How to Register a .pk Domain: A Step-by-Step Guide

Short answer: search for the name, register it with your own (or your business's) details as the registrant, pay for the full two-year term, and wait for the registry to confirm it before you rely on it. Then point it at your hosting with nameservers or DNS records.

A .pk domain is managed by PKNIC, the registry for Pakistan's country-code domain. You buy it through a provider such as SAFI, but the registry has the final say on when the name is registered and in whose name.

Before you start

• Pick two or three names. Short, easy to spell over the phone, and without hyphens if you can avoid them. Check each in both .pk and .com.pk.
• Decide who the registrant is. The registrant is the legal owner of the domain. For a business domain, use the business; for a personal site, use yourself. Do not let a web designer register it in their own name.
• Have your details ready. Use the name, address, email and phone number exactly as they appear on your CNIC or business documents. The registry may ask for documents.
• Budget for two years. .pk and .com.pk are registered for two years at a time, so you pay for both years upfront.

Step by step

1. Check availability. Search the name on the domain search. If it is taken, try a variation or the other extension.
2. Add it to your order. Choose .pk or .com.pk. If both are free, consider registering both and pointing one at the other, so nobody else can take the second.
3. Enter the registrant details. Check spelling, email and phone carefully. Renewal and verification messages go to this contact.
4. Pay the invoice. Pay by a method listed on payment methods and quote the invoice number. Payments are checked by hand.
5. Wait for registration. After the payment is confirmed, the registration is submitted to the registry. Until the registry processes it, the name is not yet yours, and someone else could still register it.
6. Connect it. Point the domain at your hosting by changing its nameservers, or add the DNS records your website and email provider give you.

What it costs

There are two different prices, and it helps to keep them apart:

• The registry fee. PKNIC publishes PKR 2,100 per year, charged for two years (PKR 4,200), for registrants in Pakistan, and a different rate for registrants or registrars outside Pakistan. See PKNIC's pricing page (checked 6 November 2026).
• The retail price you pay. SAFI's order catalogue lists .pk and .com.pk at PKR 3,999 for two years, renewing at PKR 4,199 for two years (checked 24 October 2026). The amount on your invoice is what applies. Current prices are on the .pk registration page.

Hosting and email are separate: a domain is only the name.

Common mistakes

• Registering in someone else's name. If a developer or agency is the registrant, you may need their cooperation to renew or move the domain later.
• Using an email you do not check. Missed renewal notices are the most common way a domain is lost.
• Assuming "paid" means "registered". A paid invoice starts the process; registry confirmation finishes it.
• Letting it expire. Renew before the expiry date. What happens after expiry depends on the registry's rules; see grace and redemption periods.
• Confusing .gov.pk with .pk. .gov.pk is a separate namespace for government bodies with its own requirements.

Registering from outside Pakistan

You can order from the UK, USA, UAE, Canada, Australia or elsewhere and pay by PayPal or Payoneer. Because PKNIC lists a different rate for registrants outside Pakistan, ask support for the total before you order, and use your real overseas address as the registrant.

Next step

Check the price and terms on .PK domain registration, or read .pk vs .com.pk if you have not chosen the extension yet.

How to check .PK availability when a lookup cannot verify it

Use the exact name, for example yourbrand.com.pk, or enter a bare name and explicitly select .pk or .com.pk on the PK registration page. These are different names; checking one does not check the other.

• Available: rely only on a trustworthy provider response, then confirm the payable price and registry terms. Availability can change before registration completes.
• Registered: choose another name or investigate a legitimate transfer with the current registrant's cooperation. A transfer is not a new registration.
• Availability not verified: keep the requested name and select Check live availability at checkout. Review the exact name, availability, full term and total there before submitting an order. A checkout redirect or DNS response is not evidence that the name is available.

For a worked comparison of .pk and .com.pk, use the extension comparison. For a name you already own, follow the renewal guide, rather than submitting another registration request.

A hypothetical two-name check

A shop owner comparing yourbrand.pk and yourbrand.com.pk checks both names separately. The intended business owns the registration, and its owner controls the contact email and renewal account. Record each exact name, the full two-year registration total and the separate two-year renewal total before payment. If either response is unverified, keep that name in the checkout handoff rather than treating it as available. After registry confirmation, add the website DNS records and preserve existing mail records.