand in its own right, and .berlin gives local businesses a web address that carries that energy. Managed by dotBERLIN GmbH & Co. KG, it's the most successful city TLD in Germany. You don't need to be based in Berlin to register one, but the extension resonates most with businesses that have a real connection to the city.
Who should register .berlin?
Berlin-based startups, creative agencies in Berlin, tourism operators, event companies, and businesses targeting the Berlin market.
Why choose .berlin?
- Represents one of Europe's most dynamic cities
- Germany's most successful city TLD
- Strong appeal for startups and creatives
- Carries Berlin's global brand recognition
Who runs .berlin, and since when
Registry data from the .berlin 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
- Generic (gTLD)
- Registry operator
- dotBERLIN GmbH & Co. KG
- The organisation that runs the extension
- In the root zone since
- 2013
- Delegated 19 December 2013
- Who can register
- Anyone with a demonstrable Berlin connection, which the registry does not check up front
- Checked against the registry's own policy
- Our price
- £62.99 a year
- Ex VAT. Renews at the same price
Berlin's connection rule and the 12-month use test
Read dotBERLIN's registration policy before you order one of these, because .berlin is not an open extension. The policy describes it as a community based top level domain and says domain names "may only be registered under the gTLD .BERLIN by a limited group of registrants". Section 5.1 sets the test: you have to be able to show an economic, cultural, historical, social or other connection to the German capital.
Three things satisfy that test, and the middle one explains why so many .berlin names are held from outside the city. A residence, secondary residence, registered seat, place of business, subsidiary or permanent establishment in Berlin qualifies. Naming a contact with a seat in Berlin in the whois record qualifies. So does other suitable proof: the policy names an employer's certificate, enrolment at a school or university, and a birth certificate.
Section 5.2 asks for something registrars rarely mention. A .berlin has to be in use within 12 months of registration, and any website on it must carry content related directly to whatever made you eligible. Parking one sits outside the rules you accepted at checkout.
In practice nothing is checked at the point of sale. Section 5.3 says no proof is required to register, that the registry may audit whenever it chooses, and that a registrant whose details do not stand up gets 14 days to fix them before the domain is deleted with no refund. The risk is real but back-loaded, which is the worst shape of risk for a business address.
Our steer: buy it when Berlin is the point of the business rather than the flavour of the name. It is one of the dearer extensions we sell, and the rule is not one to argue about in year three.
Every natural person, legal entity, organisation or group of persons is entitled to register and use a domain under the .berlin top level domain, provided they can show that they have an economic, cultural, historical, social or other connection to the German capital, Berlin
What that means if you are buying one
The load-bearing words are "can show". You file nothing when you order, so the check, if it ever comes, arrives long after the site is built and the address is on your invoices. Decide now which of the three routes you would use, and keep the evidence somewhere you can find it.
Who is allowed to register .berlin?
Only registrants who can show an economic, cultural, historical, social or other connection to Berlin may hold a .berlin domain, and the domain has to be in use within 12 months.
- Being in Berlin
- A residence, secondary residence, registered seat, place of business, subsidiary or permanent establishment in Berlin satisfies the rule outright. This is the cleanest route and the easiest to evidence later.
- A Berlin contact instead
- Naming a contact with a seat in Berlin in the whois record also satisfies it. That is how a business outside the city can hold one legitimately, and it means the whois entry is doing real work rather than sitting there as a formality.
- Other suitable proof
- The policy accepts other evidence of a connection and names an employer's certificate, enrolment at a school or higher education institute, and a birth certificate. Somebody born in Berlin and living in Bristol qualifies on that basis alone.
- You must use it
- The domain has to be put into use within 12 months of registration, and any website on it must have content directly related to the authorisation to register. A defensive registration parked on a holding page does not meet this.
- If you do not qualify
- No proof is asked for at registration, but the registry may check at its own discretion. Where the details do not allow a check, the registrant has 14 days from being told to correct them. Keep failing and the domain is deleted, and registration fees already paid are not refunded.
Rules taken from the dotBERLIN registration 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 .berlin the right choice for you?
We would rather sell you the right extension once than the wrong one twice.
.berlin works well if
- You trade from Berlin and want the address to say so before anyone reads a word of the page. A city extension does that faster than a strapline can.
- Your name is long gone in .de and .com, and the city word carries the meaning the missing word used to carry.
- You run events, tours, venues or property in the city, where the customer is already searching with the word Berlin in the query.
- You have a subsidiary or an office in Berlin, so the connection rule is satisfied by a fact rather than by an argument.
Look elsewhere if
- Your link to Berlin is aspirational. The rule is enforced after the sale, not before it, so the day it bites is the day the site is established.
- Cost matters. This is one of the most expensive extensions on our list, several times a .co.uk, and it recurs every year for as long as you trade.
- You wanted a name to sit on. The 12-month use requirement makes .berlin a poor choice for defensive or speculative registrations.
No real Berlin link and none planned? A .co.uk carries a UK signal in search, costs a fraction of this, and asks nothing of you beyond renewing it. See .co.uk pricing.
.berlin vs .cologne: which should you register?
Germany's two best known city extensions are run on completely different terms, which is the thing worth knowing before you pick one. dotBERLIN gates .berlin behind a connection test and a use requirement. dotKoeln publishes a general registration policy for .cologne and .koeln that sets no equivalent local test at all, so anyone anywhere can register one.
Pick .berlin if the city is the business and you can evidence the link, because the restriction is also what keeps the extension meaning something. Pick .cologne if you want a German city name without a policy hanging over the renewal, or if your connection is to the Rhineland rather than the capital.
Price is the other honest difference. On our own list .berlin costs roughly twice what .cologne does, every year, for an extension that asks more of you. That is a defensible premium for a Berlin business and a hard one to justify for anybody else.
| .berlin | .cologne | |
|---|---|---|
| Who may register | Demonstrable Berlin connection required | Anyone, no local test |
| Use requirement | In use within 12 months | None published |
| Registry | dotBERLIN GmbH & Co. KG | dotKoeln GmbH |
| In the root zone since | 2013 | 2014 |
| Annual cost | Roughly double the .cologne price | About half the .berlin price |
.berlin domain questions, answered
What people ask us before registering a .berlin domain.
Can't find what you're looking for?
Ask us directlyNo, but you do need a connection to the city that you could evidence if asked. The registration policy accepts a residence, seat, place of business, subsidiary or permanent establishment in Berlin, or a contact with a seat in Berlin named in the whois record, or other proof such as an employer's certificate, enrolment at a Berlin school or university, or a birth certificate. Living somewhere else is fine. Having no link at all is not.
The policy requires the domain to be in use within 12 months of registration, and gives the registry the right to check compliance whenever it chooses. If your registration details do not support a check you get 14 days from being notified to correct them, and a registrant who still does not comply has the domain deleted with no refund of fees already paid. That makes .berlin a bad fit for a name you want to park.
Only where the city itself is the selling point. You are paying a large annual premium for one word of meaning, and that word only earns its keep with an audience that cares about Berlin specifically. A venue, a tour operator, a property agency or a studio in the city gets real value from it. A software company that happens to have a desk there gets a bill.
Not automatically. IANA classifies .berlin as a generic top-level domain rather than a country code, so it does not carry the country-level signal that Google says a ccTLD gives a search engine. What it carries is a signal to the person reading it, which is worth having but is a different thing. If German search visibility is the goal, the content, the language and the links do that work.
Included with Your .berlin 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.
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Register your .berlin domain today
Secure your .berlin domain from just £62.99/yr. Free DNS management, email forwarding, and 10GB mailbox included.
