Are Domain Names Case Sensitive?
Here’s a question that pops up in our helpdesk fairly regularly, “I’ve accidentally ordered my website address in ALL CAPS – did I break something?”
The answer? Nope, you’re absolutely fine.
Domain names aren’t case sensitive, which means your website works whether someone types it in uppercase, lowercase, or that weird mix people do when they’re typing too fast.
What This Actually Means
Let’s say your domain is mybusiness.co.uk. All of these will take people to exactly the same place:
- mybusiness.co.uk
- MYBUSINESS.CO.UK
- MyBusiness.Co.Uk
- mYbUsInEsS.cO.uK (though nobody types like this unless they’re having a laugh)
We’ve been running WESH UK since 2000, and I can tell you this has saved countless businesses from panicked phone calls about “broken websites.”
Why The Internet Works This Way
The technical folks who built the internet weren’t daft. They knew people would make mistakes, so they designed the system to be forgiving. When you type a domain name, the internet’s address book (called DNS) automatically treats everything as lowercase anyway.
Think about it – if wesh.uk and WESH.UK led to different websites, the internet would be chaos. Nobody would remember the exact capitalisation of every website they wanted to visit.
Real Examples From The Wild
Ever noticed how you can type:
BBC.CO.UK or bbc.co.uk – same BBC
AMAZON.COM or amazon.com – same shopping site
GOOGLE.COM or google.com – same search engine
They all work because the internet doesn’t care about your caps lock key.
What About Email?
Same story with the domain part of email addresses. So post @ wesh.uk and POST @ WESH.UK both reach us just fine. The bit before the @ can technically be case sensitive, but most email systems ignore that too because, again, nobody wants the headache. All of your emails hosted with us are not case sensitive.
Keep It Simple For Your Business
While your domain works regardless of how people type it, stick to one format in your marketing. Most businesses go with all lowercase because it looks cleaner and is easier to read on business cards.
We always tell our clients: don’t overthink it. Your customers will find you whether they remember your domain as “yourbusiness.co.uk” or accidentally shout it as “YOURBUSINESS.CO.UK” in an email.
In all of your marketing, business cards, leaflets etc, the best thing to do is always use lowercase. This always makes your critical info readable and avoids any confusion.
The Bottom Line
This is one of those behind-the-scenes features that just works.
Your clients don’t need to stress about getting your domain case perfect, and you don’t need to worry about losing visitors because someone hit caps lock by mistake
After many years in this business, we’ve learned that the best technology is the kind you don’t have to think about.
Domain names are case-insensitive, which is precisely that – They just work, making everyone’s life a bit easier.
Domain Names are not case-sensitive, but directory and file name paths after a domain name can be.
Case Sensitive Domain Name FAQ's
Are Sub Domains Case Sensitive?
No. Sub domains, regardless of where they point to, still rely on DNS records, and as such, are not case-sensitive.
Does this apply to all domain extensions (.com, .co.uk, etc.)?
Yes. regardless of the domain extension, all domains are case-insensitive.
What happens if I register a domain in mixed case?
Nothing, it will work as normal, all in lower or upper case. You might however see it on your bill, as your bill will be a record of what you ordered.
