What’s the Best Domain Extension for Startups? .com vs .org vs .ai vs .io vs .co vs .xyz

By:

Andrew Richard

•

5 min read

What Your Domain Extension Really Says

Every founder hits the same wall: your dream domain is taken, and the .com costs more than your seed round. So you start exploring the others: .io? .ai? Maybe even .co, .org, or .xyz? But these aren’t just backup options. They're signals. Stories. Decisions that shape how your brand shows up in the world.

In the era of infinite tools and instant search, your domain extension is the first impression before the first click. And the extension you choose (.com, .org, .co, .io, .ai, or .xyz) quietly tells the world something about your ambition, your product, and your audience.

Let’s pull back the curtain on what these domain extensions really mean, where they come from, and how they perform today, so you can make a choice that’s not just available, but intentional.

.com – The Legacy Signal (Launched 1985)

In 1985, there were no search engines, no eCommerce platforms, and certainly no GoDaddy checkout buttons. There was just Symbolics.com, the first-ever registered .com, filed away in a quiet corner of what would later become the internet.

Today, .com remains the gold standard. Over 156 million .com domains are registered worldwide. It’s not just the most common. It’s the most expected. If your name ends in .com, you’re perceived as established, serious, and trustworthy. If it doesn’t? You’d better be compelling enough to overcome that bias.

Startups like Zoom didn’t start with their .com (they used Zoom.us), but as they scaled, they made the $2 million upgrade. Not for vanity. For clarity. They needed to own the default.

But scarcity defines the .com market. Most clean, one-word .coms are either taken or six to seven figures. For new startups, that’s often out of reach… at least for now.

.org – The Cause Carrier (Launched 1985)

.org was one of the original top-level domains, launched alongside .com and .net. It quickly became the go-to for nonprofits, open-source projects, and mission-driven organizations.

But, times have changed. Today, more founders are using .org to signal transparency, values, and community-first thinking, even in for-profit ventures. Think of it as the Patagonia fleece of domains: warm, responsible, and purpose-forward.

ProtonMail (protonmail.org) and Signal (signal.org) are standout examples. They’re tech companies, but they lead with trust and mission. If your brand is grounded in impact, privacy, or open access, .org might be the most authentic fit.

Just know: if you’re not walking the walk, .org can feel performative. But if the values are real, it sends a powerful signal.

.co – The Shortcut (Launched 1991)

Originally the country code for Colombia, .co went global fast. Its resemblance to .com, and the fact that it’s short, clean, and easy to remember, made it a favorite among early-stage startups looking for a more affordable alternative to .com.

Big names like AngelList (angel.co), 500 Startups (500.co), and Bitly (bitly.co) helped cement .co as a startup-friendly TLD. It reads like a brand, feels like a brand, and gives off early hustle energy.

But there’s a catch: it’s easy to confuse with .com. You’ll likely lose some traffic to the .com version of your name, especially on mobile or in verbal referrals. Still, if you land a great .co name, it can serve as a solid launchpad and often a stepping stone to a future .com.

.ai – The Boomtown (Launched 1995)

Anguilla, a British overseas territory in the Caribbean, didn’t ask to be at the center of the AI boom. But thanks to a little country code luck, they now earn millions a year licensing out the .ai extension.

For startups building anything remotely AI-related, .ai is magnetic. It signals exactly what you do, and more importantly, what trend you’re riding. From Character.ai and Perplexity.ai to Synthesia.ai, the domain has become shorthand for cutting-edge.

Unlike .io, which whispers, .ai announces itself. And that’s part of the tradeoff. If your product isn’t fundamentally powered by AI, it can feel disingenuous. But if it is? .ai is almost too good to pass up.

Registrations passed 600,000 recently, and premium .ai names regularly command five figures. In 2025, .ai domains are no longer sleeper picks. They’re real assets.

.io – The Developer’s Wink (Launched 1997)

.io was never meant to mean “input/output.” It’s the country code for the British Indian Ocean Territory; a place with no permanent population, thanks to the British government displacing the native Chagossians to make way for a U.S. military base.

That backstory doesn’t stop startups from loving it. Somewhere along the way, developers adopted .io as a nerdy nod to I/O logic. It became a subtle flex: clean, technical, startup-y.

Companies like Framer.io, Greenhouse.io, and Customer.io helped turn .io into a genre of its own: the default for early-stage SaaS, dev tools, and productivity software.

But the shine isn’t universal. Outside the tech world, .io can feel confusing or even suspicious. And while premium .io names are easier to find than .coms, they’re not always cheap. Plus, the political baggage has led some founders to quietly walk away from the TLD altogether.

.xyz – The Blank Canvas (Launched 2014)

When Google’s parent company Alphabet launched on abc.xyz in 2015, it raised eyebrows. Why abandon the conventional .com? What even was .xyz?

It turns out .xyz was the domain for generations X, Y, and Z; a marketing pitch that worked. The extension became a magnet for creatives, crypto projects, and startups looking to signal rebellion.

Its greatest strength is availability. Want a short, punchy, brandable domain? You’ll probably find it in .xyz. You’ll also probably pay less than $10 to register it. That affordability makes it a playground, but also a risk. Spam and scam associations have haunted .xyz, and some email filters still treat it as suspicious.

Still, if you’re building something experimental, weird, or wildly new, .xyz gives you room to color outside the lines.

So What’s the Right Choice?

There’s no universal winner: only the best fit for what you're building and how you want to be seen.

👨‍💼 .com is the suit-and-tie. The one you wear to close a big deal.
🌱 .org is the values-driven manifesto.
🚀 .co is the pitch deck and cold email hustle.
👩‍🚀 .ai is the TED Talk mic drop.
👨‍💻 .io is the hoodie and laptop sticker…a favorite in engineering sprints and beta signups.
👨‍🎤 .xyz is the art school zine you launch at midnight.

You can always evolve. Plenty of startups launch on .io or .co and move to .com when the time (and budget) is right. But the domain you choose today still says something tomorrow.

TL;DR

🏆 .com = credibility and scale
🌱 .org = trusted and values-based
🚀 .co = affordable and brandable
✨ .ai = trend-aligned and premium
📱 .io = technical and startup-savvy
🧪 .xyz = experimental and available

Looking to acquire the right domain for your startup, even if it’s taken? Snagged helps you find, negotiate, and secure domains that match your ambition.

You bring the vision. We'll help you name it.

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