Choosing a domain ending: .com, .io, .ai and the rest

The ending of a domain name, its top-level domain (TLD), says more than people think. It affects whether customers guess your address correctly, what they assume about your business, and how much you’ll pay each year. synym checks a range of endings for every name, including .com, .net, .org, .ai and .io, plus your own country’s when it can tell where you are. Here is what each is good for.

.com: still the default

.com is the ending people type without thinking. If someone hears your name on the radio, they’ll try yourname.com first. If that belongs to someone else, some of your visitors and emails go to them.

That’s why synym’s default filter keeps names where at least one domain is free, and why the .com is shown first. If you can get the .com of a name you like, take it, even if you also use another ending. Renewal is cheap, usually around $10 to $20 a year.

.net and .org

.net was meant for network providers and .org for organisations, but anyone can register either. .org carries a sense of a non-profit, charity or community project, which is an advantage for those and slightly confusing for a shop. .net is a reasonable second choice when the .com is taken by someone in an unrelated trade, but expect some lost visitors. Both cost about the same as .com.

.io, .ai and .tech: the technology endings

These three have become shorthand for software and technology businesses.

• .io is the country ending of the British Indian Ocean Territory, adopted by developers because “I/O” means input/output. It’s widely recognised in the software world.
• .ai is the country ending of Anguilla, now popular with artificial intelligence companies. It’s usually sold for at least two years at a time and costs noticeably more than .com. Choose it if AI is genuinely what you do: on a bakery it would look odd.
• .tech is a newer generic ending with no country attached. It’s clear about what it means, though less familiar to the public than .io.

.biz and .info

Both are open to anyone and usually cheap to register. In practice they’re less trusted by the public, partly because low prices made them popular with spammers, and some email filters treat them with suspicion. They’re useful for protecting your name (registering them so nobody else can) more than as your main address.

Your country’s ending

A country ending such as .ch, .de, .uk or .fr tells customers you’re local, which helps for a business that serves one country: people in Switzerland trust a .ch address for a Swiss shop. Some countries have rules on who can register (a local address, for example), so check before you plan around one. If you trade in one country, a free country ending can be a better main address than a .net or a .biz.

Prices: watch the renewal, not the first year

Registrars often sell the first year cheaply and charge much more to renew. Before you buy, look at the renewal price, which you’ll pay every year for as long as you have the business. Premium domains, short or desirable names that the registry prices specially, can cost hundreds or thousands a year even when they show as “available”.

How many should you register?

At minimum, register the domain you’ll use and the .com if it’s free. Many businesses also register their country ending and the most likely misspelling, and point them all at the main site. Beyond that, register defensively only where you’d really mind someone else having it: every extra domain is a yearly bill.

When you’re ready, the Register button on each name’s page in synym takes you to a registrar with the free domains already in the basket. Our after you’ve chosen checklist covers the rest.