Reference
Domain extensions by purpose
The same 36 extensions, grouped by what people actually use them for.
Extensions grouped by purpose
Classic & Legacy
The original generic extensions, delegated in the 1980s and 1990s, still carrying the most trust and the most competition.
The most recognised extension in the world, and still the one buyers assume by default. Its price-cap agreement and thin-registry structure matter more than most owners realise.
The natural second choice when the .com is taken, with no eligibility rules and the same registry operator behind it.
Carries a credibility no marketing budget can buy, and survived one of the most consequential governance fights in domain history.
A genuine general-purpose alternative with a long track record, though one that carried a heavy spam reputation in its early years.
Business & Professional
Extensions aimed at companies, professional practices, and organisations that want a credible commercial address.
The most successful repurposing of a country code into a global commercial namespace, and a useful lesson in what that costs.
A country code for a territory of a few hundred people, operated by the company behind .com and sold worldwide without restriction.
Launched alongside .info with a bona fide business-use requirement that is no longer meaningfully enforced.
Launched with genuine credential requirements for doctors, lawyers, and accountants, and progressively opened to everyone.
Its launch produced one of the industry's longest-running arguments about what a registration number actually measures.
Technology & Startups
The extensions software companies, developers, and technology startups actually use, several with technical requirements buyers do not expect.
The technology sector's favourite extension is a country code belonging to a territory whose sovereignty changed hands in 2024. What that means for registrants is the question nobody answers clearly.
A Caribbean island of roughly fifteen thousand people now earns a material share of its national budget from two letters, and moved to a new registry arrangement in 2025.
Google paid a record sum at auction for this extension, then made it the first where every site must serve over HTTPS or not load at all.
The developer's extension, with the same mandatory-HTTPS rule as .app and the same capacity to surprise anyone who registers one blind.
One of the more successful descriptive new gTLDs, with a first-year and renewal price gap worth understanding before you commit.
A precise fit for infrastructure and SaaS products, run by an Italian hosting company rather than a pure-play registry.
E-commerce & Retail
Extensions built for online selling, where the gap between the first-year price and the renewal price matters most.
An unambiguous retail signal, and the clearest example of what a descriptive extension is worth to a registry.
Widely promoted at very low introductory prices, which makes the renewal figure the only number that really matters.
Among the largest new gTLDs by registration count, with the discount economics that go with it.
A low-cost general-purpose option whose value depends entirely on whether you intend to renew it.
Creative, Media & Personal
Extensions used for portfolios, publishing, video, and personal brands.
Born directly out of the breakup of Yugoslavia and now a standard choice for personal sites, portfolios, and short branded links.
The extension that proved a country code could be a commodity, belonging to a nation facing a threat no other registry faces.
Geographic & Local
Country-code extensions that signal a real presence in a specific market, most with eligibility rules that are genuinely enforced.
The only major extension where you must formally declare your connection to the country and cannot hide your details afterwards.
The shorter British option, with a transfer mechanism that works nothing like the auth codes used by generic extensions.
Far more widely held than direct .uk, and the extension British customers actually expect to see.
CIRA enforces its eligibility rules more actively than most registries, and revocation on audit is a genuine outcome.
Australia requires not only local presence but a demonstrable link between the registrant and the name itself.
By far the most used extension in South Africa, and unusually open for a national namespace.
Requires a German administrative contact, uses its own transfer process, and is consistently one of the biggest namespaces anywhere.
France opened its namespace to the whole European Economic Area, which is broader than most buyers assume but still a real limit.
Spain removed its presence requirements two decades ago, making .es one of the more accessible European country codes.
The Dutch register domains at a rate few countries match, and SIDN has been an early mover on DNSSEC and registry security.
The Brexit revocations made .eu the clearest cautionary example anywhere of what happens when you stop qualifying for a namespace.
Switzerland dropped its presence requirement and runs the registry on terms that differ noticeably from its neighbours.
Run by Italy's National Research Council rather than a commercial operator, with residency rules drawn along European lines.
India opened its namespace to the world and has grown one of the largest country-code registries in Asia.
Registration is only the first step: identity verification is required, and hosting inside mainland China needs a licence most foreign registrants cannot obtain.