Directory >> Registries >> ccTLD Registries >> ccTLD European Registries
In Europe, ccTLDs are often the first choice, ahead of .COM. The popularity of European ccTLDs is generally due to two main factors, which are the perception of domain names under ccTLDs as a mark of trust , guaranteeing security and safety, and affordable prices.
European registries cooperate through CENTR, a regional association that brings together national ccTLD operators. It promotes European ccTLDs and facilitates the exchange of best practices among its members.
EURid is the organisation mandated by the European Union to manage the .EU extension and the other corresponding IDN TLDs.
Lusnic brings together the entities responsible for the management, registration and maintenance of the top-level domains in Portuguese-speaking countries.
Operating as a private not for profit cooperative, the German registry DENIC has the largest number of registrations, mainly due to its efficiency , its competitive pricing, the size of its domestic market and the local desire to oppose the hegemony of .COM.
Its runner-up in Europe, the private non-profit British company Nominet, has opted for an Anglo-Saxon model, with business-oriented activity, notably through technical operator services for more than 80 nTLDs.
Run by the private non-profit foundation SIDN, which operates under a public mandate, the Netherlands’ .NL has the highest number of domain registrations per capita in the world. Like .DE, this is due to the absence of registration restrictions, strong local preference for the ccTLD, low registration costs, and the high number of domain investors.
Russia’s .RU ranks third in Europe by number of domains, despite the country having the continent’s largest population. This is mainly due to the national registry’s limited business orientation—a common trait in the ccTLD sector. The IDN version, .РФ, is the most used internationalized ccTLD in the world and represents close to 10% of total Russian ccTLD registrations.
Dedicated to its public service mission; the French non-profit association Afnic registry is one of the international benchmarks, especially for its technical expertise and for dispute resolution. Its foundation supports projects related to digital solidarity.
Smaller registries such as CZ.NIC (Czech Republic), NIC.at (Austria), Switch (Switzerland), and IIS (Sweden) show strong performance across key indicators like ccTLD usage, DNSSEC implementation, and overall TLD health.
ASSOCIAO-DNS.PT manages .PT, the country-code TLD for Portugal.
CHIP operates .HU, Hungary’s country-code TLD.
DNS Belgium manages .BE, Belgium’s official ccTLD.
FI-Domains is the registry for .FI, Finland’s country-code TLD.
FORTH operates .GR, the ccTLD for Greece.
Hostmaster Ltd manages .UA, Ukraine’s ccTLD.
NASK is the official registry for .PL, Poland’s country-code TLD.
NIC Latvia operates .LV, the ccTLD for Latvia.
Norid manages .NO, Norway’s official country-code TLD.
Punktum DK is the registry for .DK, the TLD for Denmark.
Red.es manages .ES, Spain’s country-code top-level domain.
Register.si operates .SI, Slovenia’s official ccTLD.
Registro.it is the registry for .IT, the country-code TLD for Italy.
RNIDS manages .RS and .СРБ, Serbia’s Latin and Cyrillic ccTLDs.
RoTLD operates .RO, the country-code TLD for Romania.