Benefits of .gov domains
.Gov helps the public identify official, trusted information
.Gov is a top-level domain like .com, .org, or .us. For a fee, anyone can register popular top-level domains like .com or .org. This can make it hard for the public to know if the people behind an online service are who they claim to be.
Only verified U.S. government organizations can register a .gov domain
It should be easy to identify governments on the internet. Using a .gov domain shows you’re official. The public shouldn’t have to guess whether the site they’re on, or the email in their inbox, is genuine.
CISA, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, manages the .gov top-level domain. .Gov is available only to U.S.-based government organizations. We verify the identity of everyone who requests a .gov domain. We confirm 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
Government organizations in the U.S. are eligible for .gov domains. This includes cities, towns, counties, election offices, states, tribal governments, courts, and more.
Federal, state, local, or territorial governments, or other publicly-controlled entities, are eligible. Tribal governments recognized by the federal government or a state government are eligible. We use the U.S. Census Bureau’s criteria for classifying governments to help us determine eligibility.
.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 our domain registration and management system
- 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
What we offer
Domain registration
Request your .gov now 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 with these services:
- Domain management: Check the status of your domain requests and manage your registered domains.
- Security: We keep you informed about domain security best practices.
- Domain renewal: We make it easy to renew your .gov domain.
- Self-service: You’ll be able to 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.