How to Secure a .si Domain: Backordering the Names Already Taken
Inaugurating the Era of Super Intelligence
.si registrations have surged since the United States Government's "super intelligence" announcement in late September 2026, so many of the names people want are already taken.
Now, the most reliable way to get a taken .si name is to backorder it, so that it is registered for you the moment it is released by the .si registry after expiry. At Backorder.com, placing a .si backorder is free and you only pay if we catch the domain.
Guy's Pro-Tip
As far as I know, we are currently the only ARNES-accredited registrar successfully catching and auctioning expired .si domains. The other .si catching services are using third-party APIs with little success. That will not last forever, so now is the time to get your backorders in.
Why .si domains are suddenly in demand
On 22 September 2026, speaking at the UN General Assembly, President Trump said the term "artificial intelligence" "makes it sound fake" and proposed "super intelligence", or SI, instead.
On 29 September 2026 he signed an executive order titled "Inaugurating the Era of Super Intelligence". It directs US federal agencies to replace "artificial intelligence" and "AI" with "super intelligence" and "SI" in official communications and nonstatutory documents.
It does not require private companies to rename their products, and existing laws and contracts are not rewritten. The same week, leaders from companies including Google, Meta, OpenAI, Nvidia, Anthropic and xAI signed a voluntary White House Accord.
Not everyone is adopting the new term. On 1 October 2026, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed an order requiring state agencies to keep using "artificial intelligence" and "AI".
Whatever happens to the terminology, the effect on domain names was immediate. .si is the country code top-level domain of Slovenia, and it is suddenly the natural home for "SI" brands in the same way .ai became the home for AI companies.
Why Slovenia, and what it means for the country
Slovenia, a country of around 2.1 million people, ended up with .si almost by accident. After independence in the early 1990s it wanted the code SL, but that was already assigned to Sierra Leone, so it was given SI instead.
The .si domain was added to the global root servers in April 1992, and the first Slovenian web page went live in 1993 on a supercomputer at the Jožef Stefan Institute in Ljubljana. Fittingly, "si" also means "you are" in Slovenian.
AI companies were among the first to move. AI research firm Recursive, for example, registered recursive.si, which redirects to its .com site.
The obvious comparison is Anguilla. That island's .ai domain earned it EC$230 million (US$85.3 million) in 2025, and its tech minister said .ai was expected to generate nearly half of the government's total revenue. Slovenia is unlikely to see anything similar. .si is run by ARNES, Slovenia's academic and research network, and Register.si charges registrars a flat administrative fee of €10 per domain. The registry has said that "speculation in the media about millions in earnings for Slovenia due to the increased interest in .si have no basis in reality". At €10 each, September's 46,066 new registrations would add up to roughly €460,000 in registry fees.
This map below, from Google Trends, shows where search interest for ".si domains" was strongest - with UAE, then Morocco, followed by India, Pakistan and Canada - all ahead of the USA and Slovenia itself.
The .si registration surge in numbers
Figures from Register.si, the .si registry run by ARNES:
| Period | New .si registrations |
|---|---|
| August 2026 (whole month) | 3,515 |
| September 2026 (whole month) | 46,066 |
| 24 hours to the afternoon of 30 September 2026 | 9,465 |
| 24 hours to the morning of 1 October 2026 | 13,221 |
That means the registry is now handling more than three times a normal month's registrations in a single day. Total .si registrations stood at 240,148 on 1 October 2026, up from 186,159 in June 2026.
The charts below highlight the significant increase in .si registrations from 20th September onwards:
The registry has said that "despite the greatly increased number of requests to all Registry systems, all services are operating smoothly", and has advised brand owners to register a .si domain as soon as possible.
How to get a .si domain
With tens of thousands of new registrations in a matter of days, many of the most obvious "SI" names were registered quickly.
Backorder.com has already secured some high-profile expired .si domains, including stats.si, keyword.si, seed.si, dragon.si, rules.si, optimum.si as well as several LLLs including faq.si.
If the .si name you want is already registered, you have three options:
- Contact the owner and offer to buy it. This can work, but you are negotiating on the owner's terms.
- Pick a different name. Fine if you are flexible.
- Backorder it. If the owner does not renew, you are first in line when it is released.
How .si domains expire and drop
Understanding the .si lifecycle is what makes backordering work. According to Register.si's general terms and domain statuses:
- Expiry. If a .si domain is not renewed, it enters quarantine (shown as "pending delete").
- 30-day quarantine. The current owner can still renew the domain during this time.
- Deletion and release. If it is not renewed, the domain is deleted after 30 days and "may once again be registered", first come, first served.
That final moment is the opportunity. Because release is first come, first served, the name goes to whichever registrar submits a registration request first. Only one party can win it.
How to backorder a .si domain with Backorder.com
Backorder.com, through its European company Backorder OÜ, became an ARNES-accredited .si registrar in June 2026 and is listed on the Register.si registrar list. Our catching software is already set up and optimised for .si drops.
- Find the domain. Browse our list of .si domains pending delete, or search for a specific name.
- Place a backorder. It is free to place.
- We catch it. We track the drop timing and submit the registration request the moment the domain is released.
- You only pay if we succeed. If you are the only person who backordered the domain, you pay a flat fee of €99 (about $111 or £84). If several people backordered it, a closed auction is held between those backorderers only, with bidding starting at €99. No new bidders can join, and the highest bidder wins.
In the 60 days to 1 October 2026, we caught 79 of the 101 .si domains our customers backordered (about 78%), while we were still analysing and optimising our .si catching. In the five days since demand for .si took off, we caught all 22 of the 22 .si domains backordered.
When will the "SI" names replenish?
Nobody can say for certain which names will drop. .si registrations can run for one to five years, so any name registered for a single year during the rush will need renewing around September or October 2027. Whether those names are renewed will depend on whether their owners have found a use or a buyer for them.
Any that are not renewed will enter the 30-day quarantine and then be released. Backorders placed well ahead of that point put you first in line.
Meanwhile, .si domains registered before the surge continue to expire and drop every day.
Frequently asked questions
What is a .si domain?
.si is the country code top-level domain for Slovenia, introduced in 1992 and run by ARNES through Register.si. Since September 2026 it has also been used as shorthand for "super intelligence".
Is .si only for Slovenian people or businesses?
No. Register.si's general terms define a domain holder simply as "a natural or legal person" and set no nationality or residency requirement. Names must be 2 to 63 characters long.
Does a .si domain still work while it is in quarantine?
Yes, but the deadline is different.
No. According to Register.si, internet services linked to the domain stop working during quarantine, although the owner can still renew it.
Can I backorder a .si domain that is currently registered?
Only if it has expired. We update our pending delete lists daily with new domains that have expired.
Is getting a .si domain by backorder guaranteed?
No. The current owner may renew, and a catch depends on submitting the registration first when the name is released. You pay nothing if we do not catch it.
Ready to get in line?
Browse .si domains pending delete or search for the name you want and place a free backorder.