go.eco

What It Is

.eco is a community-based top-level domain operated by Big Room Inc in Vancouver, Canada. It is aimed at businesses, non-profits, governments, and individuals committed to advancing a sustainable future. It is not a standard open domain extension: registrants are required to sign the .eco pledge and create a .eco profile disclosing the environmental actions they are taking. The official site emphasizes that .eco receives policy input from more than 50 environmental non-profits and intergovernmental organizations, positioning it as an online identity for the global environmental movement.

Core Features and Registration Process

The .eco official website does not sell domains directly; instead, it provides domain search and directs users to retailers. The process involves searching for a domain, purchasing it through a preferred retailer, signing the pledge and creating a profile, then configuring and launching the website. After registration, users receive a .eco domain, community membership, a .eco profile for showcasing environmental actions, and a .eco trustmark that can be displayed on their website. It works with website builders such as Squarespace, Shopify, Wix, and Weebly, and can also be used for Google Workspace email. DNSSEC can be enabled as well, depending on whether the registrar or DNS provider supports it.

Pricing and Limitations

The official site states that .eco typically costs US$60-125/year, with the exact price determined by each retailer. It does not separately specify renewal, transfer-in, or transfer-out fees. Compared with common extensions such as .com and .org, .eco is noticeably more expensive, but it includes community identity, a profile, and an environmental transparency mechanism. Note that .eco currently does not support internationalized domain names; names can only contain non-accented A-Z characters, numbers, or hyphens.

Pros and Cons

Its main strength is its extremely clear positioning, making it suitable for environmental, low-carbon, and sustainable brands seeking to build a credible identity. The profile and pledge help reduce concerns about “greenwashing” and improve public transparency. The registry also emphasizes that it is carbon neutral. The downsides are that the purchase path depends on third-party retailers, so pricing and bundled services vary significantly; activating the profile after registration is more complex than with ordinary domains; and if a project is not strongly connected to environmental issues, using .eco may create additional compliance and brand-explanation pressure.

Who It’s For and Access from China

.eco is best suited to environmental NGOs, ESG projects, sustainable consumer brands, low-carbon buildings, green packaging, nature conservation, and environmental technology projects. The main content does not disclose access conditions from China, nor does it specify payment methods. Actual purchasing depends on whether the selected registrar supports access from Chinese networks and payment options such as RMB or international credit cards. If general usability and cost are the priority, .com or .org may be better choices; if a green theme remains important, alternative extensions such as .green and .earth are also worth comparing.