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.es

Introduced	14 April 1988;37 years ago (1988-04-14)
TLD type	Country code top-level domain
Status	Active
Registry	Red.es
Sponsor	Red.es
Intended use	Entities connected with Spain
Actual use	Very popular in Spain. Also, used for domain hacks in multiple languages.
Registered domains	2,134,104 (2025-07-31) [1]
Registration restrictions	None for second-level registrations after 2005 phase-in of open registration; there are restrictions on some of the specific subdomains
Structure	Registrations are taken directly at the second level or at the third level beneath various second-level subdomains
Documents	Spanish domain-related legislation
Dispute policies	Extrajuridical conflict resolution system for ".es" domain names
Registry website	dominios.es

.es is the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Spain administered by the Network Information Centre of Spain.

Contents

• Server
• Registration
• Second-level domains
• Alternatives
• Domain hacks
• References
• External links

Server

The .es domain does not have a conventional WHOIS server operating on port 43, but WHOIS queries can be made using a page on ESNIC's website.

Registration

Registrations are permitted at the second level or at the third level beneath various generic second level categories.

Some qualifications and restrictions apply to third-level registrations depending on which second-level domain they are within.

Second-level registrations have had some limitations including requiring registrants to have a connection with Spain, but these restrictions were lifted in a multi-stage process completed by the end of 2005, at which point registrations at the second level of .es were open to anybody worldwide.^{[ citation needed ]}

Until the liberalization in November 2005, registering in .es was expensive and encumbered compared to other ccTLDs.

The second-level word had to be either a trade mark valid in Spain, the exact name of the registering business or association, or the first name and at least the first surname of the registering individual.

Common words and placenames were unregisterable.

There was also a requirement of a minimum of three characters in the name, though some exceptions like hp.es (Hewlett-Packard Spain) and pp.es (People's Party) were allowed.

Second-level domains

There are a number of second-level domains:

Alternatives

As an alternative, many Spanish organizations registered under .com, .org or .net. While being generic top-level domains, organisations may also use one or more other regional variants below: ^[2]

Domain	Region	Related language	Related culture
.cat	Catalonia	Catalan	Catalan culture
.bcn	Barcelona
.eus	Basque Country	Basque	Basque culture
.gal	Galicia	Galician	Galician culture

Domain hacks

Although very popular in Spain for its intended use, .es has been used for domain hacks such as geociti.es, a website mirroring GeoCities; adspac.es, a mobile-based advertising firm; thelettervsixtim.es, for the game VVVVVV; and iTun.es for iTunes Ping URL shortening.

References

External links

• IANA .es whois information
• ESNIC website Archived 2016-10-13 at the Wayback Machine