The domain name is your website’s address, for example “dupont-couverture.fr”. Hosting is where the website’s files are stored. They are two different things, often sold together.
Why it matters
Many tradespeople discover, the day they change provider, that their domain name is registered to their former agency. Or that it expired because it was not renewed: the website disappears, and the email addresses using that name stop working too.
An expired name can then be registered by anyone.
The words to know
- Registrant
- The official owner of the name. For a .fr name, it is registered with AFNIC, the organisation that runs this extension. The registrant must be your business, not your provider.
- Registrar
- The company that registers and renews the name for you.
- Renewal
- A name is rented for one year or more. Without renewal, it expires.
- Transfer code
- The code that allows you to change registrar. Only the registrant can obtain it.
- DNS
- The directory that links your name to your website and your emails.
- HTTPS
- The secure connection, shown by a padlock. Without it, browsers display “not secure”.
What you can do yourself
- Check who the registrant of your name is (AFNIC’s website offers a lookup for .fr names)
- Note the expiry date, and turn on automatic renewal
- Check that the payment method used for renewal is up to date
- Keep your login details (account, registrar) somewhere safe
- Choose a short name, easy to say over the phone
- Leaving the name registered to your agency or provider
- Ignoring renewal emails
- Changing domain name without redirecting the old one
We recover, transfer or create your name, always with you as the registrant, then we host and protect it: it can no longer expire.
Frequently asked questions
.fr or .com?
For a business working in France, .fr is a good choice, clear for your customers. .com works too. What matters is a short name that is easy to say.
My former provider is the registrant of my name: what can I do?
Ask them to transfer it to your name. If they refuse, there are remedies, but it takes longer. Failing that, the name may become available again when it expires.
Are domain name and hosting the same thing?
No: the name is the address, the hosting is the plot where the website is built. You can change hosting and keep your name.