Quick answer
What does .ws stand for, and who can register one?
.ws is Samoa's country code. The letters come from Western Samoa, the country's old name, and the registry markets them as "website". Anyone in the world can register one, for 1 to 10 years. At Pearlcay, a .ws costs $25.99/year the first year and $25.99/year to renew (2 November 2026), paid in crypto with no KYC.
Search a .ws domain
Popular extensions
- .ws $25.99
If the name is taken, or the registry refuses it (it can refuse offensive names), the full amount goes back to your balance.
.ws at a glance
| Country code of | Samoa, an independent Pacific island nation (formerly Western Samoa) |
|---|---|
| Registry | Government of Samoa Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Trade |
| Technical operator | Global Domains International (technical contact in the IANA record) |
| Who can register | Anyone, anywhere; 1 to 3 character names are reserved or premium |
| Registration term | 1 to 10 years |
| Public WHOIS / RDAP | Set by the registry; registrars disagree on owner privacy |
| Known for | Reading as "website", and news-link shorteners such as fxn.ws |
.ws price per year
| Extension | 1st year | Renewal | Transfer | WHOIS privacy | Restrictions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| .ws | $25.99 | $25.99 | $25.99 | — | None |
The price is the same in year one and at every renewal. Other registrars advertise first years far below their renewal, so compare both. A transfer is priced like one renewal; the domain must be at least 60 days old.
Samoa behind .ws
Samoa is an independent island nation in the Pacific. The Samoa Bureau of Statistics counted 205,557 people at its census of 6 November 2021, and the capital is Apia. Samoa became independent on 1 January 1962, the date the United States recognized the State of Western Samoa. In 1997 it dropped "Western" and became the Independent State of Samoa, according to the US Office of the Historian.
That is where the letters come from. The two-letter country codes were fixed when the country was still called Western Samoa, and the code stayed WS after the name changed.
IANA lists the Government of Samoa Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Trade as the sponsor of .ws, Computer Services Ltd. as the administrative contact and Global Domains International as the technical contact. The registration site on the record is website.ws, and the WHOIS server is whois.website.ws. The record was last updated on 26 May 2021.
The name is the pitch. The registry's own registration address, website.ws, sums it up: marketing turned an accident of history into a ready-made word.
Who uses a .ws domain?
The registry sells .ws as "WebSite", and that reading is the whole market. The letters read as "web site" or "web service" in English, so a .ws name looks like a generic web address rather than a Samoan one.
News organizations used it early for short links. NewscastStudio's 2010 survey of TV news shorteners listed fxn.ws for Fox News and apne.ws for The Associated Press. The apne.ws pattern is a brand plus "ne.ws": "ap" plus "ne.ws" gives apne.ws.
Short names are the catch. Registrars sell one-, two- and three-character .ws names as premiums or reserve them, and the registry can refuse offensive names. Gandi lists 4 to 63 characters for ordinary names.
The cheap first year deserves attention. Several registrars advertise a .ws for a few dollars, then renew it for much more, as the table below shows. Compare the renewal, not the first year, before you build a project on a name.
Words that end in "ws", such as news, split into ne.ws. For more ideas, read domain hacks.
.ws price at other registrars
Prices listed on 2 November 2026. Three of the four show a first year far below the renewal: Namecheap $11.98 (list price $30.98) then $38.98, Dynadot $7.98 then $23.98, NameSilo $6.49 (regular price $30.99) then $30.99. Porkbun charges $22.97 every year. Cloudflare, Spaceship and Sav did not carry .ws.
| Registrar | First year | Renewal | Pays in crypto |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pearlcay | $25.99 | $25.99 | Yes, only crypto |
| Namecheap | $11.98 | $38.98 | Yes (BitPay or BTCPay, account funds first) |
| Dynadot | $7.98 | $23.98 | Yes (BTC, USDT, USDC and others) |
| NameSilo | $6.49 | $30.99 | Yes (BTC, ETH, USDT and more) |
| Porkbun | $22.97 | $22.97 | Yes (USDC) |
Last checked on ; 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.
What are the .ws rules?
Who can register. Anyone, with no residency or business rule. Length. Gandi lists 4 to 63 characters. Shorter names are reserved or sold as premiums, and the registry may refuse offensive names. Term. One to ten years.
Transfers. The domain must have been created or transferred at least 60 days earlier. At Pearlcay a transfer is priced like one renewal.
Whois. The sources disagree. Namecheap and EuroDNS offer privacy for .ws, while 101domain says the registry gives no way to hide the owner and NameSilo's guide lists .ws as without privacy support. What stays public is the registry's decision.
Disputes. Pearlcay handles trademark disputes through the UDRP.
Price risk. The survey found no .ws price notice for 2025 or 2026.
Content. The sources behind this page set no content rule beyond the refusal of offensive names. Abuse reports follow our abuse and acceptable use pages.
.ws questions
What does .ws stand for?
It is Samoa's country code, taken from the old name Western Samoa. The registry markets the letters as "website".
Why is a .ws so cheap in the first year elsewhere?
Registrars discount new registrations, then charge the list price at renewal. On 2 November 2026 NameSilo showed $6.49 then $30.99, Dynadot $7.98 then $23.98 and Namecheap $11.98 then $38.98. Pearlcay charges one flat yearly price.
Can I register a one-letter or two-letter .ws name?
Rarely. One-, two- and three-character .ws names are reserved or sold as registry premiums at a much higher price. The search box shows whether a short name is open.
Can the registry refuse a .ws name?
Yes. Registrar sources say the registry can refuse offensive names. If that happens to your order, or the name is taken in the meantime, the full amount goes back to your balance.
Who runs the .ws registry?
IANA lists the Government of Samoa Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Trade as the sponsor, with Global Domains International as the technical contact. The registration site is website.ws.
Can I pay for a .ws with crypto and no ID?
Yes. Pearlcay takes crypto only, from a prepaid balance. We ask for no identity document: the only data is one email address per domain, which is verified and kept private.
Sources (8)
- Delegation record for .WS — IANA (checked 2026-11-02)
- Samoa: guide to recognition and relations — US Department of State, Office of the Historian (checked 2026-11-02)
- Samoa Population and Housing Census 2021 fact sheet — Samoa Bureau of Statistics (checked 2026-11-02)
- TV news jumps on URL shortener bandwagon — NewscastStudio (checked 2026-11-02)
- Namecheap full TLD list (.ws) namecheap.com/domains/full-tld-list — Namecheap (checked 2026-11-02)
- Dynadot domain prices dynadot.com/domain/prices — Dynadot (checked 2026-11-02)
- NameSilo pricing namesilo.com/pricing — NameSilo (checked 2026-11-02)
- Porkbun public pricing API api.porkbun.com/api/json/v3/pricing/get — Porkbun (checked 2026-11-02)