Get your perfect domain name

A domain name is the address people type into a browser to reach your website — for example, mybusiness.com. Websites actually live at numeric IP addresses, but the domain name system (DNS) translates those numbers into words that are easy to remember and share. Your domain name shapes how people find you, recognize you, and think about your brand — making it one of the most visible parts of your online presence. 

A domain name is your address on the internet; a website is the content people find when they arrive there. Think of the domain as a street address and the website as the building at that address. You can own a domain without having a website attached to it yet, and you can point it to a different host at any time. Having a custom domain — rather than a platform subdomain — also improves your SEO, signals professionalism, and lets you create a branded email address.

WordPress.com offers more than 350 domain extensions — from widely recognized options like .com, .net, and .org to purpose-specific extensions like .blog, .art, .shop, .dev, and .app. The right choice depends on your site: .com is the most recognized globally and usually the best default for businesses, while niche extensions can signal your site’s focus at a glance. You can search and compare all available extensions during the domain registration process.

Use the search tool at the top of this page to check availability instantly. Type your desired name and WordPress.com will show whether it’s available, along with suggestions across other extensions if your first choice is taken. Results are checked in real time. If the .com version is unavailable, you’ll often find .net, .blog, .co, or another extension that works for your site.

Yes — WordPress.com includes a free domain for the first year when you purchase any annual, two-year, or three-year plan. This covers most popular extensions including .com, .net, .org, and .blog. After the first year, standard renewal rates apply. If you only need a domain without a hosting plan, you can also register one as a standalone purchase.

Yes, and it’s often worth doing. You can point multiple domain names at the same WordPress.com site — useful for capturing common misspellings of your brand, protecting your name across different extensions, or routing a product-specific domain to your main site. For SEO, one domain should be set as the primary (canonical) address; the others redirect to it. WordPress.com lets you add and manage multiple domains from one dashboard.

Yes. Unlock the domain at your current registrar, request your authorization code (also called an EPP or auth code), and enter it at WordPress.com to start the transfer. Your domain needs to be more than 60 days old and on a supported extension, which covers .com, .net, .org, and most others. Most transfers finish in five to seven days with no downtime for your site or email, and your registration is extended by a year when it completes.

Domain privacy protection replaces your personal contact details — name, address, email, and phone number — in the public WHOIS database with generic registrar information. Without it, anyone can look up that information. WordPress.com includes domain privacy protection free on all registered domains, with no hidden fees or setup required. It’s automatically enabled at registration, so your personal information is protected without any extra steps.

Standard domain registrations through WordPress.com can be set for one to ten years at a time. Registering for multiple years means you won’t have to worry about accidental expiration and locks in your current pricing. WordPress.com also offers a 100-year domain registration — designed for institutions, legacy projects, and long-term brand preservation, with the domain held in a secure account for the next century.

If your domain registration lapses, your site will go offline and the domain could become available for others to register. WordPress.com sends renewal reminders before your expiration date. After expiration, domains pass through several stages, a grace period, a potential expiry auction, and a redemption period, each progressively more expensive and difficult to reverse. Enabling auto-renew in your account settings is the simplest way to avoid this entirely.

The best domain names are short, easy to spell aloud, and clearly tied to your brand or purpose. Aim for under 15 characters where possible, avoid hyphens and numbers that create confusion when spoken, and choose a name that works on a business card. The .com extension is the most widely recognized globally, but .blog, .store, .co, and many others are increasingly familiar to audiences. If your ideal name is taken, try adding a location, a descriptive word, or a different extension. The WordPress.com Business Name Generator can help you find available options based on your niche.

DNS (Domain Name System) is the infrastructure that translates your domain name into the IP address of your web server, routing visitors to the right place. For most users, WordPress.com handles DNS automatically — there’s nothing to configure. If you need to connect a third-party email service, verify domain ownership, or point subdomains to external tools, you can manage DNS records directly from your WordPress.com dashboard. WordPress.com uses fast, redundant DNS infrastructure so your site loads quickly for visitors worldwide.