.to Domain
Tonga's Domain with Global Appeal
Register your .to domain from just £64.99/yr. Free DNS management, email forwarding, and 10GB mailbox included with every domain.
What is a .to domain?
The .to domain is the country code for the Kingdom of Tonga, a Polynesian archipelago in the South Pacific. It's become popular far beyond Tonga because "to" is one of the most common words in the English language. This makes .to ideal for domain hacks: think "go.to", "link.to", or "listen.to". The Tonga Network Information Center manages registrations, which are open worldwide. Short, memorable, and endlessly hackable.
Who should register .to?
Creative brands, startups wanting a domain hack, and anyone after a short memorable web address. Note that Tonic suspends any .to used to run a free public URL shortener.
Why choose .to?
- "To" is a common English word, perfect for domain hacks
- Short two-letter extension
- Open to worldwide registration
- Reads as a word, so the name can finish the sentence
Who runs .to, and since when
Registry data from the .to 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
- Government of the Kingdom of Tonga, H.R.H. Crown Prince Tupouto'a
- The organisation that runs the extension
- In the root zone since
- 1995
- Delegated 18 December 1995
- Who can register
- Open to anyone worldwide, though free URL shorteners are suspended permanently
- Checked against the registry's own policy
- Our price
- £64.99 a year
- Ex VAT. Renews at the same price
The .to rule that catches link shorteners
Tonic's own FAQ asks whether there are any drawbacks to a name in .TO instead of .COM, and answers in one word: none. Technically that holds up. The zone resolves the same way everywhere and has done since the registry opened in June 1997, the first country code offered globally through an automated system. Commercially there is more to it, and the biggest item is a rule most buyers meet after they have paid.
Tonga's registry takes a hard line on redirection, published in that same FAQ. Offer URL or email redirection of any kind and Tonic holds you answerable for what your users do with it. Run a free public shortener and the outcome is not a warning.
The rest of .to is a Pacific registry doing things its own way. Outside a reserved list, names are first come, first served. Ownership changes run on a transfer key rather than the authorisation code you may be used to, and the registry treats a change of registrant as a new registration with new registration charges attached. Expired names sit in an auto renew period of around forty days before they go any further.
What you are buying is the word. To is one of the commonest words in English, so link.to, listen.to and talk.to read as sentences rather than addresses, and that is worth paying for when the name is the marketing. It costs several times a .co.uk every year for the privilege and gives you nothing at all in UK search results. Buy it for a brand that reads better as a phrase, and keep a plain .co.uk or .com pointed at the same site for everybody who will never remember the pun.
Free URL-shortening is inherently attractive for phishing attacks, because it anonymizes the source. Therefore, if we find that your .TO domain is being used for free URL-shortening / redirection, we will suspend your domain forever with the first legitimate report of a phishing URL under your domain.
What that means if you are buying one
The word to watch is forever. This is not a takedown notice with an appeals process behind it: the registry says one credible phishing report under a public shortener ends the domain. If short links are the reason you want a .to, run them on a name you could afford to lose tomorrow and keep the brand on something else.
Is .to the right choice for you?
We would rather sell you the right extension once than the wrong one twice.
.to works well if
- The name only works as a phrase. Go.to, listen.to and talk.to finish the sentence instead of sitting after it.
- You are naming a product where a short, spellable address matters more to you than the yearly cost of holding it.
- You want branded short links for your own campaigns, which is your own traffic rather than a public service open to anybody.
- You already own the name elsewhere and want the .to before somebody else builds the joke and points it at you.
Look elsewhere if
- You want to run a free URL shortener. That is the one use Tonic names, the penalty is permanent suspension, and the money buys a domain with a fuse in it.
- You are watching the annual bill. A .to costs several times a .co.uk every year, for ever, and nothing about the DNS behind it is different.
- Your customers are UK consumers searching locally, where a .co.uk carries a geographic signal that a South Pacific country code cannot.
Only want short links for your own campaigns? A .link costs a fraction of this and carries none of the shortener risk. See .link pricing.
.to vs .link: which should you register?
Both get pitched for the same job, which is short URLs, and only one of them comes with a published rule about running them for other people. A .link is an ordinary generic extension with no country attached. A .to is Tonga's country code, priced several times higher, with a ban on free shortening services written into the registry FAQ.
For a company shortening its own links, either works and .link costs less. For a domain hack, .to is the one worth paying for, because the value sits in the word and .link cannot make a sentence out of anything.
The trap is buying a .to for the shortener idea and then opening it to the public. Read Tonic's FAQ before you build on it, and remember that a domain which stops resolving takes every link anybody ever shared with it.
| .to | .link | |
|---|---|---|
| Type | Country code for Tonga | Generic, no country ties |
| Best at | Finishing a phrase, as in listen.to | Labelling a link, as in brand.link |
| Public shorteners | Banned, permanent suspension | Check the registry terms before building one |
| Changing registrant | Transfer key, treated as a new registration | Standard authorisation code |
| Annual cost | Premium | Low |
.to domain questions, answered
What people ask us before registering a .to domain.
Can't find what you're looking for?
Ask us directlyFor your own links, yes. For a free public shortener, no. Tonic states that a .to domain found running free URL shortening or redirection will be suspended forever on the first legitimate report of a phishing URL beneath it, because anonymous shorteners are useful to phishers. The registry also makes you answerable for what your users do with any redirection you offer. Branded links inside your own campaigns are a different proposition from opening the service to strangers.
You are paying for the word, not the technology. Tonga is a small registry with no volume to spread costs across, and demand for a two letter English word keeps the price where it is. Nothing about the DNS, the record types or the DNSSEC support differs from a cheaper extension. Check the price on this page against a .co.uk before you commit, and remember it recurs every year for as long as you keep the name.
Through a transfer key rather than the process you may know from other extensions. The current registrant creates the key and the new registrant uses it to re-register the domain in their name. Tonic treats that as a new registration, which means new registration charges apply, so a change of owner is a purchase rather than an administrative update. Build that into any sale of a business, or any restructure that moves domains between companies.
It is neutral at best and unhelpful for local intent. A .to gives Google no reason to associate you with Britain, so a business chasing UK customers is giving up the signal a .co.uk provides for a fraction of the money. Where .to earns its keep is recall rather than search: people remember a phrase they can say. Run the .to as the memorable address and a .co.uk underneath it if UK search matters to you.
Included with Your .to 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 .to domain today
Secure your .to domain from just £64.99/yr. Free DNS management, email forwarding, and 10GB mailbox included.
