The federal government is giving away free .gov domains to all official U.S. government entities

The DotGov Program, which administers .gov top-level domain assignments to official U.S. government entities, now offers the service for free. Price for access to an official .gov domain previously was $400 per year, which many local governments deemed too expensive and prohibitive to obtain.

From the announcement:

There’s perhaps never been a more important time for the public to know where to get official government information online. So, in order to remove unnecessary barriers and reduce the credibility of malicious impersonation attempts, .gov domains will be available at no cost for qualifying organizations beginning today.

Who is eligible:

Only U.S.-based government and public sector organizations are eligible to obtain a .gov domain. This includes any federal, state, local, or territorial government entity, or other publicly controlled entity. It also includes any tribal government recognized by the federal government or a state government.

The program is now managed by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency as ordered by the recently enacted DOTGOV Act.

Governments interested in securing a free .gov domain can register at the DotGov website.