.ws Domain Registration India
.ws is the country-code top-level domain for Samoa, marketed worldwide as standing for 'website' or 'world site'. Anyone in India can register it with no Samoan presence; WebJi® lists ₹2,700 for the first year and ₹3,267 at renewal, before 18% GST.
What Samoa's two-letter code actually is, what it costs in India, and when the .ws tail beats a plain default extension.
INR billing
- Registration
- ₹2,700/yr
- Renewal
- ₹3,267/yr
- Term
- 1–10 yrs
- Billing
- INR + GST
Live check across 297 extensions on our billing system — registration, renewal and transfer prices are shown before you pay.
Last editorial update: 15 November 2026.
What is the .ws domain?
.ws is the country-code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Samoa — the letters come from "Western Samoa", the nation's name when two-letter codes were fixed — and it is sponsored by Samoa's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. IANA's record shows Computer Services Ltd of Apia handling registry administration and Global Domains International of Carlsbad, California, as technical operator, with the registry trading publicly as website.ws.
That branding matters more than the geography: the registry has always sold the string as "ws" for "website" or "world site" rather than as a national address, which is why the zone fills with wordplay names instead of Samoan businesses. WebJi®'s page records the code as live since 14 July 1995; IANA's current entry shows no delegation date, only a May 2021 update.
| Attribute | Value |
|---|---|
| Type | Country-code TLD for Samoa, marketed as "website" |
| Sponsoring organisation | Government of Samoa, Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Trade, Apia |
| Registry operations | Computer Services Ltd (admin), Global Domains International (technical), website.ws |
| Live since | 14 July 1995 (page records; IANA lists no date) |
| DNSSEC | Signed — secure delegation |
| WHOIS | whois.website.ws |
Why buyers pick .ws: the tail that finishes a word
The extension's real product is the domain hack — names where "ws" supplies the last letters of an English word, producing short, memorable addresses. News pages, review sites and community forums have used the trick for years because a hacked name is shorter than any suffixed alternative.
| Word you want | The .ws spelling | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| news | ne.ws | News digest or city briefing |
| views | vie.ws | Opinion, reviews, commentary |
| laws | la.ws | Legal explainers and case notes |
| paws | pa.ws | Pet care and animal content |
| your brand | yourbrand.ws | Plain "website" reading, no hack |
Single-word hacks are scarce and some sit with existing owners, so treat the table as a pattern to check in the search box rather than a stock list.
How much does a .ws domain cost at WebJi®?
Standard .ws names — four characters and longer — list at ₹2,700 to register and ₹3,267 to renew, before 18% GST, on the WebJi® billing read of 4 November 2026. The registry tiers its pricing by length, so one-, two- and three-character labels carry progressively higher registry prices, quoted before payment like any premium name.
| Plan | Registration | Renewal years | Budget total |
|---|---|---|---|
| One year | ₹2,700 | none | ₹2,700 |
| Three years | ₹2,700 | 2 × ₹3,267 | ₹9,234 |
| Five years | ₹2,700 | 4 × ₹3,267 | ₹15,768 |
A scenario totals the first year plus renewal years; it is not a prepaid multi-year package. GST on year one is ₹486.00, making that invoice ₹3,186.00. Short-label premiums raise every figure; checkout confirms current charges.
.ws against .website, .xyz and .club
Choose .ws for the hack or the short two-letter tail; choose .website, .xyz or .club when you want a descriptive suffix at similar money without the country-code fine print. Google treats .ws as a generic TLD for search rather than aiming it at Samoa, so a .ws site is not geo-pushed the way many country codes are — a point the search giant documents in its ccTLD list.
| Extension | Registration (₹/yr) | Renewal (₹/yr) | Best use |
|---|---|---|---|
| .ws | ₹2,700 | ₹3,267 | Word-hack names, short two-letter tail |
| .website | ₹2,861 | ₹3,037 | Says "website" outright, no geography |
| .xyz | ₹1,754 | ₹1,957 | Cheap, widely recognised default |
| .club | ₹2,051 | ₹2,429 | Communities and memberships |
Who can register .ws, and what rules apply?
Registration is open to anyone in India or elsewhere: the second level carries no residency test, no company registration and no document check. Only the reserved labels org.ws, gov.ws and edu.ws are limited, to qualifying Samoan organisations, and disputes run under the standard UDRP.
- Residency: none needed — Indian registrants use Indian contact details as normal.
- Length pricing: 4+ characters at standard rates; 1–3 characters at registry premium tiers.
- Scripts: internationalised labels are accepted, and the registry has taken emoji labels since 2016 — page records cite roughly 25,000 registered by 2018.
- Transfers: inbound moves use an auth code; WebJi® bills a .ws transfer at ₹2,700.
- Escrow of risk: as a ccTLD it sits outside the ICANN 60-day transfer rule, though registry-side locks still apply after registration or a move.
Quirks of the .ws zone worth knowing before you buy
Two historical oddities shape today's .ws market: the zone once blocked registrar transfers entirely, and it now welcomes labels most registries refuse. Registrar transfers only became possible from 14 March 2008 per the page's records — relevant if you are consolidating an aged portfolio — and the emoji acceptance makes .ws one of the few zones where those names exist at all.
None of this changes daily use. A .ws name propagates, resolves and mails like any other domain once nameservers and records are set. Sites fit on shared hosting from ₹299 a month, a hello@yourbrand.ws address runs on business email hosting, and the domain renewal guide and domain transfer pages cover the lifecycle questions that follow.
Frequently asked questions
Is .ws Samoa's domain or a website extension?
Both, honestly: .ws is Samoa's country code under a sponsorship arrangement with the Government of Samoa, while the registry markets it worldwide as "website". Functionally it behaves like an open, global namespace with no Samoan residency rule.
Do I need to live in Samoa to register a .ws domain from India?
No. Second-level .ws registration is open worldwide and no documents or local presence are collected. Only org.ws, gov.ws and edu.ws carry restrictions, for qualifying organisations.
Why do one- and two-character .ws names cost more?
The registry prices by label length: four characters and above get the standard rate you see here, while 1–3 character names sit in premium tiers. The exact figure appears before payment, and short names renew at the premium rate too.
Can I register an emoji .ws domain?
The registry has accepted emoji labels since 2016. They are technically possible but practically limited — many browsers, email systems and print contexts mishandle them — so a standard Latin label is the safer brand choice.
What does three years of .ws cost?
₹9,234 before GST for a standard-length name: ₹2,700 registration plus two renewal years at ₹3,267. Budget it as a scenario, not a prepaid plan; checkout confirms current charges.
Will a .ws site rank in Google India?
Google classifies .ws among the country codes it treats as generic, so the domain is not geographically tied to Samoa in search. Rankings still depend on content, links and site quality, as with any extension.
Registry facts checked against the IANA root zone database on 15 November 2026. Prices follow the dated sources on this page; checkout confirms current charges.
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