Can you get an Australian domain name without an ABN?

General information about the rules set by auDA (.au Domain Administration, the body that runs .au) and the ABN system, not legal or tax advice.

Which domain endings need an ABN?

Of the endings most people consider, only .com.au and .net.au need a business-type holder, and even they accept alternatives to an ABN. A direct .au, a .id.au and a .com don’t need an ABN at all, and .org.au needs a not-for-profit holder instead.

Every .au domain is a licence, a right to use the name for a set term, and every .au licence needs an Australian presence: a connection to Australia in one of 18 categories in auDA’s Licensing Rules. The category for individuals is being an Australian citizen or permanent resident. Holding an ABN is another category, and so is holding or applying for an Australian trade mark.

A .com.au or .net.au also needs a commercial entity, one of 11 types the rules list. An ABN is the usual one, but a company with an ACN (Australian Company Number), a body with an ARBN (Australian Registered Body Number, held for example by a foreign company registered in Australia), an incorporated association (a club or society that has become a legal body) or an Australian trade mark also qualify.

The last column shows Chill Domains’ list prices on 6 October 2026, including GST (Goods and Services Tax).

A .com.au or .net.au name must match your name or trade mark, or match or be a synonym of goods, services, events, activities or premises you provide (rule 2.4.4). Our prices are the same to register or renew, there’s no transfer fee, and list prices can change.

Which option fits your situation?

It depends on three things: whether you’re an Australian citizen or permanent resident, whether you run a business, and whether you hold an Australian trade mark. Answer these in order:

1. Australian citizen or permanent resident, aged 18 or over? A direct .au and a .id.au are open to you.
2. Carrying on or starting a business in Australia? You can most likely get an ABN (the test), which opens .com.au and .net.au.
3. Holding, or applied for, an Australian trade mark? That can open .com.au, .net.au and .au. If the mark is your only connection to Australia, the name must exactly match it (the trade mark route).

If none fits, .com, .net and .org are open to anyone.

Can you register a .au as an individual?

Yes, if you’re an Australian citizen or permanent resident aged 18 or over. A direct .au (yourname.au, with nothing between the name and .au) has no name-match rule, so any available name is fine.

auDA’s own .au direct page says plainly that “you don’t need an ABN or ACN”, and the rules agree: a direct .au needs only an Australian presence (rule 2.4.3). The exception to “any name” is someone whose only connection to Australia is a trade mark, who needs an exact match. Names are first come, first served.

• Your identity is checked. Before any .au licence is issued, the registrar (the accredited company that enters the name in the registry, the master database for the ending) must be satisfied your identity has been validated (rule 2.3.1). auDA says you’ll need to provide information that shows your connection to Australia, such as a driver’s licence.
• It must be in your own name. A privacy or proxy service can’t apply, and anyone acting for you must record you as the registrant, the person the domain is registered to (rules 2.2.3 and 2.2.6).
• You must be 18 or over. The rules let a natural person (a human being, as opposed to a company) apply only from that age.

What is a .id.au, and can you use it for work?

A .id.au is the personal ending: the rules reserve it for natural persons, auDA’s guidance says Australian citizens and permanent residents, and the name has to be yours. The rules don’t ban work use, but they set limits.

The name must be a match, acronym or abbreviation of your legal name, first name or family name, or your nickname: a familiar or humorous name for you, not the name of a company, trade mark, profession or service (rule 2.4.8). These rules took effect on 24 March 2022, the same day direct .au launched, so older guides may describe earlier rules.

Freelance work or a side business

The Licensing Rules have no “personal use only” rule for .id.au, though some guides say there is one. What they do ban is monetisation: registering a name with the “sole purpose of selling, leasing or holding” it to earn revenue. The rules’ examples are sites built around a keyword to earn from affiliate links or advertising, sites earning from pay-per-click advertising (ads that pay each time someone clicks), and parked domains (names registered but not in use for a real site) showing ads; registering just to pass the licence on counts too (rule 2.4.13). The licence also stays in your personal name.

Where an ordinary freelance site sits is our reading of those rules, not something auDA has stated, so if your plans depend on it, ask auDA first. For a business, a .com.au or a direct .au is the more natural home: a sole trader (someone in business under their own name) with an ABN can hold a .com.au in their own name. This is general information, not legal advice.

Can you get a .com.au without an ABN?

Yes, if you fit one of the other commercial-entity types, but not as a private individual with nothing else. The main routes that don’t rely on an ABN are:

• A company with an ACN.
• A registered body with an ARBN, such as a foreign company registered with ASIC (the Australian Securities and Investments Commission).
• An incorporated association.
• An Australian trade mark, registered or applied for, held by a person or by a foreign business. If the mark is your only connection to Australia, the domain must exactly match its words (rule 2.4.5); otherwise the usual .com.au name rules apply.

auDA’s .com.au page names an ACN, an ARBN and an Australian trade mark or application as alternatives to an ABN. Two things often suggested don’t work:

• A registered business name. ASIC needs an ABN, or an ABN application, before it will register a business name, so it isn’t a way round the ABN.
• A state business number. It isn’t one of the commercial-entity types in the current rules.

The trade mark route

The rules count “a pending trade mark application or a registered trade mark”, so you needn’t wait for registration, though the application has to appear on IP Australia’s trade mark database first. Don’t count on a just-filed one: the rules also define a pending trade mark as an application with a status of “published or accepted” on that database, and your registrar may want to see that before accepting it. IP Australia charges per class (a category of goods or services the mark covers). These are its figures as listed; its fees page doesn’t say whether GST applies:

It’s a route for a brand you genuinely use, not a shortcut, and the mark has to stay current. If it’s your only connection to Australia and it lapses, the licence will be cancelled; the rules use an overseas holder as the example (rule 2.11.6). If you have another connection to Australia and the mark is just what makes you eligible for a .com.au, the licence may be suspended or cancelled (rule 2.11.7). This is general information, not legal advice.

Should you just get an ABN?

Only if you’re carrying on or starting a business (officially, an “enterprise”). Then it’s free and usually immediate online. If you aren’t, you’re not entitled to one, so it isn’t a way to unlock a .com.au.

The ABR (Australian Business Register, which issues ABNs) says you’re entitled if you’re carrying on or starting an enterprise in Australia, plus a few narrower cases, such as a company registered under the Corporations Act. Employees aren’t entitled, and business.gov.au says you’re “not eligible for an ABN for a hobby”. The ABR warns that applying for an ABN, registering for GST and claiming GST refunds when you aren’t entitled can lead to prosecution. A hobbyist who sometimes sells to a business can give it a “Statement by a supplier” form instead, so it doesn’t withhold tax for the missing ABN.

If you are entitled, “It’s free to register for an ABN”, says business.gov.au. If your application needs checking by hand, both official sources put it at about four weeks:

So if you need a .com.au by a particular date, apply at least a month ahead in case yours is checked by hand.

Can you use someone else’s ABN?

Not for a domain of your own. An ABN only makes its holder eligible, so they’d have to be the registrant, the name would have to fit their name or business, and the rules bar them from letting anyone else use the licence (rule 2.11.12). The domain would be theirs to renew or let go, not yours.

• Anyone applying on another person’s behalf must record the eligible person as the registrant (rule 2.2.6).
• A registrant must not “rent, lease, sub-licence or permit the use of the Licence” by anyone else, except a related company (rule 2.11.12).
• Applicants promise their information is true and complete and that they’re eligible. If that proves untrue, the rules say the licence will be suspended or cancelled (rule 2.10.1).

So if your partner or a parent has the ABN, the straightforward route is a .au or .id.au in your own name if you’re a citizen or permanent resident, or a .com if not. This is general information, not legal advice.

On a temporary visa or overseas: what can you register?

If you’re not an Australian citizen or permanent resident, a .com, .net or .org is open to you straight away, because anyone can register one. A .au ending is harder. The individual category in the rules is “an Australian citizen or an Australian permanent resident visa holder”, so a temporary visa on its own doesn’t qualify.

If you are a citizen or permanent resident living overseas, the category’s wording doesn’t mention where you live.

Without citizenship or permanent residency, these can still open a .au ending:

• Running a business here with an ABN? The ABN gives you an Australian presence, and it makes you a commercial entity for .com.au and .net.au.
• A foreign company registered with ASIC? Its ARBN makes it a commercial entity.
• An overseas brand with an Australian trade mark? A registered mark, or a pending one on IP Australia’s trade mark database, can let you hold a .com.au, .net.au or .au that exactly matches it, though a just-filed application may not be enough (see the trade mark route).

We can’t advise on visas. This is general information about auDA’s categories, not legal advice.

What will be public about you?

Your legal name. A .au lookup shows the registrant’s legal name and eligibility type, and usually a contact name, and there’s no privacy option for .au names. Your street address and phone number aren’t published.

Your identity documents stay off the record. Since the 23 June 2026 amendment, the rules say the two ID fields in a .au record should never contain personal identity document numbers, and “should be left blank if the registrant is a citizen/resident”. Register as a sole trader and your ABN does appear, and so can a business name or trade mark you used to qualify.

A contact email address appears too, but only on auDA’s web WHOIS, under its WHOIS Policy. It needn’t be your personal address: the policy says the registrant “does not have to nominate their own personal email address”, as long as it’s one where you can be contacted. A .com record is the other way round: it usually hides the holder’s details. Our lesson on WHOIS and privacy shows what each kind of record contains.

What if your situation changes later?

Your eligibility has to last as long as the licence. The rules require you to “continue to have an Australian Presence throughout the Licence Period”, and a renewal goes through only if you still qualify.

• You close the business and cancel the ABN behind a .com.au. You’re no longer eligible: the renewal may not go through, and the licence can be suspended or cancelled. Our guide to the ABN check at .com.au renewal covers what happens and when.
• You sell the business or hand the name on. A change of registrant moves the licence to an eligible new holder. A business sale has legal sides beyond the domain, so get advice on the sale itself.
• You hold a .au or .id.au as a citizen or permanent resident. There’s no ABN behind it to be cancelled, but you must stay eligible.

Renewal opens 90 days before expiry. If a .au licence expires, you have 30 days to renew before the name is released to whoever registers it first. Renewal and expiry has the detail.

How do you order without an ABN at Chill Domains?

By email for a .id.au or direct .au in your own name, or a registration on a trade mark, because our checkout’s .au form is built around ABNs. Online for a .com, .net or .org, and for a company ordering a .com.au with its ACN.

Questions people ask

Terms in this guide

ABN

Australian Business Number: the 11-digit number the Australian Business Register issues to people and organisations carrying on or starting a business. It’s free.

Australian presence

auDA’s test of your connection to Australia, which every .au holder needs. It has 18 categories, such as citizenship, permanent residency, an ABN or an Australian trade mark.

Commercial entity

One of the 11 kinds of holder allowed a .com.au or .net.au, such as a company, a sole trader with an ABN, an incorporated association, or someone who holds or has applied for an Australian trade mark.

Licence

What you hold when you register a .au name: the right to use it for a set term. You don’t own the name.

Eligibility

The rules about who may hold a particular ending.

Registrant

The person or organisation a domain is registered to.

auDA

.au Domain Administration, the body that sets the rules for .au names.

Registrar

A company accredited to add and change names in a registry.

Reseller

A business that sells domains through a registrar, as Chill Domains does.

Change of registrant

Putting a domain into a different person’s or business’s name.

WHOIS

The public lookup of who holds a domain.

Every term, in full, is in the glossary.

Sources

All read on 6 October 2026; the ABR entitlement page on 8 October 2026.

• .au Domain Administration Rules: Licensing (auDA; as amended by the auDA Board on 23 June 2026): Australian presence, commercial entities, the .id.au name rules, the age of 18, monetisation, identity validation, third-party use, warranties, ongoing eligibility, renewal timing and the WHOIS ID fields.
• .au direct domain names (auDA): no ABN or ACN needed for a direct .au, but you’ll need to show your connection to Australia, such as with a driver’s licence or passport.
• id.au domain names (auDA): .id.au is for Australian citizens and permanent residents, who need to provide proof, such as government-issued photo ID.
• com.au domain names (auDA): an ABN, ACN, ARBN or Australian trade mark makes you eligible.
• WHOIS Policy (2025-11) (auDA; as amended 23 June 2026): the contact email shows on web WHOIS only, and needn’t be your personal address.
• Register for an Australian Business Number (ABN) (business.gov.au): an ABN is free; the 20-business-day review time.
• ABN basics FAQ (Australian Business Register, ABN Lookup): usually immediate online; manual processing up to 28 days.
• ABN entitlement (Australian Business Register): who is entitled to an ABN, and the warning about applying for an ABN, registering for GST and claiming GST refunds when you aren’t entitled.
• Difference between a business and a hobby (business.gov.au): no ABN for a hobby, and the “Statement by a supplier” form.
• How to register a business name with ASIC (ASIC): you need an ABN, or an ABN application, first.
• Trade mark timeframes and fees (IP Australia): application fees per class and how long examination and registration take; the page doesn’t say whether GST applies.

Keep reading

• Choosing between .com.au, .au and .com
• Do you need the .au as well as your .com.au?
• The ABN check when a .com.au renews
• Putting a .com.au in someone else’s name
• What a WHOIS lookup shows about you
• Registry, registrar and reseller: who does what
• What is a domain name?