How to Choose and Register a .com.au Domain (Eligibility, ABN, Cost)

Cheap, and easy to get wrong

A .com.au costs about $15–$40 a year. It is the cheapest thing in your entire web presence and the one you are most likely to regret, usually because it was chosen in ten minutes with a hyphen and a suburb in it.

Here is what you actually need to know before you buy.

Eligibility: you need an Australian business identity

.com.au is administered by auDA and sold through accredited registrars. To hold one you generally need one of:

• An Australian registered business name, or
• An Australian company (ACN), or
• A registered trade mark, or
• An association or other registered Australian entity.

In practice that means an ABN and, usually, an ASIC-registered business name — around $44 for one year or $102 for three, if you do not already have one. An ABN itself is free from the Australian Business Register.

The name has to match you

This is where most first-time buyers get stuck. A .com.au must be an exact match, abbreviation or close derivation of your business name or trade mark — you cannot register "bestplumberbrisbane.com.au" unless that is genuinely your name.

Names can contain letters, numbers and hyphens, cannot start or end with a hyphen, and must be at least two characters. If you cannot get the exact name, add your trade or location in a way that still matches your registered identity, or consider .net.au.

What it really costs

• Registration: $15–$40 a year depending on the registrar. Some offer multi-year discounts.
• Renewal: usually the same, sometimes higher after a first-year promotion.
• Privacy: .au registrant details are not published in the same way as .com, so paid privacy add-ons are usually unnecessary.
• Email: not included. Budget $8–$12 per user per month separately.

Avoid the trap of a $1 first year with a $45 renewal, and always turn on auto-renew. Losing a domain to an expired card is an expensive way to save $30.

Choosing a name that ages well

Short, sayable on the phone, and not tied to one suburb or one service. "Northside Plumbing" survives a move to the south side. "Brunswick Plumbers" does not. Avoid hyphens if there is any alternative — people drop them when typing and send traffic to your competitor. And check the name is free on Instagram and Facebook before you commit.

An Australian caution

Domain names are frequently used in impersonation scams. Check that the registrar is auDA-accredited, ignore unsolicited "renewal" invoices that arrive by email, and log in to your registrar directly rather than through a link. A small business in Australia losing its domain loses its email at the same time.

Use the helper above

Enter your business name and whether you have an ABN or trade mark. It tells you whether you look eligible, suggests name variations you can check, and estimates your annual cost.