Register and buy your .be domain name

Just about anyone can buy a .be domain name. DNS Belgium, the official registry behind Belgium's country-code extension, puts no restrictions on who can register: private individuals, freelancers, businesses, and organizations from any country all qualify. A Belgian address is not required, nor is citizenship or a VAT number — which makes .be one of the most open European ccTLDs out there. The only rules apply to the domain name itself: it must be between 2 and 63 characters long and can include letters, numbers, and hyphens, though it can't start or end with one. Accented characters like é or ü are also supported through internationalized domain names (IDNs). At one.com, just search for the name you want, drop it in your cart, and check out. Every .be registration comes with DNS management and around-the-clock support, whether you're in Brussels, elsewhere in Europe, or on the other side of the world.

Your .be domain goes live almost instantly after registration. DNS Belgium runs a fully automated, real-time registration system, so once your order and payment clear at one.com, the domain is typically created and delegated within minutes. You can start configuring it right away. Keep in mind that global DNS propagation — the process where name servers worldwide pick up your new domain — can take up to 24 hours, though most users will reach your site much sooner, often within an hour or two. If you pair your .be domain with a one.com hosting or email plan, the technical setup happens automatically: DNS records, an SSL certificate, and webmail are all configured for you, so your site and professional email addresses work as soon as the domain resolves. No manual setup needed.

Absolutely — you can register a .be domain without any hosting plan. Domain registration and web hosting are sold separately, and one.com lets you grab a .be name on its own — a smart move if you want to lock in your brand early, protect a trademark, or hold a name for a future project before someone else snaps it up. A standalone domain is fully functional from the start: through the one.com control panel you can manage DNS records, point the domain at an existing site, or forward it to a social media profile or online marketplace. When you're ready to go live, you can add hosting, the Website Builder, or a professional email plan whenever you like — and since your domain and hosting live in the same account, everything connects automatically. Plenty of customers start with just the domain and upgrade once their site is ready to launch.

If the .be name you're after is already registered, you've still got a few solid options. Start by checking the domain in DNS Belgium's public WHOIS lookup: if it looks parked or inactive, you can reach out to the current owner through the registry's contact form and make an offer. Next, try a variation — tacking on your industry, city, or a short keyword (for instance, bakkerij-janssens.be instead of janssens.be) can unlock a strong alternative. You could also look at a different extension like .com, .eu, or .net; one.com's domain search automatically surfaces available alternatives when your first pick is gone. Worth noting: deleted .be domains go through a 40-day quarantine before they're released, so a recently expired name might open back up before long. And if you hold a trademark and suspect the name was registered in bad faith, you can file a dispute through CEPANI, the arbitration body designated by DNS Belgium.

Yes — transferring an existing .be domain to one.com only takes a few steps. First, request the transfer code (also called an authorization code) from your current registrar; if that's not possible, DNS Belgium can send the code directly to the domain holder on record. Then place the transfer order on the one.com website, enter the code, and confirm. Unlike many other extensions, .be transfers are handled by DNS Belgium in real time, so the domain typically lands at one.com within minutes, not days. To keep your website and email running without interruption, set up your existing DNS records in the one.com control panel before the transfer finishes — the name servers switch the moment the transfer goes through. Once it's done, you manage your domain, renewals, and any hosting or email plans all from a single control panel, with one.com's 24/7 support team always in your corner.