.hu Domain
Hungary's Official Country Domain
Register your .hu domain from just £56.99/yr. Free DNS management, email forwarding, and 10GB mailbox included with every domain.
This domain has registration restrictions
Anyone may apply, but an applicant from outside the EU, the Council of Europe, the EEA, EFTA and Hungary's neighbouring countries has to show an activity that justifies using a .hu name. Read the full eligibility rules.
What is a .hu domain?
The .hu domain is Hungary's country code, managed by the Council of Hungarian Internet Providers (ISZT). Budapest has become one of Central Europe's tech and startup hotspots, and .hu is the domain Hungarian consumers know and trust. Registration requires a valid EU contact address, which keeps the namespace clean. For UK businesses working with Hungarian partners or targeting the Central European market, .hu signals local commitment.
Who should register .hu?
Hungarian businesses, Budapest-based startups, UK companies with Hungarian operations, and brands targeting Central European consumers.
Why choose .hu?
- Hungary's official country code
- Budapest is a growing Central European tech hub
- Trusted by Hungarian consumers
- Requires EU contact (credible namespace)
Who runs .hu, and since when
Registry data from the .hu 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
- Council of Hungarian Internet Providers (CHIP)
- The organisation that runs the extension
- In the root zone since
- 1990
- Delegated 7 November 1990
- Who can register
- Open worldwide, though some applicants must show activity justifying the name
- Checked against the registry's own policy
- Our price
- £56.99 a year
- Ex VAT. Renews at the same price
Where UK applicants sit in the .hu rules
The .hu domain has an eligibility rule that reads as restrictive and turns out, for a British buyer, not to be. The Domain Registration Policy opens by saying applicants may be citizens or legal entities of any country, provided no mandatory law prevents people from that country applying. The next clause is where the condition sits.
Section 1.1.2 divides applicants in two. Inside the first group are legal persons and nationals of a member state of the European Union, the Council of Europe, the EEA or EFTA, or of a country bordering Hungary, along with natural persons holding a Hungarian residence permit. Anyone outside that group may still apply, but only if they carry out or start an economic or other activity that justifies using a .hu name, and they have to produce evidence of it when the registry or the registrar asks.
The United Kingdom is a founding member of the Council of Europe and remains one, which is a separate body from the European Union and was not affected by leaving it. A UK national or a UK company therefore falls inside the listed group and does not need to argue the justification case at all. That is a better position than the one UK applicants have on .eu, and it is not something most registrars explain.
Terms run from one to ten years, and renewals cannot take a registration beyond eleven years in total. The registry is ISZT, the Council of Hungarian Internet Providers, and applications are made through registrars rather than direct.
Who is allowed to register .hu?
Anyone may apply, but an applicant from outside the EU, the Council of Europe, the EEA, EFTA and Hungary's neighbouring countries has to show an activity that justifies using a .hu name.
- The general rule
- The policy states that domain applicants may be citizens or legal entities of any country, provided no applicable law precludes persons from those countries from applying for a domain name. There is no Hungarian address requirement and no local representative to appoint.
- Who applies without further test
- Legal persons and nationals of a member state of the European Union, the Council of Europe, the EEA or EFTA, or of a country bordering Hungary, plus natural persons holding a Hungarian permanent residence permit or residence permit.
- Where UK applicants sit
- The United Kingdom is a founding member of the Council of Europe and did not leave it when it left the European Union, so a UK national or UK company sits inside the listed group. Nothing extra has to be shown, which is the opposite of the position on .eu.
- Everybody else
- An applicant outside those groups qualifies only by carrying out or starting an economic or other activity that justifies the use of a .hu domain name, and must supply supporting evidence if the registry or registrar requests it.
- If you cannot justify it
- The application can be refused. This is checked at the point of application rather than years later, so the cost of getting it wrong is a rejected order and a delay rather than a live site going dark.
Rules taken from the .hu Domain 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 .hu the right choice for you?
We would rather sell you the right extension once than the wrong one twice.
.hu works well if
- You sell to Hungarian consumers, who look for .hu the way British consumers look for .co.uk, and your site is published in Hungarian.
- You have a Budapest office or development team and want a local address for recruitment as well as sales.
- You are a UK company and want a Central European address you actually qualify for without setting up a local entity.
- You are protecting a brand that already trades in Hungary and want the matching name secured for the long term.
Look elsewhere if
- Your customers are British. The country signal points at Hungary, and a .co.uk costs a small fraction of this every year.
- You are registering on behalf of a parent company outside Europe. They fall into the group that has to evidence a justifying activity.
- You want it as a two-letter novelty. It is one of the dearer extensions on our list and the annual cost never stops.
Only trading in the UK? The .co.uk is the address your customers expect and the cheaper one to keep. See .co.uk pricing.
.hu vs .eu: which should you register?
These two make an instructive pair for anyone in Britain, because they treat UK applicants in opposite ways. Since the end of the transition period a UK-established company cannot hold a .eu unless it qualifies through EU citizenship or an entity established in the Union. Hungary's rules reach wider: they count Council of Europe states, and the UK is one.
Pick .hu when Hungary is the market and you want an address Hungarian customers trust, with an eligibility position you can rely on. Pick .eu when you are trading across several member states, no single national extension fits, and you have a qualifying citizen or an EU-established entity to register it in.
The wider point is worth taking away from this page. Eligibility on a national extension is a policy decision that can change, so where a domain is going to carry your business for a decade, check who sets the rule and how it has moved before you build on it.
| .hu | .eu | |
|---|---|---|
| Who may register | Any country, with a test for some | EU, EEA and EFTA citizens, residents, organisations |
| UK applicants | Inside the listed group | Not eligible without an EU link |
| Geographic signal | Hungary | European Union |
| Registration term | One to ten years | Set by the registry |
| Rules set by | ISZT, the Hungarian registry | EU regulation, applied by EURid |
.hu domain questions, answered
What people ask us before registering a .hu domain.
Can't find what you're looking for?
Ask us directlyYes, and without any extra paperwork. The policy places legal persons and nationals of Council of Europe member states inside the group that applies without further justification, and the United Kingdom is a founding member of the Council of Europe, which is a separate organisation from the European Union. A UK company or a UK national can apply on the same footing as a Hungarian one.
No. The published rules do not require a Hungarian address, a local administrative contact or an appointed representative in the way some national extensions do. What they require is that you fall inside the listed groups of countries, or that you can show an economic or other activity that justifies using the name. Contact details in the application are your own.
From one to ten years at a time. The policy also caps how far ahead a registration can run, so a renewal cannot extend the total beyond eleven years. Longer terms suit a domain you have decided is permanent, and they cut the risk of an expiry slipping past a change of staff or a change of card details. Shorter terms keep the annual cost visible, which is worth something on an extension at this price.
You would have to show a justifying activity. An applicant who is not a legal person or national of an EU, Council of Europe, EEA or EFTA state, or of a country bordering Hungary, and who does not hold a Hungarian residence permit, is eligible only where they carry out or start an economic or other activity that justifies using a .hu name, with evidence on request. Plan for a slower order, and ask us before you commit to the name.
Included with Your .hu 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 .hu domain today
Secure your .hu domain from just £56.99/yr. Free DNS management, email forwarding, and 10GB mailbox included.
