How to register a .cy domain in Cyprus

A .cy domain costs €20 for one year, €30 for two years or €50 for five, VAT included. You register it at Registry .cy, which the University of Cyprus runs. Anyone can apply, from any country. The registry checks an application within one working day.

Everything below comes from the registry's own pages, read on 12 October 2026 (the sources). The numbers on who uses which ending come from our own list of 1,225 businesses in Cyprus.

Where do you buy and register a .cy domain?

At Registry .cy, the official registry for every name ending in .cy. The University of Cyprus runs it, and you apply online in its own system.

You can also buy through a reseller abroad. That costs more and can take longer: one international registrar we checked asks €38 a year before VAT and names a time frame of ten days. The registry itself asks €20 with VAT and checks within one working day.

How much does a .cy domain cost?

€20 for one year, VAT included. Longer periods are cheaper per year: five years cost €50, which is €10 a year. A free .cy domain does not exist: the registry's fee table starts at €20.

Renewal costs the same. Three smaller fees exist:

• €10 for a change of owner
• €10 on top of the renewal fee if you renew too late
• €5 for a certificate of ownership

The domain is only the name. Hosting for the website and mailboxes cost extra and come from a hosting provider.

.cy or .com.cy: which one should you take?

Take the short one, name.cy, if it is free. It is shorter to say, to print and to type, and the registry's fee table does not separate the two.

For years a business in Cyprus could only get name.com.cy. Names directly under .cy were opened later: a Cyprus law firm reported them as newly available in April 2020. That is why most older businesses still carry .com.cy.

The two are separate names. The registry writes that name.cy and name.com.cy are not linked, so another business can register the one you leave free. If your name matters to you, register both and point the second one to the first. That is €20 more for a year.

The registry lists twelve endings below .cy in total. Most are reserved for a group: ltd.cy for limited companies, org.cy for registered non-profit organisations, ac.cy for academic institutions, gov.cy for the government. Only com.cy is open to everyone.

How do you check if a .cy name is free?

With the domain search on the registry's own system. Type the name, choose the ending, and it tells you whether the name is free or taken.

For a name that is taken, the search shows when the licence ends and which name servers it uses. It shows the owner's name only if the owner is a company or organisation, not a private person.

Who can register a .cy domain?

Anyone. The registry accepts people and organisations from any country, whether they live in Cyprus or not. You do not need a Cyprus company.

You do not have to upload documents with the application. The registry asks for them only if it needs them to decide. There is no limit on how many names one owner can hold.

How do you register a .cy domain, step by step?

You create an account, apply for the name, and pay by card. In the registry's own guide these are the steps:

1. Create an account in the registry's system and sign in.
2. Type the name, choose the ending, and search. If the name is free, press Registration.
3. Choose the period: one, two or five years.
4. Name four contacts by their email address: the domain owner, an administrative contact, a billing contact and a technical contact. One person can hold all four.
5. Enter at least two name servers. Your hosting provider gives you these. You can also leave them empty and add them later.
6. Accept the terms and enter your card. The fee is put on hold, not charged yet.
7. Every contact gets an email and has to confirm the role. Only then does the application go to the registry.
8. The registry checks the application within one working day. If it approves, the card is charged. If it rejects, the hold is released.

If the application seems stuck, look at step 7 first. As long as one contact has not confirmed, nothing is checked.

Which names are allowed?

A name needs 3 to 63 characters. Allowed are the Latin letters a to z, the digits 0 to 9 and the hyphen, which may not stand first or last.

With the application you declare that the name does not break anyone else's rights, such as a trademark. The registry can reject a name, and it tells you the reason by email. Names are given in the order the applications arrive. There is no waiting list for a name that is taken.

Who should be the owner of the domain?

You, or your company. Not your web designer and not your agency. This is the one decision in the whole process that is hard to repair later.

The registry does not allow a domain to be passed on freely. A change of owner has to be applied for by the current owner, the registry checks it, and the new owner pays €10. If the person who built your website is the owner, you need that person every time something changes, and on the day you part ways.

So enter yourself as domain owner and as billing contact, with an email address you read. Your web designer or hosting provider belongs in the technical contact. That role is enough to connect the domain to the website.

What happens if you forget to renew?

You lose the name quickly. The registry writes to the billing contact one month before the end and reminds every week. If nobody pays by the last day, the licence is cancelled.

After that you have ten days to get the name back, for the renewal fee plus €10. The registry's FAQ says ten working days, its fee page says ten days. Plan with the shorter one. After that anyone can register the name.

Two things prevent this: a billing email that someone reads, and the five-year period for €50.

Does a .cy domain help you rank on Google in Cyprus?

A little. Google writes that a country ending is a strong signal that a website is meant for that country. A .com is not tied to any place, so Google looks at other signs there.

Google names those signs too: a local address and phone number, the local currency, links from local websites, and your Google Business Profile. A local business has all of these anyway. So a .com with a Cyprus address can rank in Cyprus, and most businesses here prove it.

Our view: the ending is a small factor. Reviews, a fast website and a complete Google profile move you further. If you start a new website for customers in Cyprus, .cy is a good choice. If your .com has been online for years, keep it. Moving a website to a new address costs you more than the ending brings.

How many businesses in Cyprus use a .cy domain?

About one in five. Of 1,225 established businesses with a website of their own, 224 use an ending in .cy: 174 have .com.cy and 47 the short .cy. 906 of them, 74 %, use .com.

Nicosia uses the Cyprus ending most, Paphos least. A .com is normal here and nobody will find it odd. And the short .cy is still rare: 47 of 1,225.

What do you need after the domain?

Hosting, and someone to connect the two. The registry gives you the name and nothing else.

• Your hosting provider gives you the name servers. You enter them in the registry's system.
• The registry loads changes every three hours. A new entry can take that long to work.
• Email addresses with your name, such as info@name.cy, are set up at the hosting or mail provider, not at the registry.

With our websites we take care of the hosting and of the connecting. The domain stays in your name. See our web design offer or what a website costs in Cyprus.

Where do these rules come from?

From the registry itself. We read these pages on 12 October 2026:

• the fee table of Registry .cy
• the registry's questions and answers: who may apply, the endings, the characters, renewal, change of owner
• the registry's registration page with its guide to the application

What to keep in mind:

• Fees and rules can change. Check the fee table before you pay.
• The price of the international registrar is one example, read on the same day. Others ask more or less.
• The numbers on endings come from our own list: businesses in twelve industries in Paphos, Limassol, Nicosia and Larnaca that have a website and enough Google reviews to count as established. Small and new businesses are not in it.