Since 22 October 2026 a .qa domain requires a Qatari commercial registration, a trademark registered in Qatar, or Qatari citizenship or residency. Before-and-after table with the policy sections, who qualifies for each Qatar zone, the trademark route for foreign companies, the ban on selling or renting a .qa, and what changes for existing domains.
.hr Domain (Croatia): Who Can Register It and How to Get One
Written by Sarah Johnson ·
Every website needs a top-level domain (TLD). That’s the piece of text that comes at the end of the web address. TLDs help to tell people about a website’s purpose or function. There’s .edu for educational institutions, for example, .org for organizations and non-profits, etc.
There are also country-specific domains, called ccTLDs, that are designated to individual countries. .hr is an example of this, and this guide explains what the .hr domain is, how to get one, and why you might need one.
Introducing the .hr Domain
As mentioned above, .hr falls under the umbrella of ccTLDs (country-code TLDs). Popular examples of ccTLDs are .ru, .fr, and .us (for Russia, France, and the United States, respectively). These codes are each assigned to specific nations and mainly designed for use within their respective nation - .ru is popular for Russian businesses and entities, for example.
So, what about .hr? This is the ccTLD for the country of Croatia. Croatia is called Hrvatska in its native language, hence the use of “H” and “R” as the two letters of this domain. CARNET, the Croatian Academic and Research Network, manages .hr domain registration, and the .hr domain is hugely popular within Croatia.
Croatian people see it as a sign of credibility and all major Croatian brands and businesses have .hr sites. To be more precise, there are over 135,000 .hr domains registered as of the time of writing, with more springing up all the time.
Rules and Restrictions – Can Anyone Get a .hr Domain?
Some ccTLDs come with rules about who can register them, and .hr is one of them. CARNET, the registry, sets out who can hold each type of .hr domain in its official FAQ (checked on 24 October 2026):
| Extension | Who can register it | How |
|---|---|---|
| .hr (paid) | Companies with a place of business in a European Union member state, and individuals who are EU citizens and hold a Croatian personal identification number (OIB) | Through an authorised registrar; no limit on the number of domains |
| .hr (free) | Legal entities registered in Croatia, and individuals with a registered independent activity in Croatia (craftsmen, doctors, artists) | Through CARNET; one free domain per user |
| .from.hr | Private individuals from Croatia, identified by their OIB | Free, through CARNET |
| .com.hr | Any company or individual, from Croatia or anywhere else | Through an authorised registrar |
On top of eligibility, every new holder goes through an identity check. Since 15 February 2025, Croatia’s Cybersecurity Act (NN 14/2024) requires the registry and registrars to verify the identity of .hr domain holders during registration, and a .hr domain cannot be registered without that check (CARNET notice of 14 January 2025).
So an individual outside the EU, or a company based outside the EU, cannot hold a paid .hr domain directly. There is a way around this, thanks to what’s known as a “trustee” service: the registrar’s EU company is listed as the domain holder on your behalf, in line with CARNET’s rules, and you keep full control of the domain, its DNS, website and email.
How to Get a .hr Domain
If you meet all the relevant conditions for .hr domain registration, you shouldn’t have any trouble setting up your .hr site. And, as explained above, even if you’re not based in Croatia or even in Europe, you can still set up a site via a trustee. Here’s how:
- Create the unique domain name you want to use.
- Find a trusted registrar that offers .hr domain registration (with trustee service, if needed).
- Run an availability check of the name you want.
- As long as the name’s available, proceed with registration and pay the relevant fee(s) to confirm your new domain name.
Is It Worth Getting a .hr Domain? – The Advantages
Reasons to consider a .hr domain include:
Ideal for Croatian Brands and Individuals
Obviously, if you’re Croatian or based in Croatia, having a .hr website makes a lot of sense. The .hr ccTLD has really taken off well in Croatia and lots of people within the country naturally tend to type .hr at the end of web addresses and see .hr as a sign of trust.
Local SEO
.hr is handy for SEO in terms of appealing to the Croatian market. It might not help you generate much organic traffic elsewhere or rank highly on other international versions of Google, but if you want to appeal specifically to a Croatian audience, this is arguably the best domain to use.
Available
.hr is popular, but there are nowhere near as many .hr sites as there are sites with .com, .net, or any of the other very popular TLDs out there. As such, it’s a lot easier to get a .hr web address with the exact name you want to use, rather than being forced to change it or settle for some variation.
The Downsides of .hr Domains
There are a few drawbacks with .hr domains, too:
Lack of Relevance Beyond Croatia
The .hr TLD is great for Croatia but doesn’t hold as much sway anywhere else. In fact, beyond Croatia, a lot of people haven’t necessarily heard of .hr and won’t recognize it. You may struggle, then, to attract a lot of traffic from other places to your .hr site.
Rules and Restrictions Add Costs and Complications
As touched on, there are certain rules around .hr domain registration, which can make it a bit more complicated than other ccTLDs. And if you opt for a trustee service, you’ll usually have to pay an extra fee, so it may be cheaper to stick with a simpler, more generic, and accessible TLD instead.
Consider Registering Your .hr Website
If you’ve weighed the pros and cons and still feel a .hr site is right for you, then you can register yours today. All you have to do is find a trusted registrar, pick a name that hasn’t been taken, and you can get your .hr site up and running in no time.
