.swiss

Register a .swiss domain

The federally administered Swiss extension. Genuinely restricted: OFCOM allocates the names, and you have to demonstrate a connection to Switzerland and to the name itself.

Extension type: Generic (gTLD)
Who can register: Eligibility rules apply
Registry: The Federal Office of Communications (OFCOM)
Renews at: On request

Check a .swiss name

.swiss pricing

Live pricing is temporarily unavailable for .swiss.

Live pricing is temporarily unavailable. Search the name you want, or ask us and we will quote it.

Before you register .swiss

What the price includes: Every .swiss amount on this page is resolved by the same pricing engine that charges your cart, at the moment the page is built. There is no separate ICANN fee, agency fee or surcharge added later — the figure you see is the figure you pay, in the currency shown.
Premium and reserved names: Some names are classed as premium by the registry and priced individually, usually at the premium rate every year rather than only the first. Search the exact name to see its own quote. If a name's premium status or price changes between your quote and your purchase, the quote is invalidated rather than quietly repriced.
Renewal is not automatic unless you switch it on: Auto-renew is off unless you enable it, and enabling it sets a flag at the registry rather than scheduling a charge here. We email the registrant address before a name expires, so keep a monitored address on the record. If a .swiss name does lapse, restoring it costs considerably more than renewing it would have — the restore price is in the table above.
Transfers: Transferring .swiss to us needs the AuthInfo (EPP) code from your current registrar, which they are obliged to give you on request. Where the registry operates a waiting period before a name may move — ICANN imposes one on generic extensions — it is set out in the facts above. That is registry policy, not ours, and we cannot waive it.
Who may register: .swiss is a restricted extension. The registry's eligibility rules are set out above and are checked by the registry, not by us — a registration that does not qualify is refused or later cancelled by them, and we refund what we can rather than what we would like to.

Restricted extension

Restricted — a connection to Switzerland is required

Registry: The Federal Office of Communications (OFCOM), a Swiss federal authority.

Businesses entered in the Swiss commercial register with their registered office and administrative premises in Switzerland.
Public authorities and other organisations governed by Swiss public law.
Swiss associations and foundations.
Since the Ordinance on Internet Domains revision in force on 1 January 2024: private individuals who are Swiss or live in Switzerland, and sole proprietorships not entered in the commercial register.

Why .swiss is different from every other extension we sell

Almost every domain extension is a queue: the name is free, you pay, it is yours, and nobody checks anything. .swiss is not that. It is administered directly by the Federal Office of Communications, and the ordinance governing it treats a .swiss name as a scarce public resource allocated to a qualifying applicant rather than a product sold to a buyer.

The practical consequence is that a .swiss registration can be refused, and can be applied for by more than one party at once. Applications are published, there is a window in which a competing application for the same name can be filed, and where two eligible applicants want the same name OFCOM decides between them under the ordinance's criteria. Plan for that: if a .swiss name is part of a launch, start it well before the launch date.

Who can hold one, including what changed in 2024

At launch in 2016 .swiss was open only to businesses in the Swiss commercial register with both their registered office and their administrative premises in Switzerland, to public authorities and organisations under public law, and to Swiss associations and foundations. That excluded a large group of legitimate Swiss businesses — the architect, the lawyer, the therapist operating as an unregistered sole proprietorship — for no good reason.

The revision of the Ordinance on Internet Domains that came into force on 1 January 2024 fixed this. Private individuals who are Swiss or live in Switzerland can now apply, as can sole proprietorships not entered in the commercial register. The trade-off is the naming rule: a private applicant's domain must in principle contain a surname or another name recorded in the civil register, so a private individual cannot use the newly opened door to take a generic industry term.

Legal entities face the equivalent constraint. The name applied for has to show an objective connection to the applicant — typically the name under which the entity is registered, or a brand it owns. This is what stops .swiss becoming a land grab, and it is why the extension still means something eight years after launch.

What we do, and what you have to do

We submit and manage the application, hold the technical configuration, and handle renewals on the same annual cycle as everything else in your account. What we cannot do is make an ineligible applicant eligible, and we will tell you before you pay if we think an application will not clear rather than take the fee and let OFCOM refuse it.

Pricing above is live for registration, renewal, transfer and restore. It is worth budgeting .swiss alongside a .ch rather than instead of one: the .ch is what customers will type from memory, and the .swiss is what goes on the letterhead.

Terms and lifecycle

What holding a .swiss actually commits you to

The name must relate to you: It is not enough to be eligible — the name has to have an objective connection to the applicant. For a company that usually means its registered name or a brand it holds; for a private individual, a surname or another name in the civil register.
Allocation, not first-come registration: Applications are published and there is a window during which someone else may apply for the same name. Where applications compete, OFCOM decides between them under the ordinance. A .swiss name is not instant.
Term: Annual, like .ch, and renewed by us on the same billing cycle.
Transfer: Transferring the name between registrars does not change the eligibility position — the holder still has to qualify, and a holder that stops qualifying can lose the allocation.

Fit

Who .swiss is for

Swiss companies that trade on being Swiss
Because the extension is gated, .swiss carries information .com cannot: the holder was checked. That is the whole value proposition.
Associations, foundations and public bodies
Explicitly eligible since launch, and often a better fit than a .ch that says nothing about the organisation's standing.
Not for holding companies abroad
Registered office and administrative premises both have to be in Switzerland. A Swiss-sounding name with a foreign entity behind it will not clear.

A Swiss domain with a clear hosting path

Managed Medusa hosting is in Preview and managed WordPress is in limited Beta. Both use controlled onboarding while the remaining production gates are tested.

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Frequently asked questions

Can I register a .swiss domain if I am not a Swiss company?

Only if you fit one of the other eligible categories. Swiss associations and foundations, Swiss public bodies, and — since 1 January 2024 — private individuals who are Swiss or live in Switzerland and sole proprietorships not in the commercial register can all apply. A foreign company with no Swiss registered office and administrative premises cannot.

Can I choose any name I like?

No. The name must have an objective connection to you. For a company that generally means its registered name or one of its brands. For a private individual it must in principle contain a surname or another name entered in the civil register.

How long does a .swiss application take?

Longer than a .ch, and it is not instantaneous by design. Applications are published and there is a window during which a competing application for the same name can be submitted, after which OFCOM allocates. If a .swiss name is part of a launch, start early.

What happens if my company stops qualifying?

Eligibility is a condition of holding the name, not just of getting it. A holder that no longer meets the requirements can lose the allocation. If your structure is changing, tell us before it does.

Should I register .swiss or .ch?

Most Swiss businesses that want .swiss should hold both. .ch is what a customer types from memory and is open to anyone; .swiss signals a checked Swiss connection. They do different jobs.