Domains under the .il extension can only be registered under one of several fixed second-level domains (SLDs). Some of these are designated for specific types of entities.

The most popular SLD is .co.il, followed by .org.il.

Any private individual or legal entity (such as a company, nonprofit organization, registered partnership, government office, etc.) from Israel or abroad are entitled to register domain names under these second-level domains.

• .co.il (.co – short for commercial)
• .org.il – (.org – short for organization)
• .ac.il – for higher education academic institutions recognized by the Council for Higher Education (MALAG).
• .net.il – for Internet Service Providers (ISPs) with a valid license from the Israeli Ministry of Communications, which regulates such services.
• .k12.il – for kindergartens and schools, as classified by the Ministry of Education.
• .muni.il – for municipal authorities and local government bodies.

The .gov.il and .idf.il SLDs are not open to the public and are reserved solely for government entities and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), respectively.

The 1% decline observed is the result of two main factors: a relatively low number of new domain registrations compared to a high number of domains that expired due to non-renewal this year. The volume of domains that expired this year stemmed from changes to the grace period length and the extension granted for renewal beyond the standard deadline.

In 2024, the number of newly registered domains was slightly higher than in the previous year, even though throughout the year the State of Israel was engaged in war on multiple fronts.

The number of domains that expired this year was also higher than it was last year. However, unlike the previous year, this number was also higher than the number of new domains registered this year. Accordingly, the demand index* for the .il namespace was negative this year and stood at 0.93.

The relatively high number of expirations resulted from ISOC-IL’s decision, made at the start of the war in October 2023, to extend the grace period for all expired domains to the maximum duration allowed under the registration rules. This decision led to a low number of expirations during October–November 2023.

Subsequently, in 2024, a decision was made to shorten the grace period. Due to these changes, an increase in expirations was observed in September–October 2024.

*The demand index for the .il namespace is the ratio between the number of new domains registered during the year and the number of domains that expired due to non-renewal. When the index is greater than 1, there are more new registrations than deletions/expirations. When the index is less than 1, there are fewer new registrations and more deletions/expirations.

Demand Index for 2024: 0.93

Domain names can be registered and renewed for a limited term, ranging from one year to five years.
Until 2020, it was possible to register or renew a domain under the .il extension for a maximum of two years. Since 2020, it has been possible to choose a registration or renewal term of up to five years.

It can be observed that over the years, the prevailing preference has been to register and renew domains for one year.

In 2024, 79% of new domain registrations were for a one year term. 14% were registered for two years. The remaining registrations were for longer terms of three to five years.

Three-quarters of all domain renewals were for one year. 18% chose to renew for two years, and the rest renewed for longer terms of three to five years.

In 2010, ISOC-IL opened the option to register Hebrew domain names under the .il extension

These are hybrid domains combining both Hebrew and Latin (English) characters. For example:
איגוד-האינטרנט.org.il

In 2020, the ישראל. extension was allocated to ISOC-IL, allowing for the registration of domain names containing only Hebrew characters.

At the same time, it was decided to stop allowing new registrations in the hybrid format under .il, although the option to renew already registered domains remains available.

We monitor how domains are used, examining whether they point to active, developed websites with meaningful content (High Content), to websites under construction or basic landing pages (Low Content), or whether they do not lead to any content at all (Errors).

Approximately half (54%)* of .il domains are actively used with developed websites. Among those:

Security – The majority (88%) of domains with developed content have an SSL certificate and operate secure websites using the HTTPS protocol.

Email Use – Many domains (76%) have an MX record indicating a mail server responsible for receiving emails for the domain.

Redirects – Only 9% of domains redirect to other domains.

In 2017, ISOC-IL implemented a new cybersecurity layer for the Israeli .il TLD.

DNSSEC is a mechanism for authenticating information provided by the DNS. It enables users to verify that the information they received in a DNS query is reliable and complete. The purpose of this mechanism is to protect internet users and the general public.

At the end of 2024, 6,550 domains were signed with DNSSEC, representing 2.34% of .il domains.

🔗 For more information about DNSSEC

About one-third of .il domains are  relatively new, registered within the last two years.
Approximately one-fifth of the domains are three to five years old. Another fifth are six to ten years old.

Two more “mature” groups are the domains aged 11–15 years, which make up 13% domains, and the domains aged 16–25 years, which account for 11%.

The oldest domains, aged 26–32 years, represent 3% of .il domains.

According to the registration rules, the length of a domain name with the .il extension must not exceed 63 characters and must not be shorter than three characters.

Nevertheless, there are domain names consisting of only one or two characters. The reason is that these were registered prior to the current registration rules, which were established in December 1998 and have since been updated several times in accordance with policy decisions made by ISOC-IL.

Under the ישראל. extension, domain names can be registered directly under the top level. In addition, there are second-level domains designated for specific uses.

• ישראל. Open for registration to the general public.
•  ישוב.ישראל. Designated for municipal authorities and local government bodies.
•  אקדמיה.ישראל. Designated for academic institutions recognized by the Council for Higher Education (MALAG).
•  צהל.ישראל. Designated for use by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

99.88% of ישראל. domains were registered directly under the first-level domain, ישראל. Of the remaining 13 domains, 7 were registered under the second-level domain אקדמיה.ישראל (institutions of higher education) and 6 under ישוב.ישראל (municipal authorities).

The ישראל. extension was launched in November 2022. As with any new TLD launch, many domains were registered at the outset—about 20,000 domains were registered within the first two months.

At the end of 2024, the number of registered Hebrew ישראל. domains declined by 50%, as many domains were not renewed and therefore expired. This is also a common phenomenon observed in newly launched TLDs.

Domains in non-Latin scripts (IDNs) face technological adoption challenges related to compatibility with various services and infrastructures across the web (such as internet infrastructure, software, social media networks, and more).

ISOC-IL monitors developments regarding the full integration of IDNs across different platforms and updates the public accordingly.

This year, we were pleased to report that domains with the ישראל. extension—like many other domains—are now recognized as clickable links in the WhatsApp messaging app. While this is not yet supported across all devices, it marks a milestone in the integration of non-Latin domains into the broader internet ecosystem.

🔗 For more information on Hebrew domain names, visit the website: כולנו.ישראל/en/

It is evident that the ישראל. extension, which targets the local Hebrew-speaking audience, is still relatively young and less familiar to the Israeli public compared to .il. This is reflected in the declining annual registration figures and the high number of domain expirations.

In addition to local awareness, as mentioned, there are universal challenges to the adoption of domain names in non-Latin scripts.

We hope these challenges will be resolved with the increased global awareness among all relevant industry players, along with the growing usage and demand for such domains by the users.

Since the launch of the Hebrew TLD under the ישראל. extension, the prevailing preference has been to register and renew domains for a period of one year.

In 2024, 86% of all new domain registrations were for one year, 9% were registered for two years, 4% chose to register domains for longer periods of three to five years.

As for renewals, 84% of all renewal requests were for one year. 13% were for two years, and 4% were for periods of three to five years.

We monitor how domains are used: whether they direct to active websites with meaningful content (High Content), to websites under construction or basic landing pages (Low Content), or whether they do not lead to any content at all (Errors).

As of January 2025, 16%* of ישראל. domains—1,442 domains—host websites with meaningful content (High Content).

Compared to the .il TLD, there is a significantly higher rate of redirects in the Hebrew TLD—62% of ישראל. domains redirect to other domains, compared to only 9% of .il domains.

This indicates that Hebrew domain names are most commonly used to leverage the advantages of Hebrew-language branding by redirecting to another domain written in Latin characters.

*The data presented in the chart is based on monitoring of the entire ישראל. TLD (8,890 domains) as of January 2025.

At the end of 2024, 1,737 domains were signed with DNSSEC, representing 14.8% of all ישראל. domains.

Three-quarters (75.7%) of ישראל. domains were registered in the launch year, 2022, and are now two years old. 

15% of domains are between one and two years old, and 9.5% were registered in the past year and are not yet one year old.

According to the registration rules, the length of a domain name in the ישראל. space must not exceed 63 characters and must not be shorter than two characters.

The most common domain length is five characters.

The average length of a .ישראל domain is 8.1 characters.

The Israeli domain name registry manages domain names using the “Registry-Registrar Model,” widely used by registries around the world.

Domain name registration under the .il and ישראל. extensions is carried out through accredited registrars. These registrars are private entities accredited by ISOC-IL to register domains after meeting technical and service-related criteria. There is free and open competition among the registrars. Some offer registration under both Israeli extensions, while others only offer registration under .il.

As of the end of 2024, there are a total of 14 accredited registrars operating under Israel’s national domain extensions, .il and ישראל. Of these, two are foreign companies, and the rest are Israeli.

The Herfindahl-Hirschman Index

The Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI) is a commonly used measure of market concentration used across various industries. It can help assess how concentrated the domain market is in Israel.

The formula for the index is the sum of the squares of the market shares of the registrars operating within the TLD.

In 2016, ISOC-IL ceased operating as a registrar through which domains could be registered and managed. Even before that, in 2015, the HHI score already indicated only moderate concentration in the market.

As the TLD has expanded over the years and more registrars have entered the market, the index has shown a downward trend, indicating reduced market concentration.

A domain holder (registrant) may transfer the management of their domain to any other accredited registrar at no cost, at any time during the registration period.

The graph below shows the number of domain transfers carried out each year over the past decade.

Domain registration under the Israeli domain namespaces .il and ישראל. is open and available to any entity worldwide.

Israeli domains are primarily registered to entities based in Israel.

In the .il TLD, 6% of domains are registered to foreign entities.

In the ישראל. Hebrew TLD, the percentage of foreign registrants is naturally lower and stands at 4%.

The IL-DRP is an alternative dispute resolution service designed to provide a fast response to disputes concerning the allocation of domain names under Israel’s country-code extensions .il and ישראל., in accordance with the registration rules for each extension.

In 2024, decisions were issued in five petitions. All of the petitions involved .il domains, and in every case, the complainant was a foreign entity while the domain holder was Israeli.

The decisions are published and available on the ISOC-IL website.