How to register a .cr domain: a step-by-step guide for Costa Rican businesses

Your domain is your address on the internet — and for a company that does business in Costa Rica, a .cr domain tells customers immediately that you are local. Here is how .cr domains work and how to get yours.

Who manages .cr domains

The .cr extension is Costa Rica's country-code top-level domain. It is administered by NIC Costa Rica, which operates under the Academia Nacional de Ciencias. Registrations are made through NIC Costa Rica directly or through a provider that manages the process for you.

Which extension should you choose?

• .cr — the short, direct option: yourcompany.cr. A good choice for most businesses and brands.
• .co.cr — the traditional extension for commercial organizations, still widely used.
• Other second-level extensions — such as .fi.cr, .or.cr, .ac.cr, .go.cr, .ed.cr or .sa.cr — are meant for specific kinds of organizations, and some of them are reserved for institutions that must prove they qualify.

Many companies register both yourcompany.cr and yourcompany.co.cr, and often the .com too, then point them all to the same website. It protects the brand and avoids confusion.

Step by step

1. Check availability. Use our domain search to see whether the name is free in .cr, .co.cr, .com and other extensions.
2. Choose the registration period. Domains are registered for a number of years. Longer periods mean fewer renewals to forget.
3. Provide the holder's details. Register the domain in the company's name, with an email address the company controls — not a former employee's personal account.
4. Set the DNS. Point the domain to your website, email and other services.
5. Turn on renewal reminders or auto-renew. An expired domain takes your website and your email down with it.

After you register: three things to set up

1. Website and SSL certificate

Every website needs HTTPS. Browsers mark sites without an SSL certificate as "not secure", and search engines rank them lower. Install a certificate as soon as the site goes live and renew it before it expires.

2. Professional email

An address like name@yourcompany.cr builds trust that a free email account can't. Configure SPF, DKIM and DMARC records in your DNS so your emails reach inboxes instead of spam folders.

3. Security of the domain itself

Protect the account where the domain is managed with a strong password and two-step verification, and keep the contact details up to date. Losing control of a domain is one of the most disruptive things that can happen to a business online.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Registering the domain in the name of the web designer or an employee.
• Letting the renewal email go to an inbox nobody reads.
• Forgetting the SSL certificate renewal.
• Not registering obvious variations of the brand.

We register .cr, .co.cr, .com and other extensions, and we can host the website, the SSL certificate and the email in our Tier III data center in San José — all with one provider and one invoice.