Tech Domain Trends: Which Extensions Will Thrive in 2025?

Introduction

In the current digital landscape, choosing the right domain has become crucial to reflect the technological identity of a project. It’s no longer just about the classic .com: in 2024, there was a surge of domain extensions for startups and tech businesses, ranging from new generics to geographical domains repurposed for technology. With more than 1,590 domain extensions available on the Internet, companies have a vast range of options to build their online brand.

Among the best extensions for tech companies, popular choices include .io, favored by startups, and .ai, mainly associated with artificial intelligence. Additionally, the .dev domain for developers has established itself as a solid option for those seeking to convey professionalism within the sector.

What are the web domain trends with the most momentum heading into 2025? Below, we explore recent data, success stories, and projections about domain portfolio management, also considering aspects like SEO in new domain extensions and alternatives to the .com domain.

1. Current Domain Landscape

The domain ecosystem has significantly evolved in recent years. Currently, over 362 million domains are registered worldwide, spread across more than 1,590 different extensions. Although the traditional .com continues to dominate the market, its growth has stagnated, even experiencing a slight decline of 2.5% year-over-year, while alternative extensions gain ground, especially in tech sectors. Without a doubt, choosing the right domain can be the key to successfully establishing your digital presence with your technology company.

2. Most popular tech extensions

2.1 .com: The undisputed king

By the end of 2024, there were around 156.7 million .com domains registered, maintaining a substantial lead over any other extension. However, its growth has stalled, indicating market saturation, prompting many businesses to explore alternatives.

2.2 .io: The startup domain

Originally the country code for the British Indian Ocean Territory, .io has become synonymous with startups and software projects (due to "Input/Output"). In 2023, it reached over 1.09 million registered domains, with an annual growth of 32%, and is projected to exceed 1.6 million by 2025.

Approximately 62% of .io registrations come from the U.S., reflecting its popularity in Silicon Valley. Platforms like Agar.io and Slither.io boosted its fame, creating an entire genre of ".io games". Today, .io accounts for roughly 0.2% of all websites globally, a significant figure given the total number of sites on the Internet.

2.3 .ai: The artificial intelligence extension

Anguilla's domain has become the preferred extension for artificial intelligence projects. Registrations surged by 156% between 2022 and 2023, jumping from 144,000 to 354,000 .ai domains. This trend continued into 2024, reaching 533,000 active .ai domains by October.

This boom has had a tangible impact: in 2023 alone, .ai generated approximately US$32 million in revenue for Anguilla (20% of the government’s income). Its pricing strategy (US$140 for two years of registration) has proven effective, with a renewal rate close to 90% after two years, indicating those investing in .ai consider it critical for their brand.

2.4 .tech: The innovation identifier

Launched in 2015 as a technology-specific gTLD, .tech has been increasingly adopted by both startups and large enterprise initiatives. By 2024, it surpassed 600,000 cumulative registrations.

Prominent organizations have adopted .tech to reinforce their innovative image. For example, the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) uses ces.tech, highlighting its connection to the industry. High-profile startups in consumer technology, autonomous vehicles, and sensors also use .tech domains to position themselves at the technological forefront.

2.5 Other relevant extensions

.tv: Tuvalu's extension resurfaced as synonymous with video/streaming content. Platforms like Twitch.tv have solidified .tv in the tech-entertainment market. Hundreds of thousands of active .tv sites are estimated.
.gg: Guernsey's country code, .gg has become the favorite extension among the gaming community (due to the expression "gg" - good game). Its registration base is modest but has recently seen annual growth rates of 5-10%.
.co: Colombia's domain has become a global code for "company" and is particularly popular among startups. Globally, .co surpasses 3 million active domains.
.dev: Launched by Google in 2019, this developer-oriented extension has steadily gained traction in the tech community, noted for its extremely high renewal rate.
.xyz: Among new generic extensions, .xyz stands out in absolute volume, with around 4 to 5 million active registrations.

3. What Domains Do Tech Companies Use?

3.1 Established Tech Giants

Large technology companies (Google, Apple, Microsoft, etc.) mostly stick to .com for their main sites, as it is the most globally recognized extension. However, even these giants have begun to explore new TLDs for parallel projects or specific initiatives.

For example, Intel uses intel.tech for a developer-oriented portal, and Alphabet (Google’s parent company) made headlines by launching its corporate website on abc.xyz. These strategic decisions demonstrate that big corporations see value in new extensions to segment their online presence, even if .com remains the cornerstone of their digital identities.

3.2 Startups and Emerging Companies

Tech startups have driven the adoption of alternative domains the most. While .com remains the main choice (used by approximately 57% of startups surveyed in 2023), new companies increasingly turn to extensions like .io and .ai.

In fact, .io was used by 11% of startups in 2023 (up from 5% in 2021), surpassing other popular alternatives like .co or .ai in preference. This highlights .io’s positioning as “the startup domain,” chosen when the desired .com is taken or to project a modern, technical image.

Meanwhile, .ai is gaining ground among AI and machine learning startups, who adopt it to emphasize their focus on artificial intelligence through their name. In summary, young companies show greater flexibility and boldness in choosing domains outside “.com,” prioritizing availability, meaning, and sector-specific branding.

3.3 Developers and Open Source Projects

In the realm of developers and software projects, there is a marked preference for certain specific TLDs. For instance, .dev has been adopted for documentation sites, programming blogs, and testing environments, partly due to Google positioning .dev as a secure and development-dedicated space (forcing HTTPS).

Open-source communities have traditionally used .org extensively, but lately, .io has become common for technology project pages. GitHub Pages, GitHub’s static site hosting service, assigns sites under the github.io domain, attracting around 870,000 monthly visitors combined.

For mobile applications and modern web services, Google introduced .app (another TLD with an HTTPS requirement) which many startups use for their app websites. As for .gg, its use is concentrated among video game developers and esports communities.

The development community tends to adopt domains that provide technical meaning or practicality: .dev indicates a development environment, .io evokes programming, .app suggests a mobile application, etc.

4. Growth Projections for 2025

Looking ahead to 2025, trends indicate continuous growth in technological extensions, although with varying trajectories:

.IO and .AI as trend leaders: Both extensions have shown explosive growth and are expected to continue upward. .io is likely to surpass 1.5 million active domains by 2025. Meanwhile, .ai could reach around 700-800k domains by late 2025 if trends persist.
Greater adoption of new gTLDs in specific sectors: Extensions like .tech, .dev, .cloud, .app, and other niche-oriented tech domains will keep gaining brand recognition. More established companies will utilize these domains for launches or specialized sub-sites.
.com remains but loses relative proportion: We won't see the "death" of .com, but relatively, it might slowly continue losing market share against the alternatives. Recent reports show declines in combined .com/.net registrations and renewal rates around ~72%.
Geographical extensions benefiting from global trends: Cases like .ai (Anguilla) and .io (BIOT) have shown how small countries can benefit from global tech trends. Other ccTLDs could experience similar phenomena.
Importance of lifecycle and retention: A critical aspect for 2025 will be how renewal rates evolve for these tech domains. Niche domains like .dev are successfully retaining users, and .ai has ~90% two-year retention, far above the industry average.

5. Impact on SEO and Lifecycle

A common concern when considering a non-traditional domain is its effect on SEO. Does Google penalize sites that don't use .com? The short answer is no: for years, search engines have clarified that all extensions are treated equally in terms of ranking.

"Our systems treat new gTLDs the same as .com or .org; having certain keywords in the extension provides no advantage or disadvantage in search," Google states. This means a .tech or .io site can rank just as well as a .com site, provided the content, authority, and user experience are high-quality.

However, there are indirect effects to consider. The domain influences user perception, which can indirectly impact SEO. For instance, a memorable domain aligned with your tech brand can improve click-through rates (CTR) in search results or ads.

Regarding the Yearly Lifecycle of Domains (YLD), a 2024 study revealed that a typical .com domain is maintained for only about 2.1 years on average before expiring or transferring. In contrast, specialized tech extensions show indications of longer lifecycles with their target users.

6. Successful Cases with Tech Domains

To illustrate how a domain can add brand value, let's explore real success cases where choosing an unconventional extension was advantageous:

Twitch.tv: The famous video game streaming platform adopted .tv from its inception, perfectly aligning this extension with its business model. Twitch grew until it was acquired by Amazon and never needed to migrate to a .com, demonstrating that a ccTLD can support a global company.
Alphabet (abc.xyz): When Google restructured under parent company Alphabet Inc. in 2015, it surprised many by choosing abc.xyz as its main domain. Alphabet cleverly used "ABC" and "XYZ" to symbolize covering everything from A to Z.
CES (ces.tech): The Consumer Technology Association, organizer of the Consumer Electronics Show, strengthened its technological branding by adopting ces.tech for the event's official website. Using .tech, CES instantly communicates its focus on technology and innovation.
DeepMind.ai: DeepMind, a pioneering artificial intelligence company, hosts its research site at deepmind.ai. Although its main page remains at deepmind.com, the dedicated deepmind.ai site highlights its AI core.
Agar.io: This simple multiplayer web game launched in 2015 became a viral phenomenon and practically created the ".io games" subgenre. Agar.io’s success (followed by Slither.io, Diep.io, and others) fully validated .io as the domain of choice for indie games.

7. Tools for Following Domain Trends

To stay updated with trends in tech domains, it's important to rely on external tools and reliable data sources:

Industry Reports (Domain Name Industry Brief): Verisign quarterly publishes a report with global registration statistics for all TLDs.
Reports and data from ICANN/IANA: ICANN manages root-level domain assignments. Their website and IANA's provide updated lists of all existing extensions.
Real-time statistics sites: Tools like nTLDStats or DomainNameStat allow monitoring the number of registered domains per new extension in real-time.
W3Techs and web usage analysis: Knowing domain registrations isn't enough—it's also crucial to know how many active websites use them. W3Techs extensively surveys the most popular websites.
WHOIS databases and research tools: For investigating specific cases, tools like WHOIS enable users to see who owns a tech domain, its creation date, expiration, and more.
Specialized blogs and communities: To stay informed, follow industry sources like Domain Name Wire, DNJournal, CircleID, or forums like NamePros.

8. Conclusions and Recommendations

The trends in technology domains 2025 reveal a more diverse and dynamic ecosystem than ever. Extensions that a few years ago seemed like mere curiosities —.io, .ai, .tech, .gg— now compete for the preference of startups, developers, and innovative organizations seeking to differentiate themselves in a saturated digital environment.

For companies and entrepreneurs, the message is clear: it's no longer all about .com. Although it remains important, alternatives to the .com domain offer advantages in terms of branding, availability, and differentiation that are hard to ignore. A creative domain aligned with the tech sector can add significant value to a brand from the very first interaction with the user.

However, adopting a tech domain also involves responsibilities related to domain portfolio management. It is essential to ensure renewal, monitor potential conflicts related to Trademark, and be prepared to migrate if the strategy requires it. Additionally, SEO in new domain extensions is an aspect that must be carefully considered to maximize online visibility.

In conclusion, 2025 will be a key year in which many of these web domain trends will consolidate. The best extensions for tech companies will be those that manage to balance niche identity, broad adoption, and user trust. Although .io and .ai are leading the battle of .io vs .ai domains, the game remains open and full of opportunities.

The recommendation for any tech company in 2025 is to strategically evaluate their options when registering a tech domain. Choosing a domain aligned with their sector can be a powerful catalyst for branding and credibility, while securing key domains remains an essential protective practice.