The .it domain name: what it is and who can register one

In our own data, .it accounts for roughly 3.5 million live domains, enough to rank it inside the top 20 of every TLD we track, ahead of plenty of newer, louder options. This guide covers what the .it domain is, who is allowed to register one, the rules that catch people out, and where a .it domain name beats a .com, .eu, or .co.

What is the .it domain?

.it is the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Italy, the national counterpart to a global domain like .com, in the same family as .fr for France or .de for Germany. That two-letter ending is tied to one country or territory, and this one belongs to Italy. It is read literally: a .it domain name signals an Italian business, a local audience, or simply something connected to the country. Search engines read it the same way and associate the domain with the country when they rank local results, so it doubles as a geo-targeting signal.

The geographic breakdown of .it domain registrations

A short history of Italy’s domain

The story starts in 1987. On December 23 that year .it was assigned to CNUCE, an institute of the National Research Council (CNR) in Pisa, and the first .it domain ever, cnuce.cnr.it, went live on January 1, 1988. Responsibility later shifted within the CNR to what is today the Institute of Informatics and Telematics, which still runs the registry, now known as Registro .it. The early rules were strict. For years a single organization could only hold a limited number of names. Those caps were lifted for organizations in 1999 and for individuals in 2004, and since July 2012 the registry has supported internationalized names with accented, non-ASCII characters. The short version is that this domain has spent more than three decades becoming the default address for the Italian web.

.it in use: Italy's ccTLD and beyond

The Italian domain

The geographic breakdown above shows what .it really is: an Italian domain. Inside Italy it carries real trust. The country's biggest newspapers publish on it, and multinationals launching in Italy often pick up a .it address to look local and earn local confidence.

The .it domain hack

Because so many words end in "it," plenty of companies use the extension to finish a word instead of targeting Italy. Scoop.it and kahoot.it are two examples. There is a catch worth knowing. Google reads .it as a true country code domain, not a generic one, so the address is geo-targeted to Italy. That works against you when the product needs global organic traffic.

How to use the hack for global sites

Use a .it hack for products where you are not chasing organic search, and keep your main site on a global domain. Kahoot is the model to copy: its marketing site sits on .com, and .it is just a branding touch on the product. Scoop.it, which runs the whole product on .it, is the riskier route.

Popular domains using .it

The most visited .it domains in the Majestic Million, ranked by global authority, where you can see the split of sites targeting Italy VS sites targeting worldwide users:

Who can register a .it domain?

Here is where .it differs sharply from an open domain like .com or .co. You cannot register a .it name from just anywhere. Eligibility is limited to citizens, residents, or organizations headquartered in the European Economic Area (EEA), plus Vatican City, the Republic of San Marino and Switzerland. In practice that covers the whole European Union and the wider EEA, most of the continent, but it excludes large markets such as the United States. If you sit outside those territories you are not locked out completely. See trustee services below.

A quick eligibility checklist

• Resident or citizen of an 🇪🇺 EEA country → eligible to register directly.
• Company headquartered in the 🇪🇺 EU/EEA, 🇨🇭Switzerland, 🇸🇲 San Marino or 🇻🇦Vatican City → eligible.
• Based outside these areas (e.g. the United States) → eligible only through a trustee service.

If you’re outside the EU/EEA: trustee services

Many providers offer a trustee or local-representative service: an eligible local contact is listed for the registration and the provider makes the domain available to you, usually for an extra annual fee. It works, but it adds cost and a dependency on that provider, so weigh it before you choose .it over a global domain a non-resident can hold outright.

The rules that make .it different

Beyond eligibility, a few registry rules surprise people arriving from .com. None are deal-breakers, but they change how you run the domain.

Your details are public (WHOIS)

By default .it does not bundle the WHOIS privacy many providers offer on generic domains. Registrant information is part of the public record, and proxy services that hide it are generally not allowed. If you register as an individual, expect your name to be visible. Registering under a company keeps the record more impersonal.

Naming rules and accented characters

A .it domain name can run from 3 to 63 characters using letters, numbers and hyphens, though a hyphen can’t start or end the name. Since 2012 you can also register internationalized names with accented Italian letters, which is useful for a brand that actually uses them.

DNS requirements to going live

You must provide at least two working nameservers (DNS) before the domain will resolve.

Finding a .it available for registration

Visit our price comparison page to find the cheapest .it domain registration for as low as $5.49, transfer and renewal prices and use the search box to check if a domain is available.

How .it compares to .com, .eu and other alternatives

If you’re building for an Italian audience, the realistic shortlist is .it, .com and .eu. The table below uses our registration data. The .it extension gives the clearest signal to Italian customers and to search engines, .com gives global reach with no eligibility friction, and .co is the open, brandable middle ground for anyone who can’t, or doesn’t want to, commit to a European domain.

Who should use a .it domain?

A .it domain earns its place in a few clear situations. The first is a company based in the country or selling into that market, where it is the strongest local trust signal. The second is a “Made in Italy” brand, where the extension reinforces the Italian origin of the products. The third is any business that wants the matching local address sitting alongside its .com.

Domain hacks: when “.it” becomes a word

Because so many English words end in “it”, this extension is a favorite for domain hacks: short, memorable addresses where the ending finishes the word. Reddit’s link shortener redd.it is the best-known example. If your brand or product name ends in those two letters, .it can turn a clunky URL into something you can say out loud. Just remember the eligibility rules still apply to whoever registers it.

Is a .it domain right for you?

If Italy is your market, or your story, .it is one of the strongest, best-established country domains you can put your name on, and it’s cheap to hold. A .it domain registration starts around $5.49 at Crazy Domains, with 36 registrars supporting it. The main trade-offs are eligibility and the public WHOIS record. Clear those and few extensions say “Italy” as plainly. Prices change by registrar, so compare live registration and renewal prices on our .it page.

Managing your .it: transfers and renewals

Renewing a .it

Like any domain, a .it needs renewal before it expires or you risk losing it. Turn on auto-renew if your provider offers it, and keep the billing contact current.

Transferring a .it between registrars

To move a .it between registrars, you need the authinfo code (the .it equivalent of an auth or EPP code) from your current provider, who is obliged to release it within a few days of your request.

About the Author:

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Editor team

Small crew of builders who believe a great idea should not be held back by a bad domain deal. We know this space inside out, from obscure new extensions to the registrar tricks that quietly inflate your renewal. We put that knowledge to work so you can spend less time worrying about domains and more time building the thing that matters.