Benefits of .gov domains

.Gov helps the public identify official, trusted information

For a fee, anyone can register a .com, .org, or .us domain. This can make it hard for the public to know if the people behind an online service are who they claim to be.

.Gov domains are different because they’re only available to U.S.-based government organizations. It should be easy to identify governments on the internet. The public shouldn’t have to guess whether the site they’re on, or the email in their inbox, is genuine. Use of the .gov top-level domain can help reduce uncertainty.

Only verified U.S. government organizations can register a .gov domain

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), manages the .gov top-level domain. We verify the identity of everyone who requests a .gov domain, and we make sure that their organization meets the criteria for having a .gov domain.

.Gov domains are free

.Gov domains are available to eligible organizations for free!

Organizations at all levels of government are eligible for .gov domains

Federal, state, local, and other publicly-controlled entities are eligible for .gov domains. This includes cities, towns, counties, election offices, tribal governments, courts, and more.

We use the U.S. Census Bureau’s criteria for classifying governments to help us determine eligibility.

Read more about eligibility for .gov domains.

.Gov domains are critical infrastructure for governments at all levels

.Gov domains support access to public services. We make .gov a trusted, secure space by:

• Using multi-factor authentication for all accounts in the .gov registrar
• Preloading all new domains. This action requires browsers to use a secure HTTPS connection with your website. This ensures that the content you publish is exactly what your visitors get.
• Administering our domain requirements to protect the integrity of .gov
• Publishing the complete list of .gov domains
• Recommending security best practices for .gov domain holders
• Continuously improving how we secure the .gov namespace

We offer support for your .gov domain

What we offer

Domain registration: Start a .gov domain request or learn about the information you'll need to complete your request.

Domain name consultation: If you need help coming up with your .gov domain name, contact us.

Domain management support: Once your .gov domain is up and running we’ll support you.

• Check the status of your domain requests and manage your registered domains.
• Stay informed about domain security best practices.
• Edit information about your contacts or your domain (like changes to your DNS settings) anytime.

What we don’t offer

While we’re continuously improving our services, you’ll need some services to get online that we don’t offer.

• We don’t offer DNS hosting.
• We don’t host .gov websites or email.