.store Domain: The Largest Retail Zone in This Programme
The .store registry agreement is dated 9 April 2015 and the zone entered the root on 11 February 2016. Radix Technologies Inc. is the contracting operator today; the string went first to DotStore Inc., moved to Radix FZC in 2021 and to the present entity in February 2024. Registry functions run on CentralNic Ltd. infrastructure.
Online shops, brand storefronts, marketplace sellers, small-batch makers and the digital branches of physical retailers all populate this zone. No eligibility rule applies and one policy set covers the operator's whole portfolio. Test candidates on the .store domain search page, and plan the serving side from the hosting page.
On 13 August 2026 the zone held 3,722,412 registrations, of which 2,072,407 appeared in the zone file. That makes it the second largest zone covered here, with a publication rate near fifty-six percent. Together those numbers say two things: the zone is crowded, so short generic words are gone; and nearly half the registered names have never gone live, so a name being taken does not prove it is being used.
.STORE Domain at a Glance
- Registry operator Radix Technologies Inc. (Cayman Islands)
- Root zone entry 11 February 2016
- Eligibility None; one policy set covers the whole portfolio
- Premium tiers Yes; defined name groups carry separate conditions
- Zone size 3,722,412 names, 2,072,407 published (13 August 2026)
- Document Requirement No documents are required to register a .store domain
- Character Length 3 - 63 characters
- Registration Period 1 - 10 years
- Name Server Count 2 - 10 servers
.store 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
$1.99 /year -
Transfer
$54.59 /year -
Renewal
$58.79 /year -
Restore
$279.90 -
Late Renewal
$10.98
Included With Every .store 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.
.store Domain Lifecycle
What happens day by day after it expires
Day 0 is the domain's expiry dateIn short: your .store 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 .store 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 .store 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 $10.98 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 .store 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
.store Domain Specifications and Registration Rules
Registration conditions, supported features and the registry's own timelines in a single table.
.store Domain Registration
- Document Requirement No documents are required to register a .store domain
- Character Length 3 - 63 characters
- Registration Period 1 - 10 years
- Name Server Count 2 - 10 servers
.store Domain Support
- IDN Support Yes
- Transfer Support Yes
- Late Renewal Support Yes
Frequently Asked Questions About .store Domains
The questions people actually ask before registering — answered plainly.
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No. One policy set covers the operator's whole portfolio and it carries no eligibility condition; sole traders, limited companies and individual sellers register on identical terms. The permissions your trade needs arise from the activity, and the extension supplies none of them. Test candidates on the .store search page, or line several up with bulk search.
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Yes, but the pattern has to change. With 3,722,412 registrations on 13 August 2026, single-word product and category names should be treated as gone. What works is brand plus category, or brand plus city. One detail is worth noting: only 2,072,407 of those names appear in the zone file, so a name being taken does not always mean an active competitor holds it.
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Yes. The registry applies that policy across its extensions: certain names are assigned to tiers, where registration, transfer, redemption and renewal conditions may differ from standard names. Short generic words tend to land in those tiers. The safest approach is to confirm with your registrar under which conditions a specific name is offered before you build a plan around it.
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Both signal e-commerce and they belong to different registry operators. A .store address feels more corporate and catalogue-like, evoking a curated storefront, while .shop reads as noun and verb at once and lands more casually. The practical decision rule: say your brand aloud with each ending and keep whichever flows more naturally in your main market.
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Release the lock, obtain the authorisation code and file at the gaining registrar. The real risk in e-commerce is downtime, so schedule the move outside promotional periods and export a copy of your DNS records first. Certificate coverage on checkout pages must not lapse either. Run the process from the domain transfer page and plan cover via SSL certificates.
Ready to Claim Your .store Domain?
Type a name and see in seconds whether it is free on .store. If it is taken, we list close alternatives right away.
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