How to Claim Your Free .co.ke Domain With a Yearly Business, Corporate or Enterprise Plan

Which plans include a free .co.ke?

Plan	Yearly price	Free .co.ke
Starter	KES 1,699/year	❌ — register separately from KES 1,199/year
Business	KES 3,999/year	✅
Corporate	KES 5,999/year	✅
Enterprise	KES 7,999/year	✅
Monthly plans (from KES 169/month)	Monthly	❌ — register separately from KES 1,199/year
Free plan	KES 0	❌

Prices exclude 16% VAT. The free domain must be ordered together with a yearly Business, Corporate or Enterprise plan.

Step 1: Pick a good .co.ke name

Before ordering, spend two minutes on the name — it goes on your business cards, signboards and email for years.

• Short and easy to spell over the phone. mamambogafarm.co.ke beats mama-mboga-fresh-farm-produce.co.ke.
• Avoid numbers and hyphens unless they are part of your brand.
• Match your registered business name where possible — customers search for it.
• If your name is taken, try adding your town or trade: yourbusiness-nairobi.co.ke, yourbusinessltd.co.ke, yourbusinessagencies.co.ke.

Step 2: Choose a yearly plan

On Shared Hosting, make sure Yearly is selected and click Select on your plan. (Not sure which? Use the Help me choose quiz on the plans page.)

Step 3: Search for and claim the domain

On the domain step of the order, choose Register a new domain, type your name, keep .co.ke selected and click Check.

• Available — click Add to cart. The domain line shows KES 0.00 — Free with hosting.
• Taken — pick one of the suggestions or try another name.

Step 4: Review the cart

The order summary should show:

If the domain is charged, check that the hosting is Business, Corporate or Enterprise on Annually — Starter and monthly billing do not include the free domain.

Step 5: Enter registrant details and pay

KeNIC, the .ke registry, requires accurate owner (registrant) details: full name or company name, a working email, a Kenyan phone number and a physical/postal address. Use the business owner’s details, not your web designer’s — the registrant is the legal owner of the domain.

Pay with M-Pesa (STK prompt on your phone), card or another listed method. See Pay your invoice with M-Pesa.

Step 6: Wait a few minutes — everything is connected for you

After payment:

1. The domain is registered with KeNIC (usually within 15 minutes).
2. Your hosting account is created with the domain already attached.
3. Nameservers are set to ns1.asushost.cam and ns2.asushost.cam automatically.
4. Free SSL is issued within about an hour.

You receive the New Account Information and domain registration emails. Log in to cPanel and start building — see How to log into cPanel.

Keeping the domain after year one

The domain is included free for the first year with your yearly plan. Before it expires you receive renewal reminders by email and WhatsApp. To avoid any risk of losing it:

• Turn on Auto Renew for the domain in Domains → My Domains → Manage.
• Keep a payment method saved — see Add a payment method.
• Keep your contact email current so reminders reach you.

Details: Renew your domain before it expires.

Troubleshooting

Problem	Cause	Fix
Domain shows a price instead of FREE	Monthly billing selected, or domain added separately	Change hosting to Annually and add the domain on the plan’s domain step
“Domain unavailable”	Already registered by someone else	Try variations; check whois to see when it expires
Registration pending more than 24 hours	Registrant details incomplete	Check your email for a request from us; complete details in Domains → My Domains → Contact Information
Site shows our default page	Nothing uploaded yet	Upload your website or install WordPress

Frequently asked questions

Who owns the free domain?
You do — the registrant named at checkout. You can transfer it to another registrar later if you choose.

Can I choose a .com instead?
The free domain offer applies to .co.ke. Other extensions can be added at their normal price — see Domain Pricing.

I already registered my .co.ke elsewhere. Can I still use the plan?
Yes — choose I will use my existing domain and point it to us. Or transfer it to AutoHost to manage everything in one place.