How to register a domain and pay with crypto or mobile money

Your domain name is the first thing customers type and the last thing you want to lose. Registering one should be straightforward: find the name, pay in the way that suits you, and keep it in the same place as the rest of your infrastructure. That last part is where most registrars leave you stitching services together, and where AFRICLOUD works differently.

With AFRICLOUD you register a domain and run your servers from a single account, billed and managed together, served from data centres in Lisbon and Johannesburg that sit close to users across Africa, South America and Europe. You can search more than 720 extensions, including 70 African country domains, and pay however your market pays: card, PayPal, cryptocurrency or mobile money.

This guide covers how registration works, how to choose the right extension, what the pricing actually means, the African domains worth knowing, and every way you can pay.

How registration works

It is three steps. Search a name and see live availability and pricing in your own currency. Add as many names as you like to a single basket, each with its own registration term. Check out once, with one payment, and your domains arrive in the same dashboard as your servers. There is no separate registrar account to track, no second invoice, and no copying DNS records between systems.

Choosing the right extension

The extension, the part after the dot, does more than finish the address. It signals what you are and who you serve. A global generic like .com, .net or .org travels everywhere and is the safe default for an international brand. A newer generic like .io, .dev, .app, .ai or .cloud tells visitors what you do before they read a word. A country extension like .co.za, .ng or .co.ke roots you in a place.

Many businesses register more than one: the .com for reach, the national domain for trust, perhaps a .app or .shop for a product. Because everything sits in one basket, securing the set is a single checkout rather than a tour of three registrars.

What the pricing actually means

First year versus renewal. Many extensions are offered at a lower promotional rate for the first year and renew at the standard rate afterwards. The search tool shows both, so the renewal is never a surprise.

Minimum terms. A handful of extensions, including .com and some country domains, are sold by their registries with a two-year minimum term rather than one. Where that applies, the search tool flags it before you add the name.

A wide range. Prices vary enormously by registry. Some national domains are among the most affordable names you can buy; others are priced as premium national assets and cost considerably more. Every name carries a floor of about 10 in your currency (roughly 10 USD, EUR or GBP).

Your currency, live. Rather than publish a list that drifts out of date, AFRICLOUD prices each name live the moment you search, in the currency for your location. What you see is what checkout charges.

Africa's own domains, in one place

Most global registrars treat African extensions as an afterthought, a handful at best. AFRICLOUD carries 70 of them, plus the pan-African .africa, so you can register a national domain in the same basket as your .com and your servers instead of hunting down a registry in each country. A local domain earns local trust: visitors recognise their own country's extension, search engines read it as a regional signal, and for many organisations a national domain is simply expected.

Southern Africa

South Africa's .co.za is one of the most widely held domains on the continent, and the family extends to .org.za, .net.za, .web.za and the city domains .capetown, .durban and .joburg. The region also covers Botswana (.co.bw), Namibia (.com.na, .co.na), Zimbabwe (.co.zw), Mozambique (.co.mz), Malawi (.mw, .co.mw), Lesotho (.ls, .co.ls) and Angola (.ao, .co.ao).

East Africa

Kenya offers an unusually rich set, .ke alongside .co.ke, .or.ke, .ne.ke, .me.ke, .mobi.ke and .info.ke. The region also covers Uganda (.ug, .co.ug), Tanzania (.tz, .co.tz), Rwanda (.rw), Ethiopia (.et) and Somalia (.so).

West Africa

Nigeria's .ng leads, with .com.ng, .net.ng, .org.ng, .mobi.ng, .name.ng and the short, personal .i.ng. Coastal and francophone West Africa is well represented too: Senegal (.sn), Cote d'Ivoire (.ci, .co.ci), Mali (.ml), Niger (.ne), Togo (.tg), Benin (.bj), Burkina Faso (.bf) and Guinea-Bissau (.gw).

Central Africa

Cameroon offers .cm with .co.cm, .com.cm and .net.cm, alongside the Republic of the Congo (.cg), Gabon (.ga), Chad (.td) and Burundi (.bi).

North Africa

Morocco's commercial namespace (.co.ma), Algeria (.dz) and Tunisia (.tn).

Indian Ocean and the islands

Mauritius (.mu), Madagascar (.mg), Comoros (.km), Seychelles (.sc), Cabo Verde (.cv), Sao Tome and Principe (.st), Reunion (.re), Mayotte (.yt) and St Helena (.sh). Some of these are among the most affordable domains in the catalogue; others are priced as premium assets. The search tool shows the exact figure for any name before you commit.

Global extensions too

The classics and the newcomers are all here: .com, .net and .org for anything; .io, .dev and .app for software and teams; .ai for machine-learning projects; .cloud, .shop and .xyz where the name carries the meaning. Whatever the mix, they share one basket and one checkout with your country domains and your servers.

Pay your way: card, PayPal, crypto or mobile money

Payment is where access really opens up. A card is not the default everywhere, so AFRICLOUD accepts four routes and you choose at checkout.

• Card: all major debit and credit cards, processed securely with 3-D Secure where your bank requires it.
• PayPal: pay from your balance or a linked account, with no card details shared with us.
• Cryptocurrency: see below.
• Mobile money: pay straight from your phone in a growing number of African markets, the rail that already moves everyday money across much of the continent.

Prices are shown in your local currency at search, and a single basket can hold several domains paid for in one transaction, whichever method you pick. Mobile money arrived for our cloud hosting first, and the same option now covers domains.

Paying for a domain with crypto

You can pay for your domain with Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Tether (USDT), Litecoin (LTC), Monero (XMR) and over 300 other coins, sent from whatever wallet you already use. There is no card to enter, nothing to charge back, and no bank in the middle deciding whether your payment goes through. For a global audience, and for anyone who would rather transact in crypto by default, it is often the simplest route, and it pairs naturally with paying for your AFRICLOUD servers the same way. New to it? Our step-by-step guide to buying with Bitcoin and crypto walks through exactly how a crypto payment goes through.

After you register

A domain is the start, not the end. Point it wherever you need: use AFRICLOUD's DNS or set your own nameservers at any time. WHOIS privacy is included, so your personal details stay off the public record. Switch on auto-renew and reminders so a name you care about never lapses by accident. And if you already own domains elsewhere, transfer them in to bring everything under one roof, one login, one invoice, one place to manage it all.

Why register with AFRICLOUD

Three things set it apart: your domains and your servers live in one account, served from Lisbon and Johannesburg close to your users; the deepest African domain coverage you will find next to the global classics; and the freedom to pay how your market pays, by card, PayPal, crypto or mobile money. If you are weighing which location suits your audience, our Lisbon versus Johannesburg comparison breaks it down.

Frequently asked questions

Can I pay for a domain with Bitcoin or USDT? Yes. You can pay with Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tether, Litecoin, Monero and over 300 other coins, sent from any wallet you use.

Can I pay with mobile money? Yes, in a growing number of African markets, straight from your phone at checkout.

Which African domains can I register? Seventy country extensions across every region of the continent, from .co.za, .ng and .co.ke to .cm, .sn, .mg and .mu, plus the pan-African .africa.

Why do some domains need a two-year minimum? A few extensions, including .com and some country domains, are sold by their registries with a two-year minimum term. The search tool shows this before you add the name.

Why are some country domains so much more expensive than others? Each national registry sets its own wholesale price. Some are very affordable; others are priced as premium national assets. The live price at search is always the real figure.

Can I register several domains at once? Yes. Add as many as you like to one basket and pay for them all in a single transaction.

Can I keep my own DNS? Yes. Use AFRICLOUD's DNS or set your own nameservers at any time.

Can I move a domain I already own to AFRICLOUD? Yes. Transfer it in to manage it alongside your other domains and your servers.

Are domains refundable? No. Registered domains are non-refundable, which the checkout makes clear before you pay.

Ready to find your name? Search and register at africloud.com/domains, and manage it alongside your servers from day one.