Register and buy your .be domain name

Anyone can buy a .be domain name. DNS Belgium, the official registry for Belgium's country-code extension, places no restrictions on who may register: private individuals, freelancers, businesses, and organisations from any country are eligible. You don't need a Belgian address, citizenship, or VAT number, which makes .be one of the most accessible European ccTLDs. The only requirements concern the name itself: it must be between 2 and 63 characters long and may contain letters, numbers, and hyphens, although it cannot begin or end with a hyphen. Accented characters such as é or ü are also supported through internationalised domain names (IDNs). At one.com, you simply search for your preferred name, add it to your basket, and complete the checkout. Every .be registration includes DNS management and 24/7 support, whether you're based in Brussels, elsewhere in Europe, or anywhere else in the world.

Your .be domain is active almost immediately after registration. DNS Belgium operates a fully automated, real-time registration system, so once your order and payment are confirmed at one.com, the domain is typically created and delegated within minutes. From that moment, you can start setting it up. Keep in mind that global DNS propagation — the process by which name servers around the world learn about your new domain — can take up to 24 hours, although most visitors will be able to reach your site much sooner, often within one or two hours. If you register your .be domain together with a one.com hosting or email plan, the technical setup is handled automatically: DNS records, an SSL certificate, and webmail are configured for you, so your website and professional email addresses work as soon as the domain resolves. No manual configuration is needed.

Yes, you can buy a .be domain without a hosting plan. Domain registration and web hosting are separate products, and one.com lets you register a .be name entirely on its own — a smart move if you want to secure your brand early, protect a trademark, or reserve a name for a future project before anyone else claims it. A standalone domain is still fully functional: from the one.com control panel you can manage DNS records, point the domain to an existing website, or set up web forwarding to a social media profile or online marketplace. When you're ready to launch, you can add hosting, the Website Builder, or a professional email plan at any time, and everything connects automatically because the domain and hosting sit in the same account. Many customers start with just the domain and upgrade once their website is ready to go live.

If your desired .be name is already taken, you still have several options. First, check the domain in DNS Belgium's public WHOIS lookup: if it appears parked or unused, you can contact the current holder through the registry's contact form and make an offer to buy it. Second, try a variation — adding your industry, city, or a short word (for example, bakkerij-janssens.be instead of janssens.be) often unlocks a strong alternative. Third, consider another extension such as .com, .eu, or .net; one.com's domain search automatically suggests available alternatives when your first choice is unavailable. Also note that deleted .be domains pass through a 40-day quarantine before being released, so a recently expired name may become available again soon. Finally, if you own a trademark and believe the name was registered in bad faith, you can start a dispute procedure through CEPANI, the arbitration body appointed by DNS Belgium.

Yes, you can transfer an existing .be domain to one.com in just a few steps. First, request the transfer code (also called an authorisation code) from your current registrar; if you cannot obtain it there, DNS Belgium can send the code directly to the registered domain holder. Next, order the transfer on the one.com website, enter the code, and confirm. Unlike many other extensions, .be transfers are processed by DNS Belgium in real time, so the domain usually moves to one.com within minutes rather than days. To avoid downtime for your website and email, recreate your existing DNS records in the one.com control panel before the transfer completes, because the name servers switch at the moment of transfer. Afterwards, you manage the domain, its renewal, and any hosting or email plans from a single control panel, backed by one.com's 24/7 support team.