.world Domain
No Borders, No Limits
Register your .world domain from just £34.99/yr. Free DNS management, email forwarding, and 10GB mailbox included with every domain.
This domain has registration restrictions
Anyone worldwide may register a .world, but ICANN requires the registry to reserve every country and territory name at the second level. Read the full eligibility rules.
What is a .world domain?
The .world domain works for organisations with international scope. Global media outlets, worldwide charities, and multinational community platforms all benefit from a domain that rejects geographic limitation. It's also popular with fan communities and hobbyist groups that span countries.
Who should register .world?
Global media outlets, worldwide charities, international community platforms, and cross-border hobbyist groups.
Why choose .world?
- Signals international scope
- Works for media, charity, and community
- Five letters with broad appeal
- No geographic limitation implied
Who runs .world, and since when
Registry data from the .world 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
- Binky Moon, LLC
- The organisation that runs the extension
- In the root zone since
- 2014
- Delegated 11 September 2014
- Who can register
- Open to anyone worldwide, though ICANN rules reserve country and territory names
- Checked against the registry's own policy
- Our price
- £34.99 a year
- Ex VAT. Renews at the same price
Why you cannot register france.world or brazil.world
The first name most people try on this extension is a country, and it will not work. Specification 5, Section 4 of ICANN's New gTLD Registry Agreement requires every registry from the 2012 round to hold back the short English country and territory names on the ISO 3166-1 list at the second level, along with the European Union. So france.world, japan.world and brazil.world are not sitting with a squatter waiting for an offer. They are reserved by contract, and the registry is not permitted to sell them.
Getting one released is possible and slow. ICANN allows it in exactly two situations: the registry reaches agreement with the government concerned, or ICANN's Governmental Advisory Committee database records that the country has waived its right to authorise the release. Neither route is something a registrar can begin for a customer, and paying more does not change it. Plan your name on the assumption that country names are gone.
What the extension is really buying you
Set geography aside and the .world domain is about scope rather than place. It reads as reach, which is a different claim from a country extension and a warmer one than the corporate alternatives. It is also the cheaper way to make that claim: .global sits at around twice the annual price on our list, and both extensions are now run by Identity Digital, so the premium buys tone rather than a different kind of registry. IANA records .world as delegated on 11 September 2014 to Bitter Fields, LLC, another of the single-purpose applicant companies from that round, and folded into Binky Moon, LLC on 23 March 2018 in one transfer covering .academy and 195 other extensions.
Be clear about what a reader takes from the extension and what a search engine takes from it, because they are not the same thing. A person reading "hunger.world" understands the reach immediately. Google reads generic extensions as carrying no location information at all, so if you need to be visible in particular countries you set that yourself with hreflang and a country target in Search Console, and the extension plays no part in it. That is not a mark against .world. It means the extension is a message to humans, and the search work is still yours to do. Pick the word before the dot on that basis: it has to carry the subject on its own, because nothing to the right of the dot is going to help it.
Identity Digital registries may at any time reserve domain names from registration.
What that means if you are buying one
The policy goes on to include premium names, which it says the registry may change from time to time. In practice a name you costed today can be reserved or moved into a higher tier tomorrow, and the first sign of it is a quote that does not match the list price. Search the exact name and get a firm figure before you print anything.
Who is allowed to register .world?
Anyone worldwide may register a .world, but ICANN requires the registry to reserve every country and territory name at the second level.
- Who may register
- There is no residency test, no sector test and nothing to supply at the point of order. Registration is first come, first served through any accredited registrar, and the registry publishes no eligibility policy for this extension.
- Country names are reserved
- Specification 5, Section 4 of ICANN's New gTLD Registry Agreement requires the registry to reserve the short English country and territory names from the ISO 3166-1 list, and the European Union with them. On an extension called .world, that covers precisely the names a buyer reaches for first.
- How a reserved country name is released
- Only two routes exist. The registry reaches agreement with the government concerned, or ICANN's Governmental Advisory Committee database shows that the country has waived its right to authorise the release. A registrar cannot start either process on your behalf, and an order for a reserved name is refused rather than queued.
- Registry reserved and premium names
- Separately from the ICANN list, Identity Digital reserves names of its own and runs a premium tier it may change over time. A name can therefore be unregistered and still unavailable, or available at several times the price shown on this page.
- Keeping the registration valid
- Identity Digital's Acceptable Use Policy allows it to deny, suspend, cancel or transfer a registration where a registrant fails to keep registration information accurate and up to date, as well as for abuse. Out-of-date contact details are a common way to lose a domain, not a theoretical risk.
Rules taken from ICANN on reserved country and territory names. 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 .world the right choice for you?
We would rather sell you the right extension once than the wrong one twice.
.world works well if
- The word before the dot is a subject rather than a company name, so the address reads as a topic with reach: a cause, a sport, a community or a publication.
- You want a global reading without the corporate weight of .global, and without paying roughly twice as much every year for it.
- Your audience is spread across countries and no single national extension would describe you honestly.
- You are naming a campaign or a community that has to sound larger than the organisation running it, and the .org or .com version went long ago.
Look elsewhere if
- You were counting on a country or region name. Every ISO country name is reserved at the second level under ICANN rules and no registrar can obtain one for you.
- The annual price is high for what it does. It runs well above three times a .co.uk, every year, for an extension that brings no search benefit with it.
- You expected it to help you reach an international audience in Google. Generic extensions carry no location information at all, so it does nothing for geotargeting either way.
- Six characters after the dot make for a long address on packaging, in an email signature, or read down a phone line to somebody writing it on paper.
Running a business rather than a cause or a publication? A .com is a safer permanent address and costs a fraction as much to renew. See .com pricing.
.world vs .global: which should you register?
These two get shortlisted together because they make the same promise, and the honest difference is tone and money rather than capability. Both are now run by Identity Digital, both are generic extensions, and both are treated by Google as carrying no geographic information whatsoever.
.world reads warmer. It suits media, campaigns, communities and anything with a subject at its heart. .global reads more corporate, which is right for a holding company or a group brand and slightly cold for a charity. On our price list .global costs around twice as much every year, so unless the corporate reading is worth that to you, the cheaper one says the same thing.
The country-name reservation applies identically to both, so switching extensions is no route around it. And if the organisation is a trading business whose customers will guess at the address, neither beats a .com for the one thing that matters most: being typed correctly by somebody who half remembers it.
| .world | .global | |
|---|---|---|
| Root zone since | 2014 | 2014 |
| Registry | Binky Moon, LLC (Identity Digital) | Identity Digital Limited |
| Annual cost | Mid-range | Around twice a .world |
| Tone | Reach and subject matter | Corporate scale |
| Geographic signal | None, in Google terms | None, in Google terms |
| Country names | Reserved by ICANN rule | Reserved by the same rule |
.world domain questions, answered
What people ask us before registering a .world domain.
Can't find what you're looking for?
Ask us directlyNo. ICANN requires every registry from the 2012 round to reserve the short English country and territory names on the ISO 3166-1 list at the second level, plus the European Union. That rule sits in Specification 5, Section 4 of the New gTLD Registry Agreement and applies to .world in full. A name can only be released where the registry has agreed it with the government concerned, or where ICANN's Governmental Advisory Committee database records that the country has waived its right.
Anyone, anywhere. There is no residency requirement, no organisation type restriction and no evidence to supply, and the registry publishes no eligibility policy for the extension. Registration runs first come, first served. The only limits on which names you can have come from the ICANN country-name reservation and from the registry's own reserved and premium lists.
That comes down to tone and budget, because functionally they are the same thing. Both are generic extensions run by Identity Digital, both are read by Google as carrying no location, and both reserve country names under the same ICANN rule. A .world sounds warmer and suits causes, media and communities. A .global sounds corporate and suits group brands. On our price list .global costs around twice as much each year, so the cheaper option makes the same claim unless that corporate reading is worth the difference.
No, and this is the most common misreading of the extension. Google treats generic extensions as carrying no geographic information at all, so .world neither helps nor hinders visibility in any particular country. Reaching several markets is done with hreflang, translated content, a country target in Search Console where you want one, and links from sites in those markets. What the extension does is tell a human reader that your scope is not national, which is worth having, just not in the ranking.
It has been placed in the registry's premium tier. Identity Digital reserves names beyond the ICANN list and prices some of them well above the standard rate, and its published policy says it may reserve names at any time and change the premium list from time to time. Short words and common nouns are the usual candidates. Search the exact name and get a confirmed price before you commit, because a premium rate normally applies to the renewal as well, not only the first year.
Binky Moon, LLC, part of Identity Digital, according to the IANA root zone database. The extension was delegated on 11 September 2014 to Bitter Fields, LLC, one of the single-purpose companies used to hold applications during the 2012 round, and IANA recorded its transfer to Binky Moon on 23 March 2018 in a single movement covering .academy and 195 other extensions. Reserved names, premium tiers and acceptable use rules are set across that whole portfolio rather than for .world alone.
Included with Your .world 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 Community Domains Extensions
Register your .world domain today
Secure your .world domain from just £34.99/yr. Free DNS management, email forwarding, and 10GB mailbox included.
