.co.nz Domain
New Zealand's Most Popular Business Domain
Register your .co.nz domain from just £27.99/yr. Free DNS management, email forwarding, and 10GB mailbox included with every domain.
This domain has registration restrictions
There is no New Zealand presence requirement, but a registrant must be an identifiable individual over 18 or a lawfully constituted entity, must accept New Zealand law, and can be told to prove their identity at any time. Read the full eligibility rules.
What is a .co.nz domain?
The .co.nz domain is the commercial extension within New Zealand's .nz namespace, managed by InternetNZ (the Internet Society of New Zealand). It's been the default choice for Kiwi businesses for over two decades. Registration is open to anyone worldwide, and .co.nz remains more popular than the shorter .nz for commercial use. For UK companies doing business with New Zealand, particularly in agriculture, tourism, and tech, .co.nz is the domain Kiwi customers recognise.
Who should register .co.nz?
New Zealand businesses, UK companies with Kiwi trade links, and brands targeting New Zealand consumers.
Why choose .co.nz?
- New Zealand's most trusted business domain
- Open to worldwide registration
- Stronger commercial recognition than .nz
- Popular across agriculture, tourism, and tech
Who runs .co.nz, and since when
Registry data from the .co.nz 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 .nz zone
- Registry operator
- InternetNZ
- The organisation that runs the extension
- .nz delegated
- 1987
- The date belongs to the .nz zone, not to .co.nz itself
- Who can register
- Any identifiable individual over 18 or lawfully constituted entity, anywhere in the world
- Checked against the registry's own policy
- Our price
- £27.99 a year
- Ex VAT. Renews at the same price
Choosing between .co.nz and a second-level .nz
New Zealand gives you two shapes of the same address and the decision is not obvious. The .nz Rules let a name be registered at the second level as yourname.nz, or at the third level inside one of the unmoderated second-level domains, which are .ac.nz, .co.nz, .geek.nz, .gen.nz, .kiwi.nz, .maori.nz, .net.nz, .org.nz and .school.nz. A separate set of moderated second levels covers .cri.nz, .govt.nz, .health.nz, .iwi.nz, .mil.nz and .parliament.nz, and those are not open registrations.
For a business the practical answer is that .co.nz is what New Zealanders have typed for thirty years and what they still expect from a company. The shorter .nz is cleaner on paper and less familiar in the market. If both are free, most businesses take .co.nz and hold the .nz as a redirect.
Eligibility is refreshingly plain. Rule 2.2.1 allows any identifiable individual over the age of 18, or any lawfully constituted entity, to apply through an authorised registrar. There is no New Zealand residency test and InternetNZ states that it is not concerned with the use of a .nz domain name. Two conditions come attached, though, and they matter more to a UK buyer than the absence of a presence rule. In applying you agree your registration is governed by New Zealand law, and the Domain Name Commission can ask you at any time to verify your identity with a passport, driving licence, certificate of incorporation or constitution.
One more thing a UK company should not count on: the .nz privacy option is limited to individuals who do not intend to use the name in trade to any significant extent. If you are a business, your details are published.
Who is allowed to register .co.nz?
There is no New Zealand presence requirement, but a registrant must be an identifiable individual over 18 or a lawfully constituted entity, must accept New Zealand law, and can be told to prove their identity at any time.
- Who may register
- Rule 2.2.1 allows any identifiable individual over the age of 18, or any lawfully constituted entity, to apply through an authorised registrar. Nationality and residency do not come into it, so a UK company or a UK individual qualifies on the same terms as an Auckland one.
- You accept New Zealand law
- In making the application you agree that the registration is governed by New Zealand law. For a UK holder that means a dispute about the name is settled a long way from home, under rules and in a forum you have not chosen.
- Identity verification on demand
- The Domain Name Commission can ask a holder at any time to verify their identity: a verified copy of a passport, driving licence or other government identification for an individual, or a certificate of incorporation or copy of the constitution for an entity. The response has to arrive inside the timeframe stated in the request.
- Privacy is for individuals only
- The .nz privacy option is available only to a holder who is an individual rather than an entity, and who does not intend to use the name to any significant extent in trade as the Fair Trading Act 1986 defines it. A business registering a .co.nz has its contact details published, and the Commissioner can remove the option from anyone who no longer qualifies.
- If your circumstances change
- Holders must keep their registrar informed of any change that means they no longer meet the eligibility criteria. For a dissolved entity that duty falls on its officers at dissolution, and for a deceased holder on the executors, which is worth knowing before a company address depends on it.
Rules taken from the .nz Rules. 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 .co.nz the right choice for you?
We would rather sell you the right extension once than the wrong one twice.
.co.nz works well if
- You sell to New Zealand customers, who still treat .co.nz as the address a real company has and read anything else as a question.
- You have a New Zealand entity, agent or distributor and want their site to look local without inventing an office.
- You are in agriculture, food, tourism or software, where UK to New Zealand trade is established and buyers check where a supplier actually is.
- You want the country signal that Google says a ccTLD gives, pointed at New Zealand, on content written for that market.
Look elsewhere if
- You want your registration details kept private. The .nz privacy option excludes anyone using the name in trade, so a business gets no cover at all.
- You would rather not accept a foreign jurisdiction. The application binds your registration to New Zealand law, which is a long way to travel for a dispute.
- New Zealand is a small share of your revenue and always will be. The annual cost is higher than a .co.uk and the audience is a fraction of the size.
Want one address that works everywhere in the English-speaking world? A .com carries no country ties and costs less to hold. See .com pricing.
.co.nz vs .com: which should you register?
The comparison people expect is .co.nz against .nz. The one that actually decides budgets is .co.nz against the .com you already have, because the question is whether a country domain earns its place at all.
.com stays the safe default: no country ties, no jurisdiction to accept, no identity check to answer, and it costs less. .co.nz buys you something a .com cannot, which is the local signal in New Zealand search results and the recognition that comes from looking like every other Kiwi business your customer has dealt with.
The test we would apply is whether you have a New Zealand customer list, or hope to have one. Where the answer is yes, run a .co.nz over content written for that market. Where it is no, a .com with a clear shipping and pricing page for New Zealand does the job and saves you an annual bill and a jurisdiction.
| .co.nz | .com | |
|---|---|---|
| Who may register | Identifiable individual 18+ or entity | Anyone worldwide |
| Governing law | New Zealand law, accepted on application | None imposed by the registry |
| Identity checks | Can be demanded at any time | Not routine |
| Privacy for businesses | Not available | Paid add-on |
| Country signal | New Zealand | None |
.co.nz domain questions, answered
What people ask us before registering a .co.nz domain.
Can't find what you're looking for?
Ask us directlyNo. The .nz Rules let any identifiable individual over the age of 18, or any lawfully constituted entity, apply through an authorised registrar, and there is no residency or local presence test. What you do take on is New Zealand law as the governing law of the registration, and an obligation to prove who you are if the Domain Name Commission asks. Both are easy to live with and neither is optional.
Take .co.nz as the address you promote and hold the .nz as a redirect if it is free. New Zealanders have typed .co.nz for decades and read it as what a company has; the second-level .nz is shorter but still less familiar in the market. Registering at the second level is allowed for any available name, so the choice is a marketing one rather than a rules one.
Not if you are a business. The .nz privacy option is available only to a holder who is an individual rather than an entity, and who does not intend to use the domain to any significant extent in trade as defined by the Fair Trading Act 1986. A trading company therefore has its contact details published, and the Commissioner can strip the option from anybody found not to qualify. Use a business address you are content to see in public.
You get a UDAI, the unique domain authentication identifier, from your current provider and give it to us. It works like the authorisation code on other extensions and the transfer completes through the shared .nz registry rather than instantly. Your existing registration period carries over. Ask your current provider for the UDAI before you start, because a provider who is losing the business is rarely quick about it.
Included with Your .co.nz 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 .co.nz domain today
Secure your .co.nz domain from just £27.99/yr. Free DNS management, email forwarding, and 10GB mailbox included.
