.pro Domain Search

Search available .pro domains.

Country

United States

Pricing

$2-35/yr

Registrations

1.1M

Launched

2004

.pro by the numbers

About 65k new .pro domains are registered every month, which is 0.8% of every domain registered across all extensions, up 30% on the same months of 2025. A .pro name registered this year averages 10.5 characters, 11.5% contain a hyphen and 23% contain a digit. 99% of them are registered for a single year. Dynadot registers 35% of new .pro domains, and the five largest registrars take 71.5% between them. About 130k .pro domains come up for renewal in May 2027, the busiest month ahead.

65k

New registrations a month

Average across 2026

up 30%

Versus the same months in 2025

0.8%

Of all new domains registered

Across every extension

May 2027

Busiest renewal month ahead

About 130k come up

New .pro registrations by month
Show the monthly figures
New .pro registrations by month, January 2025 onwards
MonthNew .pro registrations
January 2025About 51k
February 2025About 46k
March 2025About 53k
April 2025About 58k
May 2025About 53k
June 2025About 49k
July 2025About 49k
August 2025About 87k
September 2025About 47k
October 2025About 49k
November 2025About 55k
December 2025About 49k
January 2026About 35k
February 2026About 61k
March 2026About 66k
April 2026About 75k
May 2026About 80k
June 2026About 71k
July 2026About 65k

What a new .pro name looks like

The typical .pro registered this year is 10.5 characters long.

Contains a hyphen11.5%
Contains a digit23%
Four characters or fewer4%

How long people register for

One year99%
Two years0.5%
Three years or more0.5%

Where they get registered

Dynadot35%
Namecheap20.5%
Spaceship6%

The five largest registrars take 71.5% of new .pro registrations between them.

What happens to them

Parked or listed for sale7.5%
Using Cloudflare DNS34.5%
Suspended by the registrar0.1%

Measured across 2025.

Estimates rounded from our own WHOIS observations. Last measured September 2026.

Why choose .pro?

Says you do this for a living, without needing to spell it out.

Twenty years old, so it predates and outlasts most alternative extensions.

Good availability for occupation and service names.

No credential check since 2015, despite the professional association.

Priced in the mid range, so first year and renewal stay close together.

Supports DNSSEC through most registrars for added DNS integrity protection.

History

.pro was approved by ICANN in 2002 and launched in 2004 as a credential-checked extension: you had to be a licensed lawyer, doctor or accountant to register one, and names were issued under third-level labels such as law.pro and med.pro. Afilias bought the registry from RegistryPro in 2012 and the professional restrictions were dropped entirely in November 2015, after which registrations climbed steeply. Identity Digital runs it today.

Timeline

2002
ICANN approves .pro as a restricted extension for licensed professionals.
2004
Launch, with registration limited to credentialed lawyers, doctors and accountants.
Jan 2012
Afilias acquires RegistryPro and takes over operation of .pro.
Nov 2015
All professional restrictions are lifted and .pro opens to anyone.
2022
Afilias and Donuts merge under the Identity Digital brand.

Usage and applications

.pro still reads as a credential even though it stopped being one in 2015: consultants, tradespeople, coaches, agencies and freelancers use it to say they do this for a living. The old third-level structure left traces: the oldest .pro registration in our records is pwc.med.pro from 2003, a name shaped by rules that no longer exist. Today the extension registers like any other open one, with about a quarter of new names carrying a digit.

First registered .pro domain

pwc.med.pro

2003

The oldest .pro registration in our WHOIS records, dated 16 May 2003, a third-level name under med.pro, from the years when only credentialed professionals could register and names were issued beneath a profession label.

Registration

Registration period1 to 10 years
Renewal period1 to 10 years
Transfer lock60 days
WHOIS privacyAvailable through most registrars

Requirements

Open to anyone worldwide since 2015; no professional credentials are checked

Registry

Identity Digital (formerly Afilias, originally RegistryPro)

Key milestones

2002-05
ICANN
Approval of .pro as a restricted professional extension.
2004-06
RegistryPro
Launch, limited to credentialed professionals.
2012-01
Afilias
Acquisition of RegistryPro and the .pro registry.
2015-11-15
Afilias
All professional restrictions removed; .pro opens to everyone.

Do I need professional credentials to register a .pro domain?

Not since 15 November 2015. Before that you had to prove you were a licensed lawyer, doctor or accountant; today nothing is checked and anyone can register.

Why do some old .pro domains have three levels, like law.pro?

Because the original rules issued names beneath a profession label, a lawyer got something.law.pro rather than something.pro. The oldest .pro name in our records, pwc.med.pro from 2003, is shaped by exactly that rule.

Does .pro still signal professional credentials?

It reads that way to most people, which is the useful part, but it no longer guarantees anything. Treat it as positioning rather than as proof, and do not imply the extension verifies you.

Who runs the .pro registry?

Identity Digital. RegistryPro launched it, Afilias bought the registry in 2012, and Afilias merged into Identity Digital in 2022.

Is .pro good for a freelancer or consultant?

It is one of the better fits. The extension does the work of saying this is a profession rather than a hobby, and availability for occupation words is far better than in .com.

What happened to registrations after the restrictions were lifted?

They climbed quickly. The extension added tens of thousands of names within months of opening in late 2015, having been stuck near 120,000 under the credential rules.

How much does .pro cost?

Typically a few dollars to register and somewhere in the teens to thirties to renew, depending on the registrar. It sits in the mid range rather than the promotional tier.

Is .pro used for bulk or spam registration?

Less than most extensions of its size. About a quarter of new .pro names carry a digit, which is middling, well clear of the extensions where most names are machine-generated.

Can I register a .pro domain outside the United States?

Yes. There is no residency or nationality requirement, and there has not been one since the professional restrictions were dropped.

Should I pick .pro or .expert or .consulting?

.pro is shorter than all of them and considerably older, which means more people have seen it. The longer alternatives say more precisely what you do, at the cost of a longer address.