What is .com?

You’ll most often come across the generic TLD .com on the web – an ab­bre­vi­a­tion of the word “com­mer­cial.” Many companies use a .com domain because it’s in­ter­na­tion­al­ly rec­og­nized, well es­tab­lished, and conveys a serious and pro­fes­sion­al image.

What does .com stand for?

Everyone’s heard of it, but many don’t actually know what the top-level domain .com really means. RFC 920 defines .com as “com­mer­cial.” However, internet pioneer Jack Haverty spec­u­lat­ed that the three letters might orig­i­nal­ly have stood for “company.” “In the early days of the internet, in the 1980s and 1990s, it wasn’t meant to connect busi­ness­es with each other,” explains Haverty, who at the time worked at the Mass­a­chu­setts Institute of Tech­nol­o­gy (MIT). After 35 years, “com­mer­cial” has long since become the undis­put­ed meaning of the .com domain.

The success story of .com

The .com suffix is a generic top-level domain (gTLD) managed by the U.S. company Verisign, head­quar­tered in Virginia. Like other TLDs, its ad­min­is­tra­tion is overseen by the in­ter­na­tion­al or­ga­ni­za­tion ICANN. The .com domain was launched on January 1, 1985, and just two months later, it was first assigned as a domain suffix to the American company Symbolics. About a year after that, computer giants IBM and Sun Mi­crosys­tems followed suit.

What are the ad­van­tages of a .com domain?

With more than 150 million reg­is­tered domains, .com remains by far the most popular top-level domain worldwide. Its strong rep­u­ta­tion and global recog­ni­tion make it a top choice not only for in­ter­na­tion­al cor­po­ra­tions but also for small and medium-sized busi­ness­es, fast-growing startups, and free­lancers in creative in­dus­tries.

Many associate the ab­bre­vi­a­tion—often un­con­scious­ly—with certain values such as pro­fes­sion­al­ism and re­li­a­bil­i­ty. This is one reason why the .com domain is more popular than other popular domain ex­ten­sions. In the U.S., addresses with a .com TLD are reg­is­tered far more fre­quent­ly than those with the country-specific .us TLD.

The ab­bre­vi­a­tion .com is in­ter­na­tion­al­ly rec­og­nized, and anyone — whether an in­di­vid­ual or a legal entity — can register such a domain, re­gard­less of residency. Domain names with special char­ac­ters are also supported. In addition, .com domains can be reg­is­tered using Latin letters as well as Japanese, Korean, and Hebrew char­ac­ters. Compared to other TLDs, the reg­is­tra­tion costs are typically very low.

What are the dis­ad­van­tages of a .com domain?

A .com domain isn’t always the ideal option. While it offers several benefits, it lacks the clear ge­o­graph­ic as­so­ci­a­tion provided by country-specific ex­ten­sions like .de for Germany or .es for Spain. These country-code domains (ccTLDs) tend to inspire greater trust among users within their re­spec­tive regions than generic top-level domains.

Due to the pop­u­lar­i­ty and early release of the .com domain, many short domain names with .com are already taken. However, short domains are easier to remember. Generic domain ex­ten­sions es­tab­lished more recently, known as nTLDs, offer a sig­nif­i­cant­ly larger selection of available short domain names. For busi­ness­es and brand owners, it’s rec­om­mend­ed to secure a .com domain alongside other vari­a­tions that include their most relevant top-level domains.

What does a .com domain cost?

When it comes to domain prices, it’s important to dis­tin­guish between domains that are still available and those that have already been reg­is­tered.

• Available .com domains can often be purchased for less than one dollar per month.
• Reg­is­tered .com domains may be af­ford­able, but some can also be extremely expensive. Short names like cars.com or insurance.com are worth several million dollars.

How to register a .com domain

You can register .com domains with most domain providers. The provider handles all reg­is­tra­tion pro­ce­dures for a fee. The process usually works as follows:

1. In a search field (domain check), enter the desired domain name with .com. The system au­to­mat­i­cal­ly checks whether the name is still available. If it is, you can purchase it right away.
2. The provider takes care of the reg­is­tra­tion and ac­ti­va­tion of the domain, which typically takes around 24 hours, but may take up to 72 hours.
3. The reg­is­tra­tion is usually valid for one year and renews au­to­mat­i­cal­ly unless you cancel the domain.