# What is a .so domain, and can anyone outside Somalia register one?

> .so domains from Somalia: 1 to 10 years, sold worldwide, but eligibility text varies by registrar. Pay in crypto at Pearlcay, no KYC, free DNS.

- URL: https://pearlcay.com/so-domain/
- Last updated: 2026-11-02
- Publisher: Pearlcay (https://pearlcay.com)

The .so ending is the country code of Somalia. Registrars sell it worldwide, but its eligibility text is unclear, so read the rules before you buy.

**Quick answer — Can anyone outside Somalia register a .so domain?**

Retail registrars sell .so to anyone, but the sources disagree: one registrar's rules mention a connection to Somalia. We cannot confirm how the registry enforces that, so treat eligibility as an open question. At **Pearlcay**, a .so costs **$62.99/year** the first year and $62.99/year to renew (2 November 2026), paid in crypto with no KYC.

## Search a .so domain

Search a domain name: https://pearlcay.com/app/domains/?q=yourname.so

Popular extensions: .so ($62.99)

If the name is taken before we register it, or the registry refuses it, the full amount goes back to your balance. Because the eligibility text is disputed, read the rules below before you order.

## .so at a glance

| Attribute | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Country code of | Somalia, a federal republic in the Horn of Africa |
| Registry | Ministry of Post and Telecommunications |
| Technical operator | soNIC in IANA's record; Somalia's National Communications Authority took control in March 2018 |
| Who can register | Sold to anyone by retail registrars, but one registrar's rules ask for a connection to Somalia |
| Registration term | 1 to 10 years |
| Public WHOIS / RDAP | Not confirmed for .so; check before you rely on privacy |
| Known for | A short, word-like ending for start-ups and communities, such as hiro.so |

## .so price per year

| Extension | 1st year | Renewal | Transfer | WHOIS privacy | Restrictions |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| .so | $62.99 | $62.99 | $62.99 | — | None |

*1 extensions · prices per year in USD*

No first-year discount: the first year costs the same as the renewal. A transfer in needs a domain more than 60 days old and renews it for one year. We found no registry price notice for 2025 or 2026.

## Somalia, the country behind .so

Somalia is not an island. It is a country on the Horn of Africa, with Mogadishu as its capital. It became independent in 1960 and has been a federal republic since a provisional constitution in 2012.

The code .so was created on 28 August 1997, according to Wikipedia. In February 2009 ICANN approved redelegating it to Somalia's Ministry of Post and Telecommunications, and IANA's report on the move is dated 3 February 2009. The extension was relaunched through registrars on 1 November 2010. In July 2015 the registry moved to the Somali Network Information Center (SONIC), which introduced limits on buyers not tied to Somalia, and several registrars stopped selling new names. On 9 March 2018 the newly created National Communications Authority took control from SONIC and Cloudy Registry.

IANA's record for .so was last updated in April 2016. It still names the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications as sponsor and soNIC as technical contact, so it does not show the 2018 change. Sources describe the rules differently, as the rules section shows.

Few large registrars sell .so today. Of the ten we surveyed on 2 November 2026, only Namecheap, Dynadot, Gandi and Epik list it.

## Who uses .so, and why?

Most buyers treat .so as a word, not as a place. "So" ends many English phrases, so start-ups and communities use it for names that read like sentences. Hiro, a developer-tools company for Bitcoin layers, uses hiro.so. We found few other large sites on .so that we could verify, and we prefer to say so rather than list guesses.

That tells you something about the extension. It is a niche choice with a short list of registrars, a history of changing registry rules, and an eligibility text that is not the same everywhere. It can suit a personal project, a community or a product whose name ends well with "so". It is a weaker fit for a brand that must stay online for ten years with no surprises, or for anyone who needs WHOIS privacy to be certain.

If you want a similar short word ending, compare it with [.co](https://pearlcay.com/co-domain/ "What does .co stand for, and who can register it?") and [.me](https://pearlcay.com/me-domain/ "What is a .me domain, and is it only for personal sites?"), whose rules are clearer.

## .so at other registrars, 2 November 2026

Prices per year in US dollars. Of the registrars we surveyed on 2 November 2026, only Namecheap and Dynadot showed a .so price we could read directly in dollars. Cloudflare, Spaceship, Porkbun, NameSilo, Njalla and Sav do not carry .so; Gandi and Epik do, but their figures are converted or unverified, so we leave them out.

| Registrar | First year | Renewal | Pays in crypto |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Pearlcay | $62.99 | $62.99 | Yes, only crypto |
| Namecheap | $64.98 | $68.98 | Yes (deposit to account funds first) |
| Dynadot | $57.50 | $57.50 | Yes (BTC, USDT, USDC and more) |

*Last checked on November 2, 2026; older figures carry their own date.*

Prices per year in US dollars, from each registrar's public price list on 2 November 2026 (sources below). They change often: check before you buy.

## .so rules: eligibility, content and registry changes

**Eligibility is disputed.** Namecheap and Dynadot sell .so to anyone and say you need not live in Somalia. Gandi's rule text says the extension is open to people with a bona fide connection to Somalia: institutions, residents and others who can prove a link. We could not retrieve the registry's own current text, so we cannot say which is right, or whether the registry could act on a name later. Wikipedia reports that limits on buyers not tied to Somalia were introduced in 2015.

**Content.** The registry disallows adult and gambling content, according to the contract summaries of Gandi and 101domain.

**Format.** Names run 3 to 63 characters, with no accented (IDN) characters.

**Terms.** 1 to 10 years. A transfer in needs a domain more than 60 days old and renews it for one year.

**DNSSEC.** IANA lists the delegation as insecure, so .so names cannot be signed with DNSSEC.

**Privacy.** Not confirmed. We found no registry statement on privacy services for .so, so check before you rely on one.

**Known risks.** The registry changed hands in 2015 and 2018, IANA's record still shows the older arrangement, and the eligibility text varies. If the name is critical to your business, an extension with clearer rules is the safer pick.

## .so questions

### Is .so a Somalia-only domain?

Not in practice. Retail registrars sell it worldwide. But Gandi's rules ask for a bona fide connection to Somalia, and we could not confirm the registry's current text, so the position is unclear.

### Who runs the .so registry?

IANA's record names Somalia's Ministry of Post and Telecommunications as sponsor and soNIC as technical contact, last updated in 2016. Press and Wikipedia report that Somalia's National Communications Authority took control on 9 March 2018.

### Why do so few registrars sell .so?

Of the ten registrars we surveyed on 2 November 2026, only four list it. We do not know each one's reason. Wikipedia reports that several registrars stopped selling .so in 2015 after the registry introduced limits.

### Can I use .so for adult or gambling content?

No. The registry disallows adult and gambling content, according to registrar contract summaries, so do not plan either on a .so name.

### Does .so support DNSSEC?

No. IANA lists the .so delegation as insecure, without a DS record in the root.

### What if my .so order is refused?

If the registry refuses the name, or it is taken before we register it, the full amount goes back to your balance.

## Sources

1. [Delegation record for .so](https://www.iana.org/domains/root/db/so.html) — IANA (checked 2026-11-02)
2. [.so (history, 2015 and 2018 registry changes)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.so) — Wikipedia (checked 2026-11-02)
3. [.so domain names (registration rules and eligibility)](https://www.gandi.net/en/domain/tld/so) — Gandi (checked 2026-11-02)
4. [Namecheap full TLD price list](https://www.namecheap.com/domains/full-tld-list/) — Namecheap (checked 2026-11-02)
5. [Dynadot domain prices](https://www.dynadot.com/domain/prices) — Dynadot (checked 2026-11-02)

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Pearlcay: Pearlcay registers short country-code domains, most of them island extensions: .ai (Anguilla), .io (Chagos Islands), .gg (Guernsey), .sh (Saint Helena), .tv (Tuvalu) and ten more, paid in crypto with no KYC: no ID, only one verified email per domain. It is run by DomaineGoat LLC, a company registered in Panama; domains are registered through its ICANN-accredited registrar partner. A .ai costs $86.99/year, sold for at least 2 years.