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The CH domain is used as the country-specific top-level domain for Switzerland. In our comparison, you can find the exact prices of various CH domain providers.
The domain extension CH is derived from the Latin name of Switzerland, Confoederatio Helvetica. This is also the official country code of the landlocked state, as it is considered the most neutral name in multilingual Switzerland.
The CH top-level domain was introduced on 20th May 1987 and has been managed by the organization SWITCH since then. Initially, the internet addresses were used for universities within Switzerland to connect to the network and interconnect with each other. Later, the first companies followed. Private individuals were not initially considered in the allocation. The first registered CH domain names were cern.ch, the address of the European Organization for Nuclear Research, ethz.ch, the address of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, and switch.ch, the address of SWITCH itself. It was only in the early 90s that the TLD was entered into the root DNS, making CH domains accessible from anywhere in the world. Over 1.5 million CH domains are now registered. Since 2010, there has been a strict procedure against malware-infected internet addresses. These addresses are shut down 24 hours after notifying the owner if the threat to site visitors has not been removed by then.
Allocation Policies of CH Domains
The allocation of the CH domain extension is organised by the Swiss foundation SWITCH. Since 1987, SWITCH has been the operator of the Swiss scientific network of universities and therefore also provided the necessary technical requirements from the beginning to take over the registration of the domain extension. In addition to the CH domain, SWITCH is also responsible for the administration of the LI domain, the country-specific top-level domain of Liechtenstein. CH domains can now be registered by both companies and individuals. An address in Switzerland is not required for this. As the domain costs of individual CH domain providers may vary, it is worth comparing prices. Domain names can have between 3 and 63 characters. Internet addresses with only 2 characters are exclusively used for the individual Swiss cantons. Since 2004, umlaut domains and other internationalised domain names can also be registered under the CH TLD.
CH domains are particularly suitable for websites whose visitors mainly come from Switzerland. For companies from Switzerland, a CH domain from one of the providers in our comparison is an ideal way to express their connection to Switzerland.
Alternatives to .ch Domain
For online projects in German targeting an audience in Germany, the .de Domain is generally preferred. The same applies to the .at Domain targeting Austria or the .li Domain targeting Liechtenstein.
