.dev Domains: The HTTPS-Only Developer Space
.dev is a generic top-level domain operated by Charleston Road Registry Inc., Google's domain registry arm. That company is listed as the sponsoring organisation in the IANA root zone record. The extension was delegated to the root zone on 16 December 2014 and opened to general availability on 28 February 2019. The registry positions it, in its own words, as a secure domain for developers and technology.
What sets .dev apart is a technical rule rather than a registration restriction. The whole extension sits on the HSTS preload list: browsers are required to make every connection to a .dev address over HTTPS, with no per-site configuration needed. The practical consequence is blunt — without a valid certificate your site will not open at all. Plan your SSL certificate before you register.
.DEV Domain at a Glance
- Registry operator Charleston Road Registry Inc. (Google Registry)
- Delegated to the root zone 16 December 2014
- General availability 28 February 2019
- Technical requirement On the HSTS preload list — HTTPS mandatory
- Restrictions None; open to all in general availability
- Document Requirement No documents are required to register a .dev domain
- Character Length 1 - 63 characters
- Registration Period 1 - 10 years
- Name Server Count 1 - 10 servers
.dev Domain Prices — No Surprise Fees
Registration, transfer and renewal fees are listed separately. The renewal price can differ from the first-year price, so you see both up front.
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New Registration
$21.99 /year -
Transfer
$21.99 /year -
Renewal
$23.99 /year -
Restore
$240.00 -
Late Renewal
$4.40
Included With Every .dev Domain
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Free DNS management
Change A, MX, TXT and CNAME records yourself from the panel — no waiting on anyone when you move a site or mailbox.
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Domain lock
While the lock is on, nobody can move your domain to another registrar without your approval.
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Domain forwarding
Point the domain at your existing site, a campaign page or a social profile — at no extra cost.
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Free WHOIS privacy
Your name, address and phone stay out of public WHOIS records, which cuts down spam and scam calls.
.dev Domain Lifecycle
What happens day by day after it expires
Day 0 is the domain's expiry dateIn short: your .dev domain is put on Client Hold on its expiry date, so the site and e-mail stop that same day. You can still renew during the first 20 days, but from this point a late renewal fee is added on top of the renewal price. On day 20 the registration is deleted and until day 50 only a paid restore brings it back. Nothing at all can be done in the 5 days that follow, and on day 55 the name is open to anyone. There is exactly one way never to enter this chain: keep auto-renewal on.
Domain Is Available (Available)
A .dev address at this stage has not been taken yet, and it goes to whoever registers first. Check the name you have in mind — if it is free, it can be yours within minutes.
Domain Is Active (Active Period)
Once registration is complete, the domain is registered to you for the term you selected. You can renew at any point before it expires to keep it active, or switch on auto-renewal so you never have to watch the date.
Renewal Window (Client Hold)
On its expiry date your .dev domain is put on Client Hold: the site and e-mail go down that day, but the registration is still yours. A single renewal within these first 20 days brings everything back exactly as it was — nothing is lost. The only difference is that a $4.40 late renewal fee is now added to the renewal price; renewing before the expiry date avoids that fee entirely.
Redemption Period (Redemption / RGP)
On day 20 the registration is deleted and the 30-day redemption period that ICANN requires of every gTLD registry begins. The name is not released to anyone during this time; only you can take it back, by paying the restore fee, until day 50. That fee is far higher than a renewal — renewing on time is always the cheaper route.
Pending Delete (Pending Delete)
Once the redemption window closes too, the domain enters its final 5 days and there is no way back. Neither renewal nor restore works here; nobody — your registrar included — can return the name to you. The registry uses this window as the last hold before the name goes back into the pool.
Open to Anyone Again (Released)
On day 55 the name .dev returns to the pool and anyone can register it. Sought-after names are often gone within seconds, and there is no guaranteed way to get one back. Yet staying out of this timeline is entirely in your hands: leave auto-renewal on and the expiry date will never catch you off guard.
The timeline above is the schedule Atak Domain applies and publishes. The ICANN chart you will find elsewhere shows a renewal window of up to 45 days after expiry; ICANN's policy on expired registrations (section 2.2.1) lets registrars delete an expired domain at any time, provided they disclose their policy in advance. We apply that window as 20 days and publish it here in plain sight. Full text of the policy: ICANN Expired Registration Recovery Policy
.dev Domain Specifications and Registration Rules
Registration conditions, supported features and the registry's own timelines in a single table.
.dev Domain Registration
- Document Requirement No documents are required to register a .dev domain
- Character Length 1 - 63 characters
- Registration Period 1 - 10 years
- Name Server Count 1 - 10 servers
.dev Domain Support
- IDN Support No
- Transfer Support Yes
- Late Renewal Support Yes
Frequently Asked Questions About .dev Domains
The questions people actually ask before registering — answered plainly.
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No, .dev is unrestricted in general availability. Google Registry's launch document states that from 28 February 2019 any available name can be registered by anyone. No documents, professional declaration or technical qualification are required. The developer-focused positioning describes the registry's intended audience, not a registration condition.
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Because the whole of .dev sits on the HSTS preload list. That list tells browsers to reach every address in the extension over HTTPS only; an unencrypted attempt is refused by the browser and the visitor never arrives. The fix is to install a valid SSL certificate for the domain. The rule cannot be switched off per site — it applies to the entire extension.
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Both are run by the same registry and both mandate HTTPS, so there is no technical difference. The split is audience: .dev reads as the address of development work, a portfolio or documentation, while .app reads as the address of the product a user downloads and runs. A personal portfolio or open source project page fits .dev; an application's landing page fits .app.
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Not at all — .dev is generic and tied to no country. The IANA root zone database classifies it as a generic top-level domain. Some short extensions really are country codes, but .dev is not among them: it was delegated in 2014 and is operated by Charleston Road Registry. Consequently there is no residency or local address requirement for registering one.
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Ask your current registrar to release the transfer lock and give you the EPP code, then start from the domain transfer page. The HTTPS requirement continues to apply after the move, so confirm your certificate will still be valid in the new environment before you go. You can check its state with the SSL checker.
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Yes, WHOIS privacy can be switched on for .dev. With the service active, a lookup returns the privacy provider's details rather than your personal contact information, and ownership stays with you. On open source projects many maintainers deliberately leave contact details visible, since it makes it easier for contributors to reach them. Review the current state with whois search.
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