Register a .cn Domain
.cn is the country-code extension of China. Check availability below, then register it in a few minutes — from USD 20.99 for the first year.
.cn domain prices
Every DomainNameAPI account starts on the Reseller tier. Premium and Platinum unlock automatically as your volume grows — the same domain, a lower unit price. Prices are per year and shown in USD.
Reseller
- USD 22.99Registration
- USD 22.99Renewal
- USD 22.99Transfer
- USD 192.00Restore
Premium
- USD 21.99Registration
- USD 21.99Renewal
- USD 21.99Transfer
- USD 192.00Restore
Platinum
- USD 20.99Registration
- USD 20.99Renewal
- USD 20.99Transfer
- USD 192.00Restore
What is a .cn domain?
.cn is the country-code top-level domain (ccTLD) assigned to China. Country extensions carry a signal that generic ones cannot buy: a visitor in China reads .cn as "this business is here". Search engines treat it the same way, which is why a .cn address usually outranks a generic one for local queries.
The .cn registry is operated by China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC). The extension has been in the root zone since 1990 — a long record by the standards of the domain name system, and one reason registrars and hosting companies treat it as a safe default.
DomainNameAPI is an ICANN-accredited registrar. Registration, renewal, transfer and DNS for .cn all run from a single panel — and from a single API, if you would rather automate them.
A .cn name can be 2 to 63 characters long. You can register it for 1 to 5 years up front — paying for several years at once is the simplest protection against an expiry you forget.
.cn at a glance
These are the registry's own rules for .cn, as our systems read them. They decide what you can and cannot do with the name once it is yours.
Name and term
- Extension
- .cn
- Country
- China
- Shortest name
- 2 characters
- Longest name
- 63 characters
- Registration term
- 1,2,3,4,5 years
- Renewal term
- 1,2,3,4 years
- In the root zone since
- 1990
What you can do with it
- Name servers
- 1–10
- Non-Latin characters (IDN)
- Supported
- DNSSEC
- Supported
- Transfer to us
- Supported
- Paperwork
- Documents required
- Grace period after expiry
- 15 days
How to register a .cn domain
This extension asks for supporting documents, so there is one extra step and a short review before the name goes live.
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Search the name
Type the name you want into the box above. We query the registry live, so the answer is the registry's, not a cached guess.
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Pick your term
Choose anything from 1 to 5 years. Longer terms cost less per year and remove the yearly renewal risk.
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Send your documents
Upload the documents the registry asks for. We forward them and track the review for you; you get a message the moment it clears.
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Point it somewhere
Set your name servers, or use ours and manage A, CNAME, MX and TXT records from the panel. Changes reach the registry immediately.
What happens when a .cn domain expires
Most people meet these rules for the first time on the day they matter. Here is the whole sequence for .cn, with the numbers this registry actually uses.
- Renewal window Up to the expiry date you can renew at the normal price — 20.99 USD per year. Nothing changes for visitors; the site stays up.
- The name stops working On expiry the registry pulls .cn out of the zone. The website and every email address on it go dark the same day. This is the moment most owners notice.
- Redemption — 15 days For 15 days the name is still yours, but recovering it costs 192.00 USD instead of the renewal price. Nobody else can take it during this window.
- Deletion After the redemption window the registry releases the name and anyone can register it. There is no appeal at this point — the only route back is to buy it from whoever takes it.
None of this has to happen. Auto-renew and expiry reminders are on by default in every DomainNameAPI account, and the API exposes expiry dates so you can wire them into your own alerts.
Moving a .cn domain to DomainNameAPI
Transfers are supported for .cn and cost 20.99 USD. In almost every registry a transfer also extends the registration by a year, so you are paying for time, not just for moving.
What you need from your current registrar: the domain unlocked, an authorisation code (EPP code), and a registrant email address you can actually read — that is where the approval request lands.
.cn domains — the questions we actually get
Registration starts at 20.99 USD per year on the Reseller tier and drops to 20.99 USD on Platinum. Renewal is 20.99 USD. Prices are per year and exclude local taxes, and there is no separate setup fee.
Because registries price the two separately, and registrars often discount the first year to win the sale. We publish both numbers on this page for exactly that reason: the figure that decides what a domain costs you over five years is the renewal one, not the headline.
From 1 to 5 years, in whole years — the registry accepts 1,2,3,4,5. Renewals follow the same terms.
Yes. This registry asks for supporting documents before it will activate a .cn name. Send them with the order and we handle the submission; the domain goes live once the registry clears them.
Yes, for 20.99 USD. Unlock the domain at your current registrar, get the EPP authorisation code, and make sure you can read the registrant email address. Everything after that is on our side.
Not if the name servers stay the same. A transfer moves who bills and manages the domain, not where it points. Keep your existing name servers through the move and change them afterwards, once the transfer has settled.
Yes. .cn supports internationalised domain names, so accented letters and non-Latin scripts are allowed. The name is stored in its Punycode form (the xn-- prefix you sometimes see) and browsers display it correctly.
Yes. The .cn zone is signed, so you can publish DS records and have resolvers verify that the answers for your domain have not been tampered with on the way. Turning it on is a one-time step in the panel.
Between 2 and 63 characters, not counting the .cn part. Letters, digits and hyphens are allowed, and a name cannot begin or end with a hyphen.
.cn accepts 1 to 10 name servers. Two is the practical minimum: if the only one you have goes down, the domain stops resolving everywhere at once.
For 15 days after expiry, yes: restoring a .cn name costs 192.00 USD. After that window the registry deletes it and anyone can register it. Move quickly, because the fee does not come down and the deadline does not move.
A country extension is a geographic signal: search engines read .cn as content aimed at China, which helps for searches made there and does nothing for searches elsewhere. Beyond that geographic hint the extension is not a ranking factor. Content and links are.
That is what DomainNameAPI is built for. Search, registration, renewal, transfer and DNS are all exposed over an API, with ready integrations for WHMCS, WiseCP, HostBill, Blesta and ClientExec. The reseller price on this page is what you pay; what you charge your customer is yours to set.
Where to go next
- Every extension we carryCompare .cn against the rest, with live prices for each.
- The full price listRegistration, renewal, transfer and restore for every extension, on one page.
- Whois lookupSee who holds a .cn name, when it expires and where it points.
- Domain Name SearchCheck many names across many extensions in a single query.
- Knowledge baseDNS records, transfers, EPP codes and the rest, explained step by step.
- Ask us directlyA question this page did not answer? Our team replies in your language.
