Free Subdomain .NOM.ZA
| Suffix | .nom.za |
|---|---|
| Our Rating | |
| User Rating | |
| Extra Suffixes | |
| Free Domains | 1 |
| Years Active | 16 |
| Geo-targetable | πΏπ¦ |
| Is Indexed? |  |
| Is TLD? | |
| Supports IDN | |
| Notes | Only personal use with no financial gain. Possibly limited to South Africans. |
| DNS Records | A, AAAA, NS, SPF |
| Image |  |
Description
NOM.ZA is a second-level domain in .za (South Africa) namespace. It is meant for individual personal use, and registrations by companies or brand names will not be accepted. The TOS states:
use [β¦] is expected by individuals wishing to register their given, legal, or last names.
As with other subdomains, you don't own a NOM.ZA domain, you only get custody of it. If you don't actively use your NOM.ZA domain for a period of 60 days, you agree to relinquish the right to it, so no domain squatting. Just in 2020, they did a huge purge of inactive accounts. NomZa is run by individuals and supposedly, after 10,000 domains get registered, "a general meeting of the domain custodians will be called in Johannesburg [β¦] to decide on the future" of the domain.
With NOM.ZA part of the ISC DLV registry, a recognized ISPA member, and a ZADNA/ZACR co-signer, and its availability on IPv6 implies at least somebody is taking it seriously and that NOM.ZA is here to stay.
What Users Are Saying
Chris Fornesa, a NOM.ZA user himself, gives a good overview:
Pros:
- A free, legitimate domain name.
- You don't have to be a South African to register.
- Websites using this domain seem reputable for the most part.
- Decent goal set by NOM.ZA of community ownership.
Cons:
- Only NS records may be used (though with free Dynamic DNS services that isn't too much of an issue β I use Namecheap's DNS)
- LONG waiting period (around a week) before you know whether your name is deemed "acceptable" and you're subject to the same waiting period if/when you choose to change your hostnames.
REMEMBER: The name you choose HAS to be your name or a variation of it in order for it to be approved, although this is self-explanatory and so, despite any possible inconveniences, I wouldn't consider this a "con" per se.
All in all, I would say that this is a great service, however, be well-aware of the potentially long waiting period for it, and if you want to host your domain on services like Tumblr or Blogger, you should probably register for a dynamic DNS service, so that you can associate your name with sites that require A or CNAME records. My only major complaint is the long waiting period, but I would imagine the demand for something of this sort.