.nu domain — meaning, price and how to register

What does .nu mean?

The .nu extension is, officially, the country code of Niue, a tiny self-governing island in the South Pacific. It was delegated in 1997 and was one of the first ccTLDs to be marketed internationally rather than reserved for local use. The reason is linguistic: nu means “now” in Swedish, Danish and Dutch, which turned a Pacific code into a Nordic marketing word.

That quirk shaped the whole history of .nu. The overwhelming majority of registrations are in Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands, where “nu” reads naturally, and since 2013 the zone has been administered by the Swedish Internet Foundation (Internetstiftelsen / IIS), the same body that runs .se.

Who uses .nu?

Mostly Scandinavians. Swedish media, shops and campaigns use .nu to signal immediacy — “buy now”, “latest now” — and it shows up on vanity URLs and creative redirects across the Nordics. The Swedish public broadcaster's svt.nu and the children's brand pippi.nu are everyday examples.

Globally, .nu is also picked up by anyone who wants a short, available name with a playful “new/now” feel. Niue itself sees comparatively few of the registrations, though the namespace was originally promoted to help fund connectivity on the island.

.nu registration rules and requirements

Registration is fully open: anyone, in any country, can register a .nu domain with no local presence, documentation or eligibility test. The Swedish Internet Foundation runs it on a first-come, first-served basis through accredited registrars, applying the same professional, stable operation it brings to .se.

How much does a .nu cost?

A .nu typically runs around $17 per year, with renewals at a comparable rate. It is mid-priced for a ccTLD — more than the cheapest generics but reasonable for a short, meaningful name, especially if your audience is Scandinavian and will read it as “now”.

Is .nu good for SEO?

Search engines treat .nu as a geo-signal toward Niue, which is essentially irrelevant for a Scandinavian site, so in practice it behaves close to neutral for Nordic audiences rather than giving a local boost the way .se would. There is no ranking penalty, and the real value is the word-play and availability, not algorithms. See how to compare and choose a TLD.

.nu vs alternatives

For a Swedish business the natural comparison is .nu against .se, which carries stronger local geo-targeting, and against .com for reach. As a creative “word” extension it sits with other repurposed codes such as .to and .io. Run by the same registry as .se, it is a friendly, low-friction option when you want the “now” effect.