How to Register a Domain Name, the Guide for .gr, .ελ and .com

How to register a domain name? You check that the name you want is available, choose an extension, fill in the owner's details and pay through a registrar, and for most .gr domains registration completes immediately. If you are thinking of starting a business online, the domain is the first step. The process may seem complicated at first, but in practice it is simple.

Konet has been an accredited .gr and .ελ registrar licensed by EETT, the Greek telecoms regulator, since 2004, and has worked with domains and web hosting since 1999. In this guide we explain step by step how to choose and register your domain. If you first want to see what exactly it is, start with what is a domain name.

Who owns the domain name you register

The domain name you register is yours for as long as the registration lasts, which is why people compare it to buying property. As long as the registration runs and you renew it, it is exclusively yours and nobody else can use it. Only when it expires and is not renewed does it become available to everyone again, as we explain in our article on domain expiration.

That is why a domain should always be registered in the name of the business or its owner, and not in the name of whoever builds the website.

What a domain registrar is and who registers .gr domains

A domain registrar for .gr is a company licensed by EETT to register and renew .gr and .ελ domains at the .gr Registry. The process has three levels. At the top are the authorities that issue the names of each extension, where for .gr the policy is set by EETT and the Registry is operated by FORTH. In the middle are the registrars, and at the end the users who register the domains.

These authorities do not register or renew names directly, because the volume is huge. So they allow companies to act as registrars and make the process simple for the end user. For international extensions the rules differ. For some, anyone who pays the relevant fee can become a registrar, while for others the registrar must be a company or resident of the country.

Konet connects directly to the .gr Registry (EETT Registry No. 15-069), so every registration and change happens with no intermediary.

Domain availability check

A domain availability check is the first thing you do, because once a name is registered it is not available to anyone else. You do not check by typing the name into a browser, since a domain can be registered without having a website. You check through a registrar's search, which checks directly whether the name is free, and for .gr asks the Registry in real time.

At Konet you type the name you want into the domain registration search and see immediately whether it is available, registered or restricted. If the .gr is taken, you can look at .com.gr or .ελ. If you target an audience in another country or internationally, there are country extensions and generic extensions such as .com.

.gr or .com, which extension to choose

Whether you choose .gr or .com depends on the audience you want to reach, because technically no extension is better than another. Every domain has two parts, the name and the extension, and the extension shows which audience you address. For a Greek audience you choose .gr, for Armenia .am and so on, while for an international audience usually .com.

The name can be in Latin characters or in the language of the extension. For Greek characters there is .ελ, which is written only in Greek, and Greek and Latin characters cannot be mixed in the same domain. You will find all Greek extensions and their rules in .gr domain registration in 4 steps.

Whichever extension you choose, keep the name short, easy to spell and easy to say on the phone. Hyphens are allowed and are the only symbol permitted, but they make the domain harder for visitors to remember.

How to register a domain name in 4 steps

How to register a domain name in practice comes down to four steps, almost the same for every extension:

1. Search. You search for the name and add it to the cart.
2. Period. You choose how many years to register it for. .gr and .ελ domains are registered in 2-year periods, up to 10 years in total.
3. Owner details. You fill in the details of the domain owner and the Registry contacts.
4. Payment. Once payment is confirmed, the request goes to the Registry automatically.

Most .gr domains are activated immediately, while some, such as 2-character premium domains and geographic names, need EETT approval. In every case you are notified by email when it completes. If you want to register a domain on behalf of a client, see how to buy a domain name with different owner details.

How much does a domain name cost

How much a domain name costs depends mainly on the extension and on the registrar, which sets its own prices, packages, renewals and charges. For common extensions prices are close between registrars, but always look at the renewal price and not only the first-year price, and check for hidden charges.

At Konet a .gr costs €20 for 2 years excluding VAT, with the same price on renewal, while a .ελ costs €12.50 for 2 years. A .com costs €15 per year and from 31/10/2026 increases by €1, as we explain in the .com domain price adjustment. You will find prices for every extension in our domain price list, which also includes discounts based on the number of domains you hold.

Buying a domain with email and hosting

Buying a domain with email is the usual combination, because the first thing most people want after registration is an address such as info@yourbusiness.gr. But a domain is not only for a website and email, as it can "host" many different services.

• Company or personal website. The internet gives you far more reach than a physical shop or an advert. To put the website online you need a domain and web hosting, meaning a server where its files are stored.
• Online shop. With a domain you can build an online shop that sells across Greece and abroad.
• Backup. You can connect the domain to cloud storage for backups of your files.
• Software. If you develop software or want an online ERP or CRM, you can install it on a subdomain of your domain.
• VPS. A private server with full access just for you, which connected to the domain can serve a website, storage or a VPN at the same time. See our VPS Hosting plans.

If you want your domain and hosting in one place, we explain when it pays off to keep your domain and hosting with one provider. And when you are ready, start with domain registration at konet.gr.