.ws Domain Names
34 registrars compared — cheapest from $5.49 at NameSilo
Delegated in July 1995 to the Government of Samoa Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Trade, .ws was meant for entities tied to Samoa — but its real life unfolded thousands of miles away, on keyboards and in URLs where 'ws' reads as 'website.'
| # | Registrar | Registration | Renewal | Transfer | 5-Year Cost | 10-Year Cost | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | NameSilo Cheapest | $5.49 | $30.99 | $22.49 | $129.45 | $284.40 | Visit |
| 2 | Truehost | $6.48 | $39.51 | $30.54 | $164.52 | $362.07 | Visit |
| 3 | Dynadot | $7.98 | $23.98 | $23.98 | $103.90 | $223.80 | Visit |
| 4 | IONOS | $15.00 | $15.00 | $15.00 | $75.00 | $150.00 | Visit |
| 5 | Hello.co | $19.99 | $44.99 | $44.99 | $199.95 | $424.90 | Visit |
| 6 | 123 Reg | $22.42 | $22.42 | $22.42 | $112.10 | $224.20 | Visit |
| 7 | Porkbun | $22.97 | $22.97 | $22.97 | $114.85 | $229.70 | Visit |
| 8 | Blacknight | $23.85 | $23.85 | $23.85 | $119.25 | $238.50 | Visit |
| 9 | DreamHost | $24.95 | $24.95 | $1.00 | $124.75 | $249.50 | Visit |
| 10 | Epik | $24.95 | $24.95 | $24.95 | $124.75 | $249.50 | Visit |
| 11 | Bluehost | $24.99 | $29.99 | $24.99 | $144.95 | $294.90 | Visit |
| 12 | Crazy Domains | $25.50 | $26.29 | $25.50 | $130.66 | $262.11 | Visit |
| 13 | Gname | $25.99 | $25.99 | $25.99 | $129.95 | $259.90 | Visit |
| 14 | Regery | $26.99 | $26.99 | $26.99 | $134.95 | $269.90 | Visit |
| 15 | All Domains | $27.97 | $31.08 | $31.08 | $152.29 | $307.69 | Visit |
| 16 | OVHcloud | $28.89 | $28.89 | $28.89 | $144.45 | $288.90 | Visit |
| 17 | Directnic | $28.99 | $28.99 | $28.99 | $144.95 | $289.90 | Visit |
| 18 | Marcaria | $29.00 | $29.00 | $29.00 | $145.00 | $290.00 | Visit |
| 19 | MrDomain | $29.91 | $29.91 | $29.91 | $149.55 | $299.10 | Visit |
| 20 | Regtons | $32.90 | $32.90 | $30.90 | $164.50 | $329.00 | Visit |
| 21 | 101domain | $35.99 | $40.99 | $32.99 | $199.95 | $404.90 | Visit |
| 22 | Hover | $35.99 | $35.99 | $35.99 | $179.95 | $359.90 | Visit |
| 23 | Netim | $36.00 | $36.00 | $24.50 | $180.00 | $360.00 | Visit |
| 24 | UK2 | $36.27 | $34.96 | $36.27 | $176.11 | $350.91 | Visit |
| 25 | Hostinger | $36.99 | $39.99 | $36.99 | $196.95 | $396.90 | Visit |
| 26 | Infomaniak | $38.13 | $38.13 | $38.13 | $190.65 | $381.30 | Visit |
| 27 | Gandi | $39.18 | $87.98 | $32.06 | $391.10 | $831.00 | Visit |
| 28 | INWX | $39.60 | $39.60 | $39.60 | $198.00 | $396.00 | Visit |
| 29 | Name.com | $39.99 | $39.99 | $39.99 | $199.95 | $399.90 | Visit |
| 30 | Internet.bs | $41.99 | $46.49 | $46.49 | $227.95 | $460.40 | Visit |
| 31 | Moniker | $41.99 | $46.49 | $46.49 | $227.95 | $460.40 | Visit |
| 32 | GoDaddy | $43.99 | $43.99 | $43.99 | $219.95 | $439.90 | Visit |
| 33 | EuroDNS | $44.17 | $44.17 | $44.17 | $220.85 | $441.70 | Visit |
| 34 | OnlyDomains | $79.99 | $85.99 | $85.99 | $423.95 | $853.90 | Visit |
Prices updated daily. Some registrars show promotional first-year prices. Always verify the final price on the registrar's website before purchasing.
The Country Code That Doubles as 'Website'
Samoa’s .ws is a textbook case of a ccTLD whose abbreviation outgrew its geography. The letters WS happen to form a natural shorthand for 'website,' and the registry has leaned into that reading. Its own website is website.ws, a self-aware pun that signals the intended market isn’t Apia but the global web. That positioning has made .ws a favorite for domain hacks — addresses where the TLD completes a word or phrase — and for URL shorteners that want a two-letter suffix with a friendly meaning. The .ws Wikipedia entry confirms that actual use inside Samoa is minimal; the country code has become an international branding tool instead. For a small island nation in Polynesia, that’s an outsized digital footprint.
How an Oceanic ccTLD Landed in the Registry Arms Race
.ws was delegated on 14 July 1995, part of the first wave of Pacific island ccTLDs that later became known for selling beyond their borders. Unlike some neighbors that stayed tightly restricted, Samoa imposed no registration limits — anyone, anywhere can register a .ws name. The lack of restrictions is a double-edged sword. It keeps the door open for creative uses, from emoji domains to brandable short links, but it also means the namespace competes with genuinely open gTLDs rather than acting as a protected local space. The registry’s own promotional language leans heavily on the 'website' hook, making .ws less of a national symbol and more of a commercial product with a Polynesian flag on it.
A Pricing Spread That Reveals the Speculative Side
.ws sits in the budget tier of the domain market, but the gap between the least and most expensive registrars is wide — [NameSilo](None) sells it for about a tenth of what the priciest outlet charges. That kind of spread is typical of ccTLDs that have been resold into the global market for years: some registrars treat .ws as a volume loss leader, others as a premium niche product. For buyers, the takeaway isn’t that .ws is cheap or expensive — it’s that the same string can be had at wildly different prices depending on where you shop. Among the 34 registrars that offer it, the price diversity reflects how thinly the registry’s wholesale pricing is policed. Savvy registrants compare renewal costs too, since a low first-year price can flip into an average or worse renewal.
UDRP and the Global Rules of a Local Domain
Because .ws is administered by a government ministry — the Samoa Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Trade — you might expect local dispute resolution. Instead, the registry has adopted the Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy (UDRP), the same international framework used by .com and other major TLDs. That choice is pragmatic. Most .ws registrants are outside Samoa, and many names are held for resale or branding. UDRP gives trademark holders a familiar path to challenge abusive registrations without navigating Samoan courts. It also signals that .ws operates on global internet standards rather than as a closed national registry. For anyone considering a .ws name, UDRP is a double-edged shield: it protects legitimate owners from cybersquatting, but it also means a trademark complaint can strip a domain you thought was yours.
Samoa’s Sibling TLDs in the Pacific Pairing
In the same Oceanian neighborhood, .ws competes with a cluster of island ccTLDs that have all outgrown their homelands. .cc (Cocos Islands) became shorthand for 'creative commons' and businesses, .tv (Tuvalu) found its niche in video and broadcasting, while .fm (Federated States of Micronesia) rode radio’s frequency modulation. .pw (Palau) later pitched itself to the professional web, and .cx (Christmas Island) has had a more muted second life. Among these, .ws is arguably the most literal: 'website' beats 'television' or 'radio' as a universal hook. That semantic clarity has kept it relevant long after the first dot-com boom. While .cc and .tv lean on audio-visual metaphors, .ws says exactly what a business wants a URL to say — and it says it in just two letters.