.ltd.uk Domain
The Official Domain for UK Limited Companies
Register your .ltd.uk domain from just £9.99/yr. Free DNS management, email forwarding, and 10GB mailbox included, plus free Nominet WHOIS privacy for UK individuals.
This domain has registration restrictions
The .ltd.uk domain is reserved for companies registered at Companies House with "Limited" or "Ltd" in their name. Nominet checks eligibility, so registrations from non-incorporated registrants can be refused. Read the full eligibility rules.
What is a .ltd.uk domain?
The .ltd.uk extension is reserved for companies registered at Companies House with "Limited" or "Ltd" in their name. That restriction gives it a credibility that open TLDs can't match. If your company is incorporated, .ltd.uk proves it right in the URL. Managed by Nominet, it carries the same registry reliability as .co.uk.
Who should register .ltd.uk?
UK limited companies, incorporated businesses, and firms wanting to display their Companies House registration status.
Why choose .ltd.uk?
- Restricted to registered limited companies
- Proves incorporation in the URL
- Nominet registry reliability
- Built-in credibility over open domains
Who runs .ltd.uk, and since when
Registry data from the .ltd.uk 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)
- Registered under the .uk zone
- Registry operator
- Nominet UK
- The organisation that runs the extension
- .uk delegated
- 1985
- The date belongs to the .uk zone, not to .ltd.uk itself
- Who can register
- Incorporated UK companies entitled to use Limited, Ltd, cyfyngedig or cyf in their name
- Checked against the registry's own policy
- Our price
- £9.99 a year
- Ex VAT. Renews at the same price
Why .ltd.uk picks your domain name for you
Nearly every extension lets you register any name still free. .ltd.uk does not, and that single difference explains most of what follows. Nominet's rules carry an algorithm that converts your registered company name into the one label you are permitted to hold. If the result is already taken, or comes out in a shape the rules forbid, there is no second choice and no appeal.
The steps sit in clause 11.3 of the .uk rules and run in a fixed order. Strip Limited, Ltd, cyfyngedig or cyf from the end. Replace each & and + with the word "and". Remove punctuation, which covers apostrophes, quotation marks, commas, full stops, brackets and currency marks. Reduce accented letters to their base letter. You may then drop a leading "The", and you may drop a trailing "Company", "Cwmni" or an abbreviation such as "Co". Whatever survives has its remaining spaces either deleted or turned into single hyphens. So a company incorporated as The Smith & Jones Trading Co. Limited can have smithandjonestrading.ltd.uk or smith-and-jones-trading.ltd.uk, and nothing else at all.
What Nominet checks, and what it can take back
Your application has to state the full company name as registered and the company number, and you must be ready to prove incorporation. The rules also bar an applicant who already holds a name in that same second level, so it works out at one .ltd.uk per company. Partnerships, LLPs and sole traders are excluded by the wording itself.
The part worth reading twice is what happens afterwards. Where Nominet becomes aware that the registrant company has changed its name, been dissolved, or otherwise dropped off the list of active names, it may transfer, cancel, suspend or amend the domain. It will write to the last known registered office first, except where the company has already been struck off, in which case it may act with no notice at all. A rebrand that changes your registered name is therefore a live issue for this domain in a way it is not for your .co.uk.
Our advice: treat .ltd.uk as a credential you point at your main site, not as the address on your van. Register the .co.uk customers will actually type, add the .ltd.uk where incorporated status carries weight in your sector, and redirect one to the other. Both cost the same here, so this is a decision about the letterhead rather than the budget.
Who is allowed to register .ltd.uk?
Only incorporated companies listed at Companies House and entitled to use Limited, Ltd, cyfyngedig or cyf in their corporate name may hold a .ltd.uk domain.
- Who qualifies
- The registrant must be an incorporated company on the Companies House index of company and corporate names, and must be entitled to use Limited, cyfyngedig, ltd. or cyf. in its corporate name. Partnerships of any kind, limited liability partnerships, sole traders and unincorporated bodies are excluded by the rule itself.
- The name is derived, not chosen
- The label left of .ltd.uk must be produced from your official company name using the algorithm in clause 11.3 of the rules. If it yields a name the rules forbid, or one already registered, the application is refused. You cannot substitute a trading name or a shorter version you prefer.
- One domain per company
- An applicant must not already be the registrant of a domain name in that second level, so a company holds at most one .ltd.uk. Group structures with several incorporated entities get one each, tied to each entity's own registered name.
- What you must supply
- The application has to state the full company name as registered and the company registration number, and you must be prepared to provide proof of incorporation. Have the certificate to hand rather than ordering first and looking for it later.
- If you stop qualifying
- Where Nominet becomes aware that the company has changed its name, been dissolved or been removed from the list of active names, it may transfer, cancel, suspend or amend the domain. Notice goes to the last known registered office, or is dispensed with entirely once the company is off the active list. This is an ongoing condition, not a one-off check at the point of sale.
Rules taken from the Nominet .uk rules of registration. 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 .ltd.uk the right choice for you?
We would rather sell you the right extension once than the wrong one twice.
.ltd.uk works well if
- You are incorporated and your sector rewards proof of it, for example trades, construction, recruitment or anything sold to procurement teams who check.
- You already own the .co.uk and want a second name that only a registered company could have obtained.
- Your registered company name is distinctive enough that the derived label reads well, which the algorithm decides rather than you.
- You want a defensive registration nobody else can take, since only a company with your registered name could pass the test.
Look elsewhere if
- You trade as a sole trader, a partnership or an LLP. None of those can hold one, and the application will be refused rather than pending.
- Your customers will have to type it. Three labels and eight characters after the name is a lot to read out over the phone.
- You expect to rebrand or restructure. A change of registered name puts the domain in scope for cancellation, suspension or amendment.
- You want the name your marketing uses. The label comes from your legal name, so a company registered as one thing and trading as another gets the legal one.
Want the address customers will actually type? Register the .co.uk first and keep the .ltd.uk as the credential beside it. See .co.uk pricing.
.ltd.uk vs .co.uk: which should you register?
These two come from the same registry, cost the same here and resolve identically, so the comparison is about meaning and about who is allowed in. A .co.uk asks nothing of you at all. A .ltd.uk asks for a company number and then tells you what your domain is going to be called.
Where .co.uk wins: recognition. It is the address a British customer expects, it fits on a sign, and it survives a rebrand, a restructure and a change of legal entity without the registry taking an interest. Where .ltd.uk wins: it carries a fact rather than a claim. Anyone can put "Ltd" in a .co.uk domain; only an incorporated company entitled to use the word can hold the matching .ltd.uk.
For most incorporated businesses the sensible answer is both, with the .co.uk as the live address and the .ltd.uk redirected to it. That is a few pounds a year to close off a name that reads as your company and could otherwise sit unused.
| .ltd.uk | .co.uk | |
|---|---|---|
| Who may register | Incorporated companies only | Anyone, no test at all |
| Name you may have | Derived from your registered company name | Any name still free |
| Names per holder | One per company | No limit |
| Proof required | Company number, plus proof of incorporation | None |
| If the company goes | May be cancelled or suspended, without notice if struck off | Unaffected |
| Recognised by buyers | Low outside a few sectors | The UK default |
.ltd.uk domain questions, answered
What people ask us before registering a .ltd.uk domain.
Can't find what you're looking for?
Ask us directlyNo. Nominet's rules require the registrant to be an incorporated company on the Companies House index of company and corporate names, and they exclude partnerships of any type and unincorporated bodies by name. A sole trader, an ordinary partnership and a limited liability partnership are all outside the criteria. If you later incorporate, you can apply then, using the registered name the new company is given rather than your trading name.
Because the label is produced by an algorithm in clause 11.3 of the Nominet rules rather than by you. It strips Limited or Ltd from the end of your registered name, converts each ampersand to "and", removes punctuation and accents, optionally drops a leading "The" or a trailing "Company", then removes or hyphenates the remaining spaces. Whatever comes out is the only .ltd.uk you may hold. If it is already registered to another company, there is no alternative to fall back on.
It becomes exposed. Nominet's rules say that where it becomes aware the registrant company has changed its name, been dissolved or been removed from the list of active names, it may transfer, cancel, suspend or amend the domain. Notice goes to the last known registered office, unless the company has already come off the active list, in which case no notice is required. Anything you rely on daily, email included, should sit on a .co.uk that a rebrand cannot touch.
It proves more but is recognised less. A .ltd.uk is evidence of incorporation because nobody else could have passed the test, while "ltd" inside a .co.uk domain proves nothing. Set against that, most British consumers have never seen a .ltd.uk and a few will assume it is a typo. In sectors where a procurement team or a main contractor checks your registration it is worth having; on a shopfront or a van it is not.
One. The rules state that the applicant must not already be the registrant of a domain name in that second level, so each incorporated company gets a single .ltd.uk tied to its own registered name. A group with several incorporated subsidiaries can hold one for each of them, but each has to be applied for by that entity, using that entity's registered name and company number.
Usually minutes. Every .uk domain moves by changing the registrar tag on the record, so there is no authorisation code and no waiting period. Ours is STACK. If the losing registrar releases it promptly the change is visible almost at once, and a registrar with manual acceptance switched on has up to five days before the request times out. Transfers of .uk domains are free here, and your existing registration date and expiry are untouched by the move.
Included with Your .ltd.uk 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 UK Domains Extensions
Register your .ltd.uk domain today
Secure your .ltd.uk domain from just £9.99/yr. Free DNS management, email forwarding, and 10GB mailbox included.
