Google Domains

Google's no-nonsense domain registrar, out of beta for one year before it was sold to Squarespace

Shut down
19902026

Google Domains was Google's domain registrar, opened as an invitation beta on 23 June 2014, to all US users on 13 January 2015 and out of beta on 15 March 2022. It offered transparent pricing, free WHOIS privacy and email forwarding, and Google DNS. On 15 June 2023 Google announced its sale to Squarespace; the deal closed on 7 September 2023 and the last domains were migrated in July 2024.

Timeline [edit]

  1. 2005
  2. 1 February 2005 other
    Google accredited as a registrar

    Nothing sold to the public for nine years.

  3. 2014
  4. 23 June 2014 Launch
    Google Domains invitation beta

    $12 a year, privacy and email forwarding included.

  5. 2015
  6. 13 January 2015 Launch
    Open to all in the US

    New top-level domains and site-builder partners.

  7. 2022
  8. 15 March 2022 Version
    Out of beta

    Eight years after launch.

  9. 2023
  10. 15 June 2023 Shutdown announced
    Sale to Squarespace announced

    About 10 million domains, roughly $180 million.

  11. 7 September 2023 Acquisition
    Deal closes

    Google stops selling domains within days.

  12. 2024
  13. 10 July 2024 Shutdown
    Migration complete

    Every domain now managed at Squarespace.

The site through time

Browse domains.google as it was, via the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine:

2014 2016 2018 2020 2022 2023 Full archive →

Ownership [edit]

Google 2014–2023 Founded
Squarespace 2023–2024 Acquisition Bought the business for about $180 million; migrated all domains by July 2024

Why it shut down [edit]

Official line: On 15 June 2023 Google announced it would wind down Google Domains and sell the business, roughly 10 million domains, to Squarespace for about $180 million. The deal closed on 7 September 2023, new registrations stopped days later, and customers were migrated in stages through 2024, with Google saying all domains had moved by 10 July 2024. Squarespace honoured existing renewal prices for twelve months.

Our analysis: Google Domains was a good registrar: clean interface, free privacy, free email forwarding, DNSSEC by default and no upsell page between you and your domain. It was also a low-margin utility inside a company that had just decided to cut anything that was not core. Selling it, rather than closing it, was the kindest exit, but people who had picked Google specifically to avoid a website builder found themselves customers of one.

History [edit]

A registrar without the upsell

Google had been an ICANN-accredited registrar since February 2005 but did nothing with it for nine years. Google Domains appeared on 23 June 2014 as an invitation-only beta: buy a domain for a flat $12 a year, WHOIS privacy included, up to 100 email aliases forwarding to Gmail, Google's DNS servers, and one-click links to Blogger, Squarespace, Wix, Weebly and Shopify to build a site. It opened to everyone in the US on 13 January 2015 with the new generic top-level domains Google was itself selling through its registry, and expanded country by country until it was in 26 markets.

For eight years it stayed in beta, which never seemed to matter: it worked, it added Google Workspace signup and Cloud DNS integration, and by 2022 it held about 10 million domains, mostly small businesses and individuals who wanted a domain and not a sales funnel. It finally lost the beta label on 15 March 2022.

Sold, migrated, gone

Fifteen months later, on 15 June 2023, Google announced it was leaving the business and selling Google Domains to Squarespace for approximately $180 million. The transaction closed on 7 September 2023; within a couple of weeks the site stopped selling new domains and told visitors to buy at Squarespace instead. Migration ran in waves through 2024, with the management controls moving to Squarespace from April and Google confirming on 10 July 2024 that every domain had been transferred. Squarespace kept the old renewal prices for twelve months from closing and became the exclusive registrar for Workspace customers buying through Google.

The domain today

domains.google now shows a notice that Google Domains customers have been moved to Squarespace and links there.

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Sources [edit]

  1. Google becomes domain name seller The Register 1 February 2005 [archived]
  2. Google gets into domain sales TechCrunch 23 June 2014 [archived]
  3. Google Domains launches to all in U.S. TechCrunch 13 January 2015 [archived]
  4. Google Domains shutting down, assets sold to Squarespace 9to5Google 15 June 2023 [archived]
  5. Google Domains is shutting down, and its assets are going to Squarespace The Verge 16 June 2023 [archived]
  6. Google Domains has stopped selling domains 9to5Google 16 September 2023 [archived]
  7. Google Domains controls are moving over to Squarespace now 9to5Google 5 April 2024 [archived]
  8. Squarespace completes Google Domains migration Squarespace Newsroom 14 November 2024 [archived]

Last verified: 16 August 2026. Spotted an error? Suggest an edit (corrections with sources are reviewed and applied).