.scot Domain
Scotland's Digital Flag
Register your .scot domain from just £38.99/yr. Free DNS management, email forwarding, and 10GB mailbox included, plus free Nominet WHOIS privacy for UK individuals.
This domain has registration restrictions
A .scot registrant must have a link to the worldwide Scottish community, must declare what the domain is for, and can lose the name later if either fails. Read the full eligibility rules.
What is a .scot domain?
The .scot domain represents Scotland and the Scottish community worldwide. It's run by Dot Scot Registry, backed by the Scottish Government, and used by businesses, local authorities, and cultural organisations across the country. From Edinburgh tech firms to Highland tourism operators, .scot tells the world you're proudly Scottish.
Who should register .scot?
Scottish businesses, local councils, tourism operators, whisky distilleries, and Scottish cultural organisations.
Why choose .scot?
- Backed by the Scottish Government
- Strong cultural identity signal
- Ideal for Scottish tourism and business
- Growing adoption across Scotland
Who runs .scot, and since when
Registry data from the .scot 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
- Dot Scot Registry Limited
- The organisation that runs the extension
- In the root zone since
- 2014
- Delegated 5 June 2014
- Who can register
- Needs a link to the worldwide Scottish community, declared and audited after sale
- Checked against the registry's own policy
- Our price
- £38.99 a year
- Ex VAT. Renews at the same price
The .scot nexus rule, and what losing it costs
Of everything in this category, .scot is the one with a real eligibility rule, and it is not the rule most people expect. You do not have to live in Scotland. You have to have a nexus with the .scot community, which the registry defines on linguistic, cultural, tourism or business grounds, or through any other activity conducive to the welfare of the worldwide Scottish community. A Scottish society in Toronto qualifies comfortably. A reseller in another hemisphere who picked the string because it was free does not.
Two mechanics turn that from a form of words into something with teeth. Registrants are required to state their intended use for the name, and the registry treats a false statement of intended use as an indication of bad faith and a basis for suspending the domain. And the nexus is post-validated: instead of checking everyone at the checkout, dotScot runs an ongoing compliance programme with audits based on language, culture, tourism and business. So the point at which the rule bites is usually months after the sale, not at the point of order.
If the registry decides you are not compliant, the published sequence is: contact to put it right, fifteen days to do so unless a shorter period is specified, then thirty days of suspension, then cancellation, with no refund of registry fees. There is an appeal, the Eligibility and Reconsideration Dispute Resolution Procedure. Names of Scottish public authorities and public services, and the names of settlements and localities, carry an extra layer and need you to be that body or to hold its permission.
The registry is a not-for-profit registered in Scotland, company number SC366311, and the extension carries real institutional weight: the Scottish Government at gov.scot and the Scottish Parliament at parliament.scot both use it.
It takes some time to have your credentials accepted and to a large extent we remain the new kid on the block compared to more traditional domains.
What that means if you are buying one
That is the registry chair, on the registry blog, being candid about the extension he runs. Take it as a fair warning about recognition rather than about quality. A .scot will not be second-guessed by a Scottish customer, but a supplier in Birmingham may still ask you to repeat it. Register it because the Scottish identity is the message, and hold a .co.uk for the people who need no explanation.
Who is allowed to register .scot?
A .scot registrant must have a link to the worldwide Scottish community, must declare what the domain is for, and can lose the name later if either fails.
- What counts as a nexus
- A link to the .scot community on a linguistic, cultural, tourism or business basis, or through any other activity conducive to the welfare of the worldwide Scottish community. Residence in Scotland is not required, and the requirement covers renewal as well as registration, so it has to keep holding rather than merely hold once.
- Declaring the intended use
- The registry collects your intended use as part of the registration data, because it operates as a community-based extension with its own data requirements. A false statement of intended use is treated as an indication of bad faith and can on its own be the basis for suspending the domain.
- Checked after the sale
- Nexus is post-validated through an ongoing compliance programme and audits rather than verified at the checkout. A registration that goes through without a query is therefore not evidence that it will survive later scrutiny.
- Place names and public bodies
- Names of public authorities at any level in Scotland, and names related to a public service in Scotland, require you to be that body or to hold its permission. A geographic name can be suspended where the actual use of the domain drifts away from the benefit or advancement of that settlement or locality, as declared at registration.
- If you stop qualifying
- You are contacted to correct the position, with fifteen days to do so unless a shorter period is specified. Miss that and the domain is suspended for a further thirty days, then cancelled, with no reimbursement of registry fees. The decision can be challenged under the Eligibility and Reconsideration Dispute Resolution Procedure.
Rules taken from the .scot Registration Policy published by dotScot Registry. 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 .scot the right choice for you?
We would rather sell you the right extension once than the wrong one twice.
.scot works well if
- You are a Scottish business, charity or cultural body and the Scottish identity is part of what you are selling rather than a decoration on it.
- You are part of the Scottish diaspora, running a society, a clan association or a Scottish-interest venture outside Scotland, which the nexus rule covers explicitly.
- You sell something where provenance is the product, such as whisky, textiles, food or tourism, and you want the address to say where it comes from.
- You want an extension with civic weight behind it, given that the Scottish Government and the Scottish Parliament both use it.
Look elsewhere if
- Your link to Scotland is thin. Nexus is audited after the sale, and the published route out is fifteen days to correct, thirty days suspended, then cancelled with no refund.
- You need the address to be beyond dispute for a decade. Eligibility here is a continuing condition, not a one-off check at the point of order.
- Cost is tight and the audience is UK-wide. A .scot is several times the annual price of a .co.uk and carries no automatic UK location signal in Google.
Selling across Britain rather than specifically to Scotland? A .co.uk costs less and reaches a wider audience without an eligibility rule attached. See .co.uk pricing.
.scot vs .co.uk: which should you register?
For a business in Scotland these are the two realistic options, and they solve different problems. A .co.uk is the default British address, cheap and universally understood. A .scot is a statement of identity with a rule attached to it.
.co.uk gives you a UK association Google reads without being asked, the lowest annual cost of anything on this site, near instant transfers on an IPS tag, free WHOIS privacy for a UK individual under Nominet rules, and no eligibility test whatsoever. .scot gives you something a .co.uk cannot: an address that says Scotland to a Scottish customer before they read a word of the page, backed by a registry that is a Scottish not-for-profit.
Most Scottish businesses we deal with hold both, and that is the recommendation. Use the .co.uk where reach and search matter, use the .scot where identity matters, and keep the nexus requirement in mind as an ongoing condition rather than a box ticked once.
| .scot | .co.uk | |
|---|---|---|
| Eligibility | Scottish community nexus required | None |
| When it is checked | Audited after registration | Never |
| Type | Community-based generic | UK country-code |
| Google location cue | None | United Kingdom |
| Annual cost | Several times a .co.uk | Low |
.scot domain questions, answered
What people ask us before registering a .scot domain.
Can't find what you're looking for?
Ask us directlyYes, provided you have a nexus with the Scottish community. The registration policy defines that on linguistic, cultural, tourism or business grounds, or through any other activity conducive to the welfare of the worldwide Scottish community, and residence in Scotland is not one of the tests. A Scottish society, a clan association or a business trading on Scottish provenance from outside Scotland all fall inside it. A registration with no such link does not.
Yes, and the process is published. The registry can deny or cancel a registration for lack of community nexus, and suspend or cancel one where the registrant has lost that nexus. The sequence is contact to correct the position, fifteen days to do so unless a shorter period is set, a further thirty days of suspension, then cancellation with no refund of registry fees. Decisions can be challenged under the Eligibility and Reconsideration Dispute Resolution Procedure.
It is a third-level namespace the registry launched on 30 November 2025, priced well below a standard .scot to remove cost as a barrier to joining the namespace. The registry states it is available exclusively from its own shop at domains.scot, so it is not something we or other registrars can register for you. If the lower price is the deciding factor, that is where to look; if you want us to manage the domain alongside your hosting, the standard .scot is the one to take.
Not by itself. .scot is a generic extension as far as Google is concerned, so it carries no automatic geographic weighting, and even a .co.uk only signals the UK rather than Scotland specifically. Local visibility comes from your content, your Google Business Profile and links from Scottish sites. What .scot does is signal to a human reader, immediately and without explanation, that the organisation is Scottish, which for the right business is worth more than a ranking nudge.
Included with Your .scot 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 .scot domain today
Secure your .scot domain from just £38.99/yr. Free DNS management, email forwarding, and 10GB mailbox included.
