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Which Country Is the .si Domain?

.si is the country-code top-level domain (ccTLD) of Slovenia.

What country is .si?

.si belongs to Slovenia, the Central European country whose capital is Ljubljana. IANA, the body that keeps the internet's root zone database, lists .si as a "country-code top-level domain" and names the Academic and Research Network of Slovenia (ARNES), in Ljubljana, as its manager (IANA).

Line drawing of Ljubljana, Slovenia's capital: the river with its bridges and old town, Ljubljana Castle on the hill, and the .si domain name above, with a red dot marking Ljubljana
Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, the country .si belongs to.

IANA sorts top-level domains into types: generic ones such as .com, and country-code ones such as .uk, .de and .si. A country-code domain is tied to one country.

IANA's record gives .si a registration date of 1 April 1992, so Slovenia's domain is more than 34 years old.

Who manages the .si domain?

The .si registry is Register.si, which operates within ARNES. ARNES is a Slovenian public institution (General terms, Article 2.6). As the registry, it:

  • runs the top-level DNS servers for .si,
  • keeps the register of .si names and runs the public WHOIS and RDAP lookups,
  • sets the rules for every .si name, published as its General terms and conditions,
  • has an out-of-court dispute procedure (ARDS) for .si names.

Register.si doesn't sell names to the public. You register a .si through an accredited registrar, which deals with the registry for you (Article 2.8). Register.si publishes the list of accredited registrars.

Can you register .si if you're not in Slovenia?

Yes. The general terms define a domain holder as "a natural or legal person who registers a domain name" (Article 2.7). They set no condition about nationality or residence, and you don't need a Slovenian company.

What does apply to everyone:

  • Name rules. A name has 2 to 63 characters: letters, numbers and hyphens, plus the Slovene letters č, š and ž and other accented Latin letters. It can't start or end with a hyphen (Articles 4.1 to 4.4).
  • Reserved names. 112.si, 113.si, si.si and rs.si can't be registered (Article 4.5).
  • Honest use. You must register in good faith and for lawful purposes, without breaching anyone else's rights, the law, public order or morals. Your details must be accurate, with a working email address that only you can access. If you break these rules, the registry can refuse the name or delete it (Articles 8.1 and 8.2).
  • Slovenian law. The general terms, and any dispute with the registry, fall under Slovenian law, and the courts in Ljubljana have jurisdiction (Article 15). In the dispute procedure, a complaint has to rest on rights recognised in Slovenia, such as a trademark that's valid there (Article 18.2.1).

Prices, registrars and the steps to register are in our guide on how to buy a .si domain.

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Why people use .si outside Slovenia

Outside Slovenia, people often choose .si for reasons that have nothing to do with the country:

  • Brand hacks. If a name ends in the letters "si", the domain ending can finish it. A brand called Lumasi could use luma.si, for example. This is often called a domain hack.
  • Words ending in "si". The same trick works for words and names in any language that end in "-si".
  • Short names. The ending is only two letters, and .si allows names as short as two characters (Article 4.1), so the whole address can be very short.
  • "SI" and "sí". Since September 2026, the US government uses "SI" for super intelligence instead of "AI", which made .si popular with AI founders. Our post SI now means Super Intelligence has that story. Si is also the chemical symbol for silicon, and "sí" (Spanish) or "sì" (Italian) means "yes".

.si vs .com: does a country domain hurt SEO?

Google's guide to multi-regional sites says a country-code domain gives users and search engines a strong signal that a site is meant for that country. Generic domains such as .com aren't associated with any location.

Google makes an exception for a short list of country codes that people treat as generic: .ad, .ai, .as, .bz, .cc, .cd, .co, .dj, .fm, .io, .la, .me, .ms, .nu, .sc, .sr, .su, .tv, .tk and .ws. .si is not on that list. We checked on 6 October 2026; Google says the list may change.

What that means in practice:

  • To Google, .si points to Slovenia. That helps if your visitors are in Slovenia.
  • For a global audience, it's one signal among several. Google also looks at hreflang tags, the language and currency on your pages, local addresses and phone numbers, links from local sites, and where your server is.
  • .com has no country signal. A generic domain doesn't point Google to any one country.

FAQ

Is .si a Slovenian domain?

Yes. .si is Slovenia's country-code domain. Its registry, Register.si, operates within ARNES in Ljubljana.

Who owns the .si domain extension?

IANA lists the Academic and Research Network of Slovenia (ARNES), a Slovenian public institution, as the manager of .si. When you register a name, you get the exclusive right to use it for the period you've registered, and you can renew or transfer it (Article 3.3).

When was .si created?

IANA's root zone database gives .si a registration date of 1 April 1992.

Which country's law applies to a .si domain?

Slovenia's. Register.si's general terms fall under Slovenian law, and the courts in Ljubljana decide disputes with the registry. That applies wherever the domain holder lives.

Will Google treat a .si website as Slovenian?

It may. Google treats country-code domains as a signal that a site targets that country, and .si isn't on its list of country codes treated as generic. Google also uses other signals, such as hreflang tags and the language of your pages.

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