get.gov

What It Is

get.gov is the official registry and registrar portal for the U.S. .gov domain, operated by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). It manages the authoritative registration records for the .gov top-level domain, handles applications, verifies applicant identity and eligibility, and ensures that .gov domains resolve across the global DNS. This is not a standard commercial domain registrar; its core purpose is to make it easier for the public to identify official websites of U.S. government organizations.

Core Capabilities and Rules

get.gov supports only the .gov TLD and is intended for U.S. government organizations at all levels, including federal agencies, states and territories, tribal governments, counties, cities, special districts, school districts, interstate organizations, and more. During the application process, get.gov reviews whether the domain is available, whether it is clearly associated with the organization’s name, location, or services, and whether it could mislead the public. Naming rules are quite strict: most local government domains must include a state abbreviation or state name, and domains with fewer than 6 characters, overly generic names, acronyms only, confusing names, or multiple variant registrations for the same organization are generally not approved.

Pricing and Additional Services

The source text clearly states that .gov domains are free, which is a major advantage. The page does not disclose information about renewals, inbound or outbound transfers, or paid add-on services. get.gov provides domain applications, naming guidance, domain management support, contact and DNS settings editing, and publishes a daily updated dataset of all .gov domains as well as the .gov zone file. On the security side, all registration management accounts use multi-factor authentication, and new domains are added to HTTPS preloading. However, it explicitly does not provide DNS hosting, website hosting, or email hosting, so organizations still need to configure their own DNS, website, and email infrastructure.

Pros, Cons, and Best Fit

The advantages are that it is official, authoritative, free, and highly trusted, with strict eligibility verification and naming rules that help maintain public confidence in the .gov namespace. Its public data and zone file also support transparency and security research. The downsides are its extremely narrow scope: it is limited to eligible U.S. government organizations; the application review threshold is high; naming flexibility is limited; and it lacks the DNS hosting, email, website-building, and privacy protection services commonly offered by commercial registrars. It is best suited for U.S. government agencies that need to establish or migrate an official online identity, especially local governments and election offices.

Access from China and Alternatives

The crawled text does not provide information about access from mainland China, network connectivity, or payments, so its accessibility from China is unknown. Because .gov domains can only be requested and registered through the .gov registrar, ordinary commercial registrars are not substitutes for .gov registration. If you only need to look up U.S. government information, you can visit USA.gov.