{"id":4887,"date":"2022-01-10T06:20:00","date_gmt":"2022-01-10T06:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.icdsoft.com\/blog\/?p=4887"},"modified":"2026-03-19T08:15:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T08:15:11","slug":"what-are-the-most-popular-tlds-domain-extensions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.icdsoft.com\/blog\/what-are-the-most-popular-tlds-domain-extensions\/","title":{"rendered":"What are the Most Popular TLDs\/Domain Extensions?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div style=\"text-align:center\" class=\"wp-block-genesis-blocks-gb-cta gb-block-cta\"><div class=\"gb-cta-image-wrap\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"gb-cta-image has-background-dim-100 has-background-dim lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.icdsoft.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/twitter-cover-4.jpg\" alt=\"ICDSoft - Quality web hosting since 2001\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 1500px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 1500\/500;\" \/><\/div><div class=\"gb-cta-content\"><h2 class=\"gb-cta-title gb-font-size-26\" style=\"color:#313131\"><br\/><br\/><\/h2><div class=\"gb-cta-text gb-font-size-32\" style=\"color:#313131\"><p><\/p><\/div><\/div><div class=\"gb-cta-button\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.icdsoft.com\/en\/domains?mtm_campaign=blog\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" class=\"gb-button gb-button-shape-square gb-button-size-medium\" style=\"color:#ffffff;background-color:#3373dc\">Find Your Domain Name Now!<\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size\">Last updated January 10, 2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-advgb-summary advgb-toc alignnone\"><li class=\"toc-level-1\"><a href=\"#what-are-tldsdomain-extensions--7b3bd490-7260-44ba-bd83-601bf35f1d44\">What are TLDs\/domain extensions? <\/a><\/li><li class=\"toc-level-1\"><a href=\"#how-did-domain-names-appear-40ae4703-7287-48ba-9e3f-a398663adad6\">How did domain names appear?<\/a><\/li><li class=\"toc-level-1\"><a href=\"#what-are-the-most-popular-tlds-17833e76-402a-42a6-b037-8de166899925\">What are the most popular TLDs?<\/a><\/li><li class=\"toc-level-1\"><a href=\"#which-are-the-ones-to-avoid-5e8176b2-b3c7-47d6-abfa-fd2fe6dbb8cb\">Which are the ones to avoid?<\/a><\/li><li class=\"toc-level-1\"><a href=\"#how-many-tlds-are-there-a6d62ef7-e13f-470b-a994-edb72368b6e9\">How many TLDs are there?<\/a><\/li><li class=\"toc-level-1\"><a href=\"#the-most-expensive-domains-in-the-world-7d7ace27-ac99-4d46-9c1d-56cc741d5036\">The most expensive domains in the world<\/a><\/li><li class=\"toc-level-1\"><a href=\"#where-should-you-register-your-domain-name-9f5fa4e7-af23-4672-bab0-eec41d520471\">Where should you register your domain name?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-9d6595d7 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-top is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:66%\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"what-are-tldsdomain-extensions--7b3bd490-7260-44ba-bd83-601bf35f1d44\"><strong>What are TLDs\/domain extensions?<\/strong> <\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>When trying to reach a website or an email address one always needs to add a dot at the end of its name followed by some letters. Those letters are the top-level domain (TLD), also known as domain extension or suffix. To illustrate with our own domain name <a href=\"https:\/\/www.icdsoft.com\/?mtm_campaign=blog\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ICDSoft.com<\/a>: \u201c<strong>.com<\/strong>\u201d is the top-level domain and \u201cICDSoft\u201d is the second-level domain. The name most meaningful to people usually comes at the second level to the left of the dot (whitehouse.gov), or in some cases at the third level (pm.gov.au). <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"how-did-domain-names-appear-40ae4703-7287-48ba-9e3f-a398663adad6\"><strong>How did domain names appear?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p> In the infancy of the Internet, networked computers were identified and accessed only by a string of numbers delimited by dots. These are called IP (Internet Protocol) addresses. However, they were difficult to remember, so easier to remember and use domain names were invented to simplify the access to resources on the Internet. Domain names are meaningful words or strings of characters, numbers and some punctuation marks that are matched to the IP addresses of computers (servers) by Domain Name System (DNS) servers. With the invention of the World Wide Web and the rapid growth of the number of business and personal websites since the mid 1990s, the importance of recognizable and easy to remember domain names became even more important. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"color:#32373c;background-color:#209cef\" class=\"wp-block-genesis-blocks-gb-notice gb-font-size-18 gb-block-notice\" data-id=\"5e5432\"><div class=\"gb-notice-text\" style=\"border-color:#209cef\"><p> The first TLDs were <strong>.arpa<\/strong>, .<strong>gov<\/strong> (government),<strong> .edu<\/strong> (education), <strong>.com<\/strong> (commercial), <strong>.mil<\/strong> (military), <strong>.org<\/strong> (organization), and <strong>.net<\/strong> (network). The oldest <strong>.com<\/strong> domain is <strong>symbolics.com<\/strong>.  <\/p><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-bottom is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:34%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.icdsoft.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/most_popular_tlds_2020_by_icdsoft.png\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"410\" height=\"1024\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.icdsoft.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/most_popular_tlds_2020_by_icdsoft-410x1024.png\" alt=\"https:\/\/www.icdsoft.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/most_popular_tlds_2020_by_icdsoft-1.png\" class=\"wp-image-6920 lazyload\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.icdsoft.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/most_popular_tlds_2020_by_icdsoft-410x1024.png 410w, https:\/\/www.icdsoft.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/most_popular_tlds_2020_by_icdsoft-120x300.png 120w, https:\/\/www.icdsoft.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/most_popular_tlds_2020_by_icdsoft-768x1920.png 768w, https:\/\/www.icdsoft.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/most_popular_tlds_2020_by_icdsoft.png 800w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 410px) 100vw, 410px\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 410px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 410\/1024;\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.icdsoft.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/most_popular_tlds_2020_by_icdsoft.png\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"Full resolution image (opens in a new tab)\">Full resolution image<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"what-are-the-most-popular-tlds-17833e76-402a-42a6-b037-8de166899925\"><strong>What are the most popular TLDs?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>It is not easy (may be even impossible) to get a completely accurate number of the registered domains of each TLD, as not all registries publish their domain count. That's why in the following table, we have made an overview of the data coming from 4 reputable providers: Verisign, DomainTools, W3Techs, and ZoneFiles.io. <strong>The table is sortable, just click on the title of the column.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"color:#32373c;background-color:#209cef\" class=\"wp-block-genesis-blocks-gb-notice gb-font-size-18 gb-block-notice\" data-id=\"5e5432\"><div class=\"gb-notice-text\" style=\"border-color:#209cef\"><p>The majority of TLDs are limited to 63 characters. That means you can't register a domain with over 63 characters. <\/p><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<table class=\"wp-block-advgb-table advgb-table-frontend tablesorter is-style-default\" style=\"border-collapse:collapse\"><thead><tr><th>TLD<\/th><th>Verisign  \u2195 <\/th><th>DomainTools  \u2195 <\/th><th>W3Techs  \u2195 <\/th><th>ZoneFiles.io  \u2195 <\/th><\/tr><\/thead><tbody><tr><td>.com<\/td><td> 143<\/td><td>146,089,243<\/td><td>49.3%<\/td><td>144,129,895<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"border-width:0\">.net<\/td><td> 13.1<\/td><td> 10,105,598<\/td><td>3.5%<\/td><td>13,175,070<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>.org<\/td><td> 10.1<\/td><td> 10,105,598<\/td><td>4.8%<\/td><td>10,130,631<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>.de<\/td><td>16.3<\/td><td> 14,773,154<\/td><td>2.1%<\/td><td>7,303,903<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>.icu<\/td><td> <\/td><td> 6,026,079 <\/td><td>&lt;0.1%<\/td><td>6,020,041<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>.uk<\/td><td>13.3<\/td><td> 10,971,078  <\/td><td>1.7%<\/td><td>5,554,029<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>.ru<\/td><td>5.7<\/td><td> 4,832,534<\/td><td>5.6% <\/td><td>4,972,532<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>.info<\/td><td> 4.5 <\/td><td> 3,411,210<\/td><td>0.8%<\/td><td>4,484,174<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>.top<\/td><td> 3.4 <\/td><td> 3,411,210<\/td><td>0.1%<\/td><td>3,418,124<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>.xyz<\/td><td> 2.5 <\/td><td> 2,524,192<\/td><td>0.3%<\/td><td>2,515,631<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>.tk<\/td><td>25.1<\/td><td> 29,216,174<\/td><td>0.1%<\/td><td>404,591<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>.cn<\/td><td>23.0<\/td><td> 14,948,676<\/td><td>0.4%<\/td><td>1,888,205<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>.ga<\/td><td><\/td><td> 5,668,021<\/td><td>&lt;0.1%<\/td><td>205,664<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>.cf<\/td><td><\/td><td> 5,497,355<\/td><td>&lt;0.1%<\/td><td>137,799<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>.nl<\/td><td>5.9<\/td><td> 5,210,876<\/td><td>0.5%<\/td><td>2,293,373<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>\n\n\n\n<p>As you can see from the data the only thing that all reports fully agree on is that <strong>.com still reigns supreme<\/strong>.<strong> Dotcom has become more or less synonymous with the World Wide Web<\/strong>, and it doesn\u2019t seem like it will be dethroned any time soon. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As to country-code TLDs, as long as they keep their real numbers private, all we can enjoy are various flavors of speculation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can find information about the providers and their methodology below:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"color:#32373c;background-color:#209cef\" class=\"wp-block-genesis-blocks-gb-notice gb-font-size-18 gb-block-notice\" data-id=\"744bfd\"><div class=\"gb-notice-title\" style=\"color:#fff\"><p> Verisign <\/p><\/div><div class=\"gb-notice-text\" style=\"border-color:#209cef\"><p><strong>Verisign <\/strong>is the US company managing the<strong> .com<\/strong> and<strong> .net<\/strong> TLDs among others, and the only entity running two (as in more than one) of the thirteen root name servers of the Internet. Verisign.com publishes a quarterly report on the state of domain name registrations. The data above comes from their <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.verisign.com\/en_US\/domain-names\/dnib\/index.xhtml\" target=\"_blank\">Q3 2019 report<\/a>.<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"color:#32373c;background-color:#209cef\" class=\"wp-block-genesis-blocks-gb-notice gb-font-size-18 gb-block-notice\" data-id=\"1ba709\"><div class=\"gb-notice-title\" style=\"color:#fff\"><p>  DomainTools <\/p><\/div><div class=\"gb-notice-text\" style=\"border-color:#209cef\"><p><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"http:\/\/research.domaintools.com\/statistics\/tld-counts\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>DomainTools.com<\/strong><\/a> is another reputable provider of TLD statistics. They aggregate data from registries that publish data. For registries which don't publish official data, the number is approximate, based on their crawl stats. We recommend visiting their site, as it is updated in real-time and provides a nice, sortable list.<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"color:#32373c;background-color:#209cef\" class=\"wp-block-genesis-blocks-gb-notice gb-font-size-18 gb-block-notice\" data-id=\"49d776\"><div class=\"gb-notice-title\" style=\"color:#fff\"><p>   W3Techs <\/p><\/div><div class=\"gb-notice-text\" style=\"border-color:#209cef\"><p><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/w3techs.com\/technologies\/overview\/top_level_domain\/all\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>W3Techs.com<\/strong><\/a> use a completely different methodology. It is based on usage, not total number of registrations. They use certain checks to disqualify \u201cspam\u201d websites and subdomains. Visit their site for real-time updates.<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"color:#32373c;background-color:#209cef\" class=\"wp-block-genesis-blocks-gb-notice gb-font-size-18 gb-block-notice\" data-id=\"79b511\"><div class=\"gb-notice-title\" style=\"color:#fff\"><p> ZoneFiles.io <\/p><\/div><div class=\"gb-notice-text\" style=\"border-color:#209cef\"><p><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/zonefiles.io\/all-registered-domains\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Zonefiles.io<\/strong><\/a>  use their own methods for collecting and analyzing domain usage data. They provide a basic daily report on their website, along with downloadable lists of all registered domains in the zone (that they know of). Their results may be closer to the real \u201cpopularity\u201d numbers for TLDs, instead of total number of registered domains.<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"which-are-the-ones-to-avoid-5e8176b2-b3c7-47d6-abfa-fd2fe6dbb8cb\"><strong>Which are the ones to avoid?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"Spamhaus.org (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.spamhaus.org\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Spamhaus.org<\/strong><\/a> (an organization fighting spam on the Internet) maintains a <strong><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.spamhaus.org\/statistics\/tlds\/\" target=\"_blank\">list of TLDs with the worst reputation<\/a><\/strong> based on the amount of email spam originating from them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Their ranking uses a formula that is based on the number of registered domains and the number of \"bad\" domains. We strongly recommend that you check their website for the most current list (it is updated very frequently):<\/p>\n\n\n\n<table class=\"wp-block-advgb-table advgb-table-frontend is-style-stripes\"><thead><tr><th>Position<\/th><th>Domain<\/th><th>Badness Index<\/th><\/tr><\/thead><tbody><tr><td style=\"border-top-color:#eeeeee;border-bottom-color:#eeeeee;border-width:1px;padding-top:2px;padding-right:2px;padding-bottom:2px;padding-left:2px\" data-border-color=\"#eeeeee\">1.<\/td><td style=\"border-top-color:#eeeeee;border-bottom-color:#eeeeee;border-width:1px;padding-top:2px;padding-right:2px;padding-bottom:2px;padding-left:2px\" data-border-color=\"#eeeeee\">.live<\/td><td>5.79<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"border-bottom-color:#eeeeee;border-width:1px;padding-top:2px;padding-right:2px;padding-bottom:2px;padding-left:2px\" data-border-color=\"#eeeeee\">2.<\/td><td style=\"border-bottom-color:#eeeeee;border-width:1px;padding-top:2px;padding-right:2px;padding-bottom:2px;padding-left:2px\" data-border-color=\"#eeeeee\">.buzz<\/td><td>5.46<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"border-bottom-color:#eeeeee;border-width:1px;padding-top:2px;padding-right:2px;padding-bottom:2px;padding-left:2px\" data-border-color=\"#eeeeee\">3.<\/td><td style=\"border-bottom-color:#eeeeee;border-width:1px;padding-top:2px;padding-right:2px;padding-bottom:2px;padding-left:2px\" data-border-color=\"#eeeeee\">.gq<\/td><td>4.85<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"border-bottom-color:#eeeeee;border-width:1px;padding-top:2px;padding-right:2px;padding-bottom:2px;padding-left:2px\" data-border-color=\"#eeeeee\">4.<\/td><td style=\"border-bottom-color:#eeeeee;border-width:1px;padding-top:2px;padding-right:2px;padding-bottom:2px;padding-left:2px\" data-border-color=\"#eeeeee\">.tk<\/td><td>4.75<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"border-bottom-color:#eeeeee;border-width:1px;padding-top:2px;padding-right:2px;padding-bottom:2px;padding-left:2px\" data-border-color=\"#eeeeee\">5.<\/td><td style=\"border-bottom-color:#eeeeee;border-width:1px;padding-top:2px;padding-right:2px;padding-bottom:2px;padding-left:2px\" data-border-color=\"#eeeeee\">.fit<\/td><td>4.60<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"border-bottom-color:#eeeeee;border-width:1px;padding-top:2px;padding-right:2px;padding-bottom:2px;padding-left:2px\" data-border-color=\"#eeeeee\">6.<\/td><td style=\"border-bottom-color:#eeeeee;border-width:1px;padding-top:2px;padding-right:2px;padding-bottom:2px;padding-left:2px\" data-border-color=\"#eeeeee\">.cf<\/td><td>4.33<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"border-bottom-color:#eeeeee;border-width:1px;padding-top:2px;padding-right:2px;padding-bottom:2px;padding-left:2px\" data-border-color=\"#eeeeee\">7.<\/td><td style=\"border-bottom-color:#eeeeee;border-width:1px;padding-top:2px;padding-right:2px;padding-bottom:2px;padding-left:2px\" data-border-color=\"#eeeeee\">.ga<\/td><td>4.28<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"border-bottom-color:#eeeeee;border-width:1px;padding-top:2px;padding-right:2px;padding-bottom:2px;padding-left:2px\" data-border-color=\"#eeeeee\">8.<\/td><td style=\"border-bottom-color:#eeeeee;border-width:1px;padding-top:2px;padding-right:2px;padding-bottom:2px;padding-left:2px\" data-border-color=\"#eeeeee\">.ml<\/td><td>3.99<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"border-bottom-color:#eeeeee;border-width:1px;padding-top:2px;padding-right:2px;padding-bottom:2px;padding-left:2px\" data-border-color=\"#eeeeee\">9.<\/td><td style=\"border-bottom-color:#eeeeee;border-width:1px;padding-top:2px;padding-right:2px;padding-bottom:2px;padding-left:2px\" data-border-color=\"#eeeeee\">.wang<\/td><td>3.55<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"border-bottom-color:#eeeeee;border-width:1px;padding-top:2px;padding-right:2px;padding-bottom:2px;padding-left:2px\" data-border-color=\"#eeeeee\">10.<\/td><td style=\"border-bottom-color:#eeeeee;border-width:1px;padding-top:2px;padding-right:2px;padding-bottom:2px;padding-left:2px\" data-border-color=\"#eeeeee\">.top<\/td><td>3.23<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"how-many-tlds-are-there-a6d62ef7-e13f-470b-a994-edb72368b6e9\"><strong>How many TLDs are there?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>According to the Root Zone Database of the <em>Internet Assigned Numbers Authority<\/em> (<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.iana.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">IANA.org<\/a>), as of January 14, 2020, there were <strong>1578 TLDs<\/strong> of all types without counting the ones listed as \"retired\" and \"test\". <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>IANA distinguishes among the following groups of top-level domains:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"color:#32373c;background-color:#209cef\" class=\"wp-block-genesis-blocks-gb-notice gb-font-size-18 gb-block-notice\" data-id=\"e37d62\"><div class=\"gb-notice-title\" style=\"color:#fff\"><p>  <strong>Country-code top-level domains (ccTLD)<\/strong>  <\/p><\/div><div class=\"gb-notice-text\" style=\"border-color:#209cef\"><p>\u0422hese are reserved for each country, sovereign state or dependent territory which has a two-letter country code assigned under the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 standard. Examples of such domains are <strong>.us<\/strong> (United States), <strong>.eu<\/strong> (European Union), <strong>.de<\/strong> (Germany), <strong>.ca<\/strong> (Canada), <strong>.hk<\/strong> (Hong Kong). There are <strong>316 such TLDs <\/strong>as of January 14, 2020.  <\/p><p>An interesting fact is that many ccTLDs are often \"repurposed\" for other uses. For example, Armenia's <strong>.am<\/strong> TLD is popular among radio stations, while Djibouti's .<strong>dj<\/strong> TLD comes quite handy for professional DJs. Latvia's <strong>.lv<\/strong> is regarded as the unofficial TLD for Las Vegas. <strong>.tv<\/strong> is one of the most exported products of the nation of Tuvalu. <\/p><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"color:#32373c;background-color:#209cef\" class=\"wp-block-genesis-blocks-gb-notice gb-font-size-18 gb-block-notice\" data-id=\"cc09b8\"><div class=\"gb-notice-title\" style=\"color:#fff\"><p> <strong>Generic top-level domains (gTLD)<\/strong>  <\/p><\/div><div class=\"gb-notice-text\" style=\"border-color:#209cef\"><p>The greatest number by far falls into this group, <strong>1243 domains <\/strong>as of January 14, 2020. You can find here staples such as <strong>.com<\/strong>, <strong>.net<\/strong> and <strong>.org<\/strong> rubbing shoulders with <strong>.bingo<\/strong> and <strong>.blackfriday<\/strong>. Anyone can register domain names under these TLDs. <\/p><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"color:#32373c;background-color:#209cef\" class=\"wp-block-genesis-blocks-gb-notice gb-font-size-18 gb-block-notice\" data-id=\"1bb92f\"><div class=\"gb-notice-title\" style=\"color:#fff\"><p> <strong>Sponsored top-level domains (sTLD)<\/strong> <\/p><\/div><div class=\"gb-notice-text\" style=\"border-color:#209cef\"><p>These TLDs are managed by private organizations which require certain requirements to be met before you can register a domain with them. The group includes a total of 14 TLDs, the most widely-known being <strong>.gov<\/strong>, <strong>.edu<\/strong> and <strong>.mil<\/strong>, currently reserved for government, higher-education and military organizations in the US. <\/p><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"color:#32373c;background-color:#209cef\" class=\"wp-block-genesis-blocks-gb-notice gb-font-size-18 gb-block-notice\" data-id=\"d78174\"><div class=\"gb-notice-title\" style=\"color:#fff\"><p> <strong>Infrastructure top-level domain<\/strong> <\/p><\/div><div class=\"gb-notice-text\" style=\"border-color:#209cef\"><p>There is only one TLD in this category - <strong>.arpa<\/strong>, initially standing for Advanced Research Projects Agency, and now for Address and Routing Parameter Area. This TLD contains the domains used for reverse domain name resolution. <\/p><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"the-most-expensive-domains-in-the-world-7d7ace27-ac99-4d46-9c1d-56cc741d5036\">The most expensive domains in the world<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>It is speculated that the most expensive domain ever sold is <strong>cars.com<\/strong>. It was <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sec.gov\/Archives\/edgar\/data\/39899\/000003989915000006\/gci-20141228x10k.htm\" target=\"_blank\">reportedly<\/a> purchased for <strong>$872 million USD <\/strong>by the company Gannet Co., Inc.    <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"color:#32373c;background-color:#209cef\" class=\"wp-block-genesis-blocks-gb-notice gb-font-size-18 gb-block-notice\" data-id=\"5e5432\"><div class=\"gb-notice-text\" style=\"border-color:#209cef\"><p>All three-character .com domains were bought out in around 2001. So unless you had the foresight to register a three character domain about two decades ago, and you are not willing to spend anywhere from over $20k dollars to several million, sorry, you are late to the party.   <\/p><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Other notable sales are these of <strong>CarInsurance.com<\/strong>, <strong>Insurance.com<\/strong>, <strong>VacationRentals.com<\/strong>, and <strong>PrivateJet.com<\/strong>, but these deals usually include transfer of other assets as well, or aren't verifiable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The following list includes only all-cash sales of domains (not websites, or businesses including domains):<\/p>\n\n\n\n<table class=\"wp-block-advgb-table advgb-table-frontend\"><thead><tr><th>Domain Name<\/th><th>Sold for<\/th><th style=\"border-width:2px\">Year of sale<\/th><\/tr><\/thead><tbody><tr><td>Voice.com<\/td><td>$30 million<\/td><td>2019<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>360.com<\/td><td>$17 million<\/td><td>2015<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Sex.com<\/td><td>$13 million<\/td><td>2010<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Fund.com<\/td><td>$12 million<\/td><td>2008<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Hotels.com<\/td><td>$11 million<\/td><td>2001<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Tesla.com<\/td><td>$11 million<\/td><td>2014<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Porn.com<\/td><td>$9.5 million<\/td><td>2007<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Porno.com<\/td><td>$8.8 million<\/td><td>2015<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Fb.com<\/td><td>$8.5 million<\/td><td>2010<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>We.com<\/td><td>$8 million<\/td><td>2015<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Diamond.com<\/td><td>$7.5 million<\/td><td>2006<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Beer.com<\/td><td>$7 million<\/td><td>2004<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Z.com<\/td><td>$6.8 million<\/td><td>2014<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>iCloud.com<\/td><td>$6 million<\/td><td>2011<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Casino.com<\/td><td>$5.5 million<\/td><td>2003<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Slots.com<\/td><td>$5.5 million<\/td><td>2010<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"where-should-you-register-your-domain-name-9f5fa4e7-af23-4672-bab0-eec41d520471\"><strong>Where should you register your domain name?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>You place a lot of trust in the company handling your domain name registration and having a <strong>reputable company<\/strong> for this task is of upmost importance.  Many registrars have employed shady practices over the years (like \"pre-registering\" domains which users searched on their site, for example), so be careful when choosing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a aria-label=\"ICDSoft  (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.icdsoft.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>IC<\/strong><\/a><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.icdsoft.com\/?mtm_campaign=blog\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">D<\/a><\/strong><a aria-label=\"ICDSoft  (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.icdsoft.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>Soft<\/strong> <\/a>has been in the domain registration and hosting business for nearly 20 years now. We are independently owned and trusted by tens of thousands of customers. We maintain a completely transparent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.icdsoft.com\/en\/domains\/?mtm_campaign=blog\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>domain pricing policy<\/strong><\/a> and sell domains at wholesale prices, as we believe that they should be a commodity item. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>All registration, renewal and transfer prices are clearly listed, and you can find them in our <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.icdsoft.com\/en\/domains#dpl\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">domain pricing list<\/a>. <\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"text-align:center\" class=\"wp-block-genesis-blocks-gb-cta gb-block-cta\"><div class=\"gb-cta-content\"><h2 class=\"gb-cta-title gb-font-size-40\" style=\"color:#313131\">Fair Pricing for Domains<\/h2><div class=\"gb-cta-text gb-font-size-32\" style=\"color:#313131\"><p>ICDSoft offers domains at wholesale prices<\/p><\/div><\/div><div class=\"gb-cta-button\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.icdsoft.com\/en\/domains?mtm_campaign=blog\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" class=\"gb-button gb-button-shape-square gb-button-size-medium\" style=\"color:#ffffff;background-color:#3373dc\">Domain Registration Pricing List<\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"770\" height=\"500\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.icdsoft.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/770\u0445500.jpg\" alt=\"ICDSoft logo with slogan Quality web hosting since 2001 on a textured blue and white background.\" class=\"wp-image-4474 lazyload\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.icdsoft.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/770\u0445500.jpg 770w, https:\/\/www.icdsoft.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/770\u0445500-300x195.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.icdsoft.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/770\u0445500-768x499.jpg 768w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 770px) 100vw, 770px\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 770px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 770\/500;\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Which are the most popular TLDs and which are the ones to avoid? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6920,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[24,1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-4887","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-domains","8":"category-general"},"author_meta":{"display_name":"ICDSoft","author_link":"https:\/\/www.icdsoft.com\/blog\/author\/icdsoft\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/www.icdsoft.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/most_popular_tlds_2020_by_icdsoft-120x300.png","featured_image_src":"https:\/\/www.icdsoft.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/most_popular_tlds_2020_by_icdsoft.png","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/www.icdsoft.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/most_popular_tlds_2020_by_icdsoft.png","author_info":{"display_name":"ICDSoft","author_link":"https:\/\/www.icdsoft.com\/blog\/author\/icdsoft\/"},"coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["<a href=\"https:\/\/www.icdsoft.com\/blog\/category\/domains\/\" class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">Domains<\/a>","<a href=\"https:\/\/www.icdsoft.com\/blog\/category\/general\/\" class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">General<\/a>"],"unlinked":["<span class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">Domains<\/span>","<span class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">General<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":"0","relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 5 years ago","modified":"Updated 5 months ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on January 10, 2022","modified":"Updated on March 19, 2026"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on January 10, 2022 6:20 am","modified":"Updated on March 19, 2026 8:15 am"},"featured_img_caption":"","series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.icdsoft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4887","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.icdsoft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.icdsoft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.icdsoft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.icdsoft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4887"}],"version-history":[{"count":171,"href":"https:\/\/www.icdsoft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4887\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14955,"href":"https:\/\/www.icdsoft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4887\/revisions\/14955"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.icdsoft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.icdsoft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.icdsoft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4887"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.icdsoft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}