.med Domains Are Ready for Pre-Registration: Complete Guide

When building a website for a healthcare organization or one that is related to the industry, you need a domain name that exudes authority even before visitors hit the landing page. Previously, this was done through careful modifications of generic domains like .com, .org, country-level domains like .md, or the use of extremely specific ones like .care or .spa. However, no single option encompassed the entire range of options, and all had their disadvantages.

The new .med domain extension allows medical professionals and healthcare organizations to establish an online presence, all the while using a closely-monitored domain that’s ready for growth. Here’s what you need to know and how to register a .med domain.

What Is the .med Domain?

The .med extension is a “premium” generic top-level domain (gTLD) operated by Medistry LLC. Unlike country-code domains or generic extensions (like .com or .org), .med is specifically positioned as a sector-specific TLD designed to serve the global medical and healthcare community.

Previously, .med domains were only available through a restricted Request for Proposal (RFP) process, which significantly limited how many domains could be registered under it. However, Medistry has started transitioning the domain to an open registration system available to the general public on a first-come, first-served basis.

Key Information:

• Registry Operator: Medistry LLC (Cleveland, OH)
• Service Operator: Nominet (from the U.K.)
• Pre-registration period: May through August 2025
• General availability: September 2, 2025
• Current registered domains: Approximately 42,000
• Domain registration can last from one year to 10 years

Note that of the 42,000 domains registered before general availability, few are human-readable (or usable), as they seem to have been registered for Medistry’s internal purposes.

Who Uses .med Domains?

The main audience for .med domains is pretty much any entity or individual related to the healthcare industry. In particular, Medistry suggests companies be primary users, including:

• Providers of medical products, pharmaceuticals, and services
• Clinics, hospitals, and research organizations
• Medical educators and academics
• Medical supply chain and logistics companies
• Commercial and non-commercial healthcare organizations

Individual users are secondary, but can still establish a significant online presence as opposed to when using existing domains:

• Doctors and medical professionals
• Healthcare researchers
• Medical students and educators
• Healthcare consultants

While .med registration is technically open to anyone, the domain is specifically designed and marketed toward the medical and healthcare sector. To that end, Medistry maintains an Acceptable Use Policy that domains must abide by, which includes clauses on preventing spam and abuse.

Current Challenges With Medical Domain Options

Before the liberalization of the .med domain, medical professionals and healthcare organizations faced several limitations with existing domain options.

Traditional domains like .com and .org don’t have an inherent authority in the medical space. These extensions have extremely low barriers to entry (particularly regarding cost), meaning anyone can register them regardless of their medical credentials or expertise. This resulted in several notable issues:

• Search engines could direct users to various .com and .org websites regardless of actual content and medical authority, including sponsored ads.
• SEO manipulation in this space is relatively easy, allowing non-medical sites to rank highly for medical queries.
• With millions of websites under these domains, it becomes nigh-impossible to differentiate between credible medical sources and potentially unreliable information.
• Malicious actors can easily create convincing-looking medical websites that spread misinformation or perform phishing scams.

This resulted in some medical professionals turning to .md domains, but this option comes with significant drawbacks. The .md extension is actually the country-code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Moldova, not a medical-specific one. This adds on a few other issues:

• Significantly higher registration and upkeep costs compared to generic domains
• Potential policy or registration requirement changes if Moldova decides to exercise more control over its national domain
• Dependency on a foreign country’s domain policies and regulations for a vast majority of users
• The domain wasn’t commonly recognized as medicine-related among users

Of course, the .med domain is hardly the forerunner in the sector, as several medical-oriented domain extensions exist, including .spa, .care, .surgery, .dentist, .clinic, and .health. However, most of these domains are self-limited due to being specific to services rather than the industry as a whole.

How .med Pre-Registration Works

Unlike most new domain launches that include sunrise and landrush phases, .med has a unique registration approach. The domain went straight from a restricted status to a pre-registration system, followed by general availability on September 2, 2025.

The sunrise and landrush phases typically allow trademark holders to acquire domains they can claim rights to (using a similar naming scheme) or allow interested parties to pre-pay to ensure a domain at a premium price. Without these, the registration process devolves into a first-come, first-served process, with pre-registrations being filed continuously and getting processed when general availability opens.

While this streamlines the process and potentially makes it cheaper, you might get shut out of creating the domain you want if someone pre-registered theirs first, and the registrar sent the request to the registry operator.

Additionally, even though .med doesn’t have a traditional sunrise phase, companies that hold trademarks with their desired .med domain name may get an advantage during the general availability phase. Consider registering relevant trademarks as part of your domain strategy.

Getting Started with .med Pre-Registration

If .med seems like the right choice for your healthcare website, here’s what you need to do:

1. Plan Your Domain Name: Consider what .med domain would best represent your medical practice, healthcare organization, or medical-related business. Good options include domain names that you already use for other top-level domains.
2. Go to Register.Domains: Go to the Register.Domains pre-registration page, enter the domain name, select the .med domain, and click on Search.
3. Pre-Register: Follow the instructions and make sure to properly check the duration of the registration and the name.
4. Prepare for Launch: Build a website internally and prepare to launch it on the chosen domain name by September 2, 2025.

Due to the pre-registration process being first-come, first-served, registrars can’t guarantee registration and may provide alternative options or partial refunds.