A Nigerian business choosing a domain has three realistic options. .com.ng is the long-standing commercial second-level domain under Nigeria's country code, administered by the Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA). .ng is the short, direct registration under the country code, opened to the public in 2013 and priced well above .com.ng. .com is the global default that most Nigerians still type by habit. Each signals something different to a customer in Lagos, a supplier in Guangzhou and a spam filter in Mountain View.
This guide sets out what each extension costs, who runs it, what it says about you, how Nigerian customers and foreign partners read each one, and a decision process that ends with the right one or two registered, with email working and paid for in naira.
MailShrine Domains sells .ng, .com.ng and .com, shows the first-year and renewal price for each before you buy, and lets you pay in naira through Paystack or in dollars by card. Registration writes the MX, SPF, DKIM and DMARC records automatically and opens two business mailboxes on the name.
Real-life example: Bolanle's logistics company
Bolanle Adeyemi runs a last-mile delivery company in Abuja with fourteen riders, serving online stores across the FCT and Nasarawa. The company is "Swift Route Logistics". Clients pay by transfer and she sends invoices from a Gmail address, which a new corporate client has flagged in their vendor onboarding. swiftroute.com is taken by a US trucking firm; swiftroute.ng and swiftroute.com.ng are free; swiftroutelogistics.com is free.
Bolanle's goals:
- Choose an extension that corporate clients in Nigeria take seriously.
- Avoid confusion with the US company of the same name.
- Register and pay in naira, with
invoices@working before the vendor onboarding deadline.
The three extensions compared
| .com.ng | .ng | .com | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Registry | NiRA (Nigeria Internet Registration Association) | NiRA | Verisign |
| Opened for | Commercial entities, since the 1990s | Direct second-level registration since 2013 | Anyone, since 1985 |
| Eligibility | Open to anyone; no Nigerian presence required | Open to anyone | Open to anyone |
| Typical price | Low; among the cheapest Nigerian options | Several times .com.ng; NiRA prices it as a premium | $12.99/yr on MailShrine |
| Minimum term | 1 year | 1 year | 1 year |
| What a Nigerian customer reads | Established local business | Modern, Nigerian, willing to pay for a short name | Serious, possibly international |
| What a foreign partner reads | Clearly Nigerian | Unfamiliar but obviously a country code | Default |
| Transfer rules | NiRA policy via accredited registrars; auth code required | Same | ICANN transfer policy, 60-day lock after registration or owner change |
| Google geo-targeting | Nigeria | Nigeria | Global; set in Search Console if needed |
.com.ng: the workhorse
Most Nigerian businesses that use a local domain use .com.ng. It is cheap, understood everywhere in the country, and NiRA has run it for decades through a network of accredited registrars. Nothing about it limits you: there is no residency requirement and no document check for the commercial second level. The only drawback is length: swiftroute.com.ng is four characters longer than swiftroute.ng and reads as two extensions to anyone outside Nigeria.
.ng: short and priced like it
NiRA opened direct .ng registrations in 2013 and set the price deliberately high to keep the namespace clean and fund the registry. The result is that short, good names are often still available on .ng when they are gone on .com.ng and .com, and the extension has become fashionable with Nigerian startups and media. The renewal is as high as the first year. If you want it for brand reasons, budget for it.
.com: the default that leaks
Nigerians type .com by reflex, so if a competitor or an unrelated firm holds the .com of your name, some of your traffic and email goes there regardless of which Nigerian extension you register. Bolanle's case shows the problem clearly: a US trucking firm on swiftroute.com will receive misdirected invoices and client emails. The remedy is to own a .com that nobody confuses, which for her means the longer swiftroutelogistics.com.
Which one for which business
- Serving Nigerian consumers and SMEs: .com.ng as primary, or .ng if the budget allows and the name is short.
- Serving Nigerian corporates: either Nigerian extension plus a .com variant that is unmistakably yours, because corporate vendor systems and foreign head offices default to .com.
- Exporting or raising abroad: .com as primary, .ng or .com.ng as the local presence redirecting to it.
- Name's .com is a live business elsewhere: lengthen the name to get a clean .com, and register the Nigerian extension of the short name.
What you need before you start
| You need | Why |
|---|---|
| Availability of all three for your name | The decision depends on which are free and who holds the rest |
| Who holds the .com if taken | A live business means misdirected email |
| Your customer mix | Consumers lean local; corporates and foreigners lean .com |
| A naira or dollar budget for the first year and the renewal | .ng renews high; .com.ng renews low |
| Your CAC registration name | So the domain matches what is on invoices |
Step 1: Search all three
One query in the MailShrine checker returns .ng, .com.ng, .com and 150 others with promo and renewal prices.
Step 2: Assess the .com
Bolanle's is a live US trucking company. That rules out relying on the short name alone; misdirected invoices are a real risk. She needs a clean .com variant.
Step 3: Choose the Nigerian extension
For a corporate-facing Abuja business, .com.ng is credible and cheap. Bolanle liked swiftroute.ng for the trucks; she checked the renewal and decided the premium was worth it for the brand.
Step 4: Register the clean .com as well
swiftroutelogistics.com is free. Registering it gives corporate clients and foreign partners a .com that cannot be confused, and it is where invoices@ lives.
Step 5: Pay in naira and set up email
MailShrine takes naira through Paystack. Bolanle registered swiftroute.ng for two years and swiftroutelogistics.com for three, left privacy and lock on, and set invoices@ and bolanle@ on the .com with the .ng redirecting to it.
Bolanle's checklist
- Searched all three; .com is a live US firm, .ng and .com.ng free, long .com freeCompleted
- Registered
swiftroute.ngfor 2 years (brand, trucks, SMS)Completed - Registered
swiftroutelogistics.comfor 3 years (invoices, corporate clients)Completed - Paid in naira via Paystack; privacy and lock onCompleted
invoices@andbolanle@live on Business EmailCompleted- Submit the new address in the client's vendor onboarding portalNot completed
- Update the CAC-registered business address on invoices to matchNot completed
Common mistakes
Registering only the short Nigerian extension when the .com is a live business. Every client who types .com by habit emails the other company.
Treating .ng as the cheap option. It is the expensive one. .com.ng is the cheap one. Check the renewal column.
Assuming .com.ng needs a Nigerian company. It does not. Anyone can register it. The credibility comes from use, not paperwork.
Forgetting Google geo-targeting. A .ng or .com.ng site is treated as targeting Nigeria. If you also sell abroad, put that content on the .com.
Paying in dollars when naira was available. MailShrine shows both; Paystack in naira avoids card FX fees and declined international transactions.
Check your work
Type each of your addresses into a browser and confirm where they land. In the MailShrine dashboard confirm every domain shows Active, the correct expiry, privacy and lock on and email setup complete on the one that hosts mail. Send a test from invoices@ to a Gmail address and confirm it lands in the inbox.
FAQ
Is .ng or .com.ng better for a Nigerian business?
.com.ng is cheaper and universally understood in Nigeria. .ng is shorter, more fashionable and much more expensive. For most businesses .com.ng is the sensible primary; .ng is a brand choice if the name is short and the budget allows.
Can a foreigner register a .ng or .com.ng domain?
Yes. NiRA does not impose a residency requirement on .ng or .com.ng. Some other second levels under .ng, such as .gov.ng and .edu.ng, are restricted.
Why is .ng so expensive?
NiRA priced direct .ng registrations as a premium when it opened them in 2013, to keep the namespace uncluttered and fund the registry. The renewal matches the first-year price.
Do I need the .com as well?
If the .com of your name is held by a live business, yes, in a variant that cannot be confused, because Nigerians and foreigners alike type .com by default. If the .com is free, register it alongside the Nigerian extension.
Can I pay for a .ng domain in naira?
On MailShrine, yes, through Paystack, for any extension including .ng, .com.ng and .com. See our guide on African extensions for the equivalents in Ghana, Kenya and South Africa.
Next steps
- Best Domain Extensions for Ghana, Kenya and South Africa — the equivalent choice in neighbouring markets.
- .com vs .net vs .org: Which Extension Should You Buy? — the generic side of the decision.
- How to Check If a Domain Name Is Taken — finding out who holds the .com.
Citations & References
- Reference: NiRA: Nigeria Internet Registration Association
- Reference: IANA: .ng delegation record
- Reference: Google Search Central: Managing multi-regional and multilingual sites
- Reference: ICANN: Transfer Policy
Written by Samira K., small-business editor. Samira writes for owners who need a name that works on a van, a phone call and an invoice, not just a landing page.