The .fr domain name guide

.fr is the French country-code extension, managed by Afnic. For a French-speaking audience it signals proximity and seriousness, and is often better received locally than a generic .com. Here is the essential before registering yours.

Who can register a .fr

.fr is open to any individual or legal entity residing or established in the European Economic Area. Concretely, both an individual and a company in the European Union can register one, without prior documentation in most cases. Afnic may run checks after the fact: provide accurate contact details.

The real subject: the renewal price

The classic domain-name trap is the discounted first year: a .fr advertised at under one euro that climbs back to ten or fifteen euros at renewal, year after year, for the whole life of the domain. The price that matters is not the first year’s — it is the renewal price.

Our approach is simple: registry cost price + €1 per year, with no misleading teaser year. You pay what we pay Afnic, plus one euro, at registration and at renewal alike.

Private WHOIS by default

WHOIS is the public directory of domain owners. For a .fr, individuals’ data is hidden by default on privacy grounds, but that is not always the case elsewhere, nor for legal entities. With us, private WHOIS is included by default on every extension that allows it, at no extra charge.

DNS, DNSSEC and email

A domain without DNS configuration is useless. Plan for:

• A / AAAA records to point at your server.
• MX, SPF, DKIM and DMARC records if you send or receive email — essential for deliverability.
• DNSSEC to sign your DNS responses and prevent tampering.

Our domains include anycast DNS, DNSSEC and a full API to automate everything.

Transferring an existing .fr

A transfer does not interrupt your site as long as the DNS records are kept. Get the transfer code (auth-info) from your current registrar, check that the domain is not locked, then start the transfer. With us, no hidden fees: a transfer simply renews the domain for one year at cost price + €1.

To register or transfer, see our domain names. To host the site behind it, compare our web hosting and VPS plans.