Free domains for students: the options that actually exist

GitHub Student Pack, free subdomains and does.software. What is free for good, what is free for the first year only and what each option asks of you.

Reviewed 2026-10-21

If you study web development, computer science or anything that ends in a portfolio, sooner or later you go looking for a free domain. There are good options, but nearly all of them come with small print. Some are free for the first year only, others are free for good as long as the name on top belongs to someone else. Here they all are, with the small print written out.

Domain or subdomain, in two lines

A domain of your own is something like yourname.com. You rent it from a registrar by the year, and even with an offer to start with, from the first renewal on you always pay.

A subdomain is something like yourname.does.software or yourname.github.io. It can be free for good because someone else pays for and runs the domain on top. In exchange, that name shows in your address and you cannot take it anywhere else.

GitHub Student Developer Pack

Once GitHub verifies you as a student, with your school email or proof of enrolment, the pack includes offers from several registrars, such as a .me with Namecheap, a .tech or a domain with Name.com, free for one year. The offers change now and then, so check the pack's page before you decide.

It is the best way to have a domain of your own without paying the first year. What you need to know is that the second year renews at the normal price, and that some extensions renew for quite a bit more than a .com. Put the renewal date in your calendar the day you register it.

Free subdomains

Your platform's. GitHub Pages gives you username.github.io, and Vercel or Netlify give you a name under theirs. They are free and they work, but the name is tied to that platform, and if you move the site tomorrow your address changes.

is-a.dev. It gives you yourname.is-a.dev if you open a pull request on its GitHub repository with your DNS records. A person reviews it, it is meant for developers' sites and, since the DNS records are yours, you can point it at Vercel, Netlify or wherever you like. It takes a little DNS knowledge and waiting for the review.

eu.org. It has been handing out free names since the nineties, but approval is manual and people who applied report waits of weeks or months. You also need your own DNS servers before you apply. It really is free, but it won't help with Friday's deadline.

does.software for students

Here you pick a word and get yourname.does.software on the spot, with no DNS records, no certificates and no card. You can point it at your portfolio, your GitHub or your LinkedIn, add paths like /cv and get the mail for hello@yourname.does.software in the inbox you already use.

The free plan comes with one name, one email forward and two paths, and you renew it for free with one click every 45 days (we remind you first). It does not include web hosting, so your site has to live somewhere else, or you can move to the Starter plan, from €2.56 a month, which also takes the expiry away. Now and then we give away a 14-day trial with hosting so you can try it.

If your school uses does.software, your teacher gives you a sign-up link, you register with your school email and for the school year you are on the Edu plan, with web hosting, a mailbox and full analytics. Your school manages that plan, you pay nothing. If you think your class would like it, show your teacher the page for schools.

Which one to pick

If you want a .com or a .me you will keep for years, use the GitHub pack for the first year and expect to pay from the second. If your site lives on Vercel or Netlify and you are comfortable with DNS, is-a.dev fits well.

If what you want is a short name for your CV, your email signature or the last slide of your presentation, and you want it today, a does.software subdomain is the quickest. And they are not mutually exclusive, you can start here and, the day you buy your domain, redirect this name to the new one.

The GitHub pack gets you a domain of your own free for the first year, and a subdomain gets you a name that is free for good. Pick by what matters more to you, a name that is only yours or having one today without paying.

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