Domain .co.nl

About .co.nl

A piece of history

Dozens of countries use a .co.xx extension to diversify their offerings. These include the United Kingdom (.co.uk), Japan (.co.jp) and South Africa (.co.za). Even before .co.nl existed, statistics showed that .co.nl was frequently requested, especially from abroad.

Therefore, in 2008, CO.NL was started by EuroDNS S.A.. In 2010, EuroDNS established CoDNS B.V. to manage its subdomain registries and related services. In 2013, CO.NL was split off from EuroDNS and corporatised into CO.NL B.V..

CO.NL is registered as a domain name under the national top level domain .nl, the CO.NL operator has no further relationship with the Dutch registry SIDN and operates independently.

The launch

CO.NL was launched in 2008. To ensure that the right parties could get their hands on their .co.nl domain, this was done in four phases:

  • Grandfather period: during the first two months, before anyone else could register, every .nl domain name holder had the opportunity to register their corresponding .co.nl domain.
  • Trademark sunrise: after the grandfather period, registered trademarks had one month to register their trademark as a .co.nl domain.
  • Landrush: after these priority phases, everyone had the opportunity to apply for their .co.nl domain. After a two-week application period, the domain names were allocated to their owners.
  • Go live: on 15 April 2009, .co.nl went completely live. Domains can now be registered as easily as a .nl or .com domain.

From international brands to local entrepreneurs and private individuals: thousands of people are taking advantage from the opportunities offered by the .co.nl domain extension. To grab that good domain name, to have a stronger image internationally or simply because it best reflects who they are.

.co.nl is one of the domain extensions that were made possible by Dotlocal. In addition to .co.nl, Dotlocal is the driving force behone the local domain extensions .amsterdam and .frl (Friesland).

For the new application round in 2026, Dotlocal also supports cities and regions in applying for and operating their own domain extension. Dotlocal is an active member of the geoTLD.group and represents the interests of regional extensions.

For registration of a .co.nl domain, you can visit one of our connected registrars or resellers. The registration policies and other documentation for .co.nl are available on our Policies page. More information about how .co.nl works and the answers to the most frequently asked questions is available on How does .co.nl work.