From a CAC business name to a .ng domain

Two registries, two bodies, two fees, and one order of operations that saves a lot of regret.

Registering a business name with the Corporate Affairs Commission and registering a domain are unrelated acts. The CAC records that a name is yours as a business; NiRA, through a registrar like us, records that an internet address is yours. Neither reserves the other, and neither body checks the other's register.

Which means the sequence matters. People routinely register a business name, print the cards, and then find that every reasonable version of the address is taken. The check is free and instant — do it first.

The order that works

  1. 1

    Check the domain before you commit to the name

    Type the name you have in mind into the checker. It tests it across .ng, .com.ng, .org.ng, .net.ng and .i.ng in one go. If everything is gone, that is a cheap reason to adjust the name now.
  2. 2

    Reserve and register the business name with the CAC

    Registration is done online through the CAC’s own portal — there is a name reservation step and then the registration itself. The CAC publishes the steps for business names on its site.
  3. 3

    Check whether the free scheme covers you

    If you are a micro or small enterprise, check whether the CAC–SMEDAN free registration drive applies to you before paying. SMEDAN handles eligibility.
  4. 4

    Register the domain

    Once the name is settled, take the address. Pay in naira by card or transfer; prices are read live from our billing and 7.5% VAT is added at checkout.
  5. 5

    Point it somewhere

    A domain that does not resolve does nothing for a business. Our connection guides cover the platforms people usually point at, with the exact records.

What each one costs

The business name. Doing it yourself through the CAC portal was widely reported at a minimum of ₦11,700 from 1 April 2026, after an "AI service charge" was added on top of the existing fees. That figure comes from secondary reporting rather than a fee schedule we can link to on cac.gov.ng, so treat it as an indication and confirm the current total on the CAC portal before you budget on it. Agents charge more than the statutory fee; that markup is theirs, not the CAC's.

Or nothing at all, if you qualify. In September 2025 the CAC and SMEDAN signed an agreement to register 250,000 micro and small enterprises free of charge, with the CAC waiving roughly ₦3 billion in fees. SMEDAN mobilises and profiles the businesses; enterprises already on SMEDAN's database without CAC registration were named as qualifying. Both bodies published announcements, linked below.

The domain. A one-year registration, in naira, at the price on our pricing page plus 7.5% VAT at checkout. We do not publish that number here, because a price printed on a guide is a price that goes stale; the pricing page reads it live from billing.

Choosing a name that survives both registers

Shorter is better, in both places. A business name is typed once; a domain is typed by every customer, read aloud on the phone, and printed on a van.

If the .com.ng is gone, check the same word at .ng before you start bolting on words like "ng", "online" or "hq". Most .ng registrations historically went to the third level, so the second level is genuinely less contested — more on the difference.

Avoid hyphens and numbers if you can. Both survive a form and neither survives being said out loud.

Questions

Should I register the business name or the domain first?
Check the domain first, register the business name, then buy the domain. Checking costs nothing and takes seconds, and it is far easier to adjust a proposed business name than to discover after registration that every matching address is gone.
Does registering a business name reserve the domain?
No. They are two separate registries run by two separate bodies. The CAC records a business name; NiRA records a domain. Neither knows about the other, and nobody holds a domain for you because you registered a company.
Does the domain have to match the business name exactly?
No. Nothing requires it. Most businesses take the shortest version people already use to refer to them, because that is the one customers will type from memory.
Can I really register a business name for free?
Under the CAC–SMEDAN scheme announced in September 2025, yes, if you qualify: the two bodies committed to 250,000 free business-name registrations for micro and small enterprises, with CAC waiving the statutory fees. SMEDAN mobilises and profiles eligible businesses, and MSMEs already on its database without CAC registration are named as qualifying. Check with SMEDAN whether you are in scope.
Do I need a CAC registration to buy a domain?
No. We do not ask for company documents to register a .ng, .com.ng, .org.ng, .net.ng or .i.ng. You need an account, an email address and a payment.

Sources

Check the name before you register it

One search covers .ng, .com.ng, .org.ng, .net.ng and .i.ng against the live registry. It costs nothing and it takes a second.

Check a domain