Worth claiming if you are a verified student, with one condition: check the renewal price before the free year ends. Through the GitHub Student Developer Pack, you can claim one free domain from Name.com: a select domain from over 25 extensions, including .app and .dev. The first year is free. The renewal follows Name.com's standard rates, which we could not verify on its own pages.
WHOIS privacy, domain lock, and an SSL certificate for a year come bundled with the domain. That matters for these two extensions in particular: .dev and .app only work over HTTPS, which the bundled certificate covers. One domain per customer. Your Name.com account must include a unique address, otherwise the system may treat your request as a duplicate.
Verified students only
Only verified students. The GitHub Student Developer Pack itself is free, and GitHub verifies enrolment with a school email or student ID. If you are not a verified student, this offer is not available to you.
Claim it in four steps
- Get verified for the GitHub Student Developer Pack.
- Open the Name.com offer on the Pack benefits page.
- Register the domain on Name.com. A payment card must be on file, even though nothing is charged for the free domain.
- Turn off auto-renew right after registering. Auto-renew bills the standard price after year one.
The renewal behind the offer
Renewal follows Name.com's standard rates, and we could not verify the exact renewal prices on Name.com's own pages. Secondary sources indicate about $22.99 a year for .app and about $19.99 a year for .dev. Treat those as indications, not verified prices. Check the renewal price on Name.com before the free year ends, and decide then whether the name is worth keeping.
Affiliate disclosure: some links in this article may be affiliate links. Commissions never decide which deals we list or how we rank them.