The basics
What is a .eth name?
One name that stands in for your crypto wallet, your login, your public profile, and a small website — and unlike a regular web address, you own it outright.
← Back to record searchThe problem it fixes
A crypto wallet is a 42-character string that looks like 0x71C7…f9E2. You can't remember it, you can't read it aloud, and if you mistype one character sending money to it, the money is gone. Every account you have on the decentralized web is one of these strings.
A .eth name replaces that string with something a person would actually say: yourname.eth. Send to the name, sign in with the name, be found by the name. The ugly address is still there underneath — you just stop having to see it or type it.
Think of it as a phone number, a business card, and a website address rolled into one short handle — except you're not renting the number from a phone company. It's yours, it sits in your wallet, and no company can reassign it.
What you can actually do with one
- Get paid at a name, not a number. People send crypto to
yourname.ethand the wallet software resolves it to your address. - Sign in across Web3. Hundreds of apps let you connect with your name instead of pasting an address, and they show your name back to you so you can confirm you're in the right place.
- Carry one profile everywhere. Set an avatar, a short bio, an email, a website, and social links once. Every app that supports ENS reads the same profile — no re-uploading a photo on ten sites.
- Publish a simple site with no host. Point your name at a one-page website and it loads at
yourname.eth.limoin a normal browser. There is no monthly hosting bill and no server to go down.
Why it isn't just a domain name
A regular domain (.com, .org) is leased to you by a registrar. They hold the master record. They can suspend it, a court can order it seized, and if the registrar goes under, your name goes with it.
A .eth name is a token in your wallet. The record of who owns it lives on a public network that no single company runs. Nobody can edit it, freeze it, or take it back while it's registered. It works in wallets and apps, not just in a browser address bar — which is also its main limitation, below.
What it costs, and what "own" means here
Most names are about $5 per year, paid in ETH, plus a small network fee to record the purchase. Short or in-demand names cost more. You hold the name for as long as you keep renewing it — renew for ten years up front if you want. While you hold it, it is yours to use, transfer, or sell.
The honest catches
You are your own bank.
Owning the name means holding the keys to the wallet it lives in. If you lose your recovery phrase, there is no support line that can restore it. Write the phrase on paper, keep it offline, and never type it into a website.
If you stop renewing, you lose it.
Miss the expiry date and there's a 90-day grace period where only you can renew. After that the name is released and anyone can register it. A calendar reminder is not optional.
It is not a website domain.
A plain browser won't open yourname.eth on its own — it needs a gateway like .eth.limo, or a wallet/browser extension that understands ENS. It's an identity that works across Web3, not a replacement for a .com.
Want the precise definitions behind the words above — resolver, contenthash, grace period, custody? The glossary covers each one.
See what's available
The search on the front page checks any name against Ethereum mainnet in real time — is it free, what does a year cost, when does it expire. No account, nothing to install.
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