With a growing list of top-level domains available at Tierra.Net (over 300 gTLDs and ccTLDs), we wanted to know which TLDs drew the most demand for 2024. (So the top TLDs, or top top-level domains, so to speak.)
What’s a gTLD? And what’s a ccTLD? These are just two of many types of TLDs (top-level domains, which make up the “top” part of a domain URL hierarchy). A gTLD is also known as a generic top-level domain, while a ccTLD is a “country-code top-level domain.”
In the arena of TLDs on the market, there are over a thousand generic TLDs in the realm of domain extensions (1591 to be exact), and over 300 ccTLDs. Generic TLDs include anything from .com and .info to .blackfriday or .wtf (yup, those are actual TLDs, sometimes known as ngTLDs or new gTLDs). The abbreviated domain extensions that indicate specific countries or sovereign states, like .nl for the Netherlands, are called ccTLDs.
It may come as very little surprise that .com still overwhelmingly conquers the domain space, followed naturally by its commonly in-demand counterparts: .net, .org, and .us. As you can guess, these TLDs remain in a league of their own for domain purchases in 2024 and historically.
But what about the other most-sought-after TLDs for last year? We took a look at domain purchases from Tierra.Net for 2024 and discovered a few other desirable domains that ranked as the hottest TLDs of the year.
Like popular area codes, domain purchases can give a fascinating glimpse into trending topics, industries and more.
With no further adieu, we present the countdown for TierraNet’s top 10 most popular TLDs of 2024:
10 – .world
Starting off our list as the tenth most popular TLD of 2024: .world. You can’t really find a more “universal” (so to speak) domain than .world. The domain extension .world is one of the most versatile domains on the market and could be used for just about anything.
“Like what?”
While useful across sectors and industries, .world is frequently used by travel, tourism and hospitality related websites. This domain extension is also perfect for sites wanting to attract a worldwide audience or demonstrate a global presence.
For instance, a brand could put their name, product or service in front of this TLD, like cruise.world or shipping.world to really maximize their use of a .world domain extension. A charity called Children’s Hope International uses hope.world for their domain name.
With so many ways to use this popular TLD, you could say the .world is your oyster!
9 – .xyz
Following .world, .xyz lands as ninth most in-demand TLD for 2024. And you might guess, there’s a few similarities between these two TLDs, with versatility remaining the most apparent.
A .xyz extension holds its own for a diverse range of possible uses, audiences and sectors. It’s so diverse that .xyz was “intended to be a truly generic gTLD, not targeted toward any particular class of registrant, aiming to be the default choice for anyone seeking a memorable and generic gTLD.” (In other words, you could actually call it a “generic generic TLD!”)
Besides creatives, entrepreneurs, tech startups, etc., .xyz has a unique niche with the fintech industry and the crypto / blockchain community. Companies like Block (formerly Square) and Mirror both use .xyz. And there’s another notable company that uses .xyz: a massive company that quietly influences millions of people a day across the globe. Alphabet Inc., the parent company of Google, has a simple and easy to remember domain name: abc.xyz.
.xyz founder Daniel Negari believes that “.xyz’s cultural significance may be one of its most important attributes, as it represents the next generation of online innovation after the .com era.” Introduced in 2014, it has also been said that .xyz is a subtle nod to “Generations XYZ.”
8 – .io
So what’s the deal.io with .io? This TLD is popular with the tech industry, startups, web dev companies and more.
Fun fact that tech savvy people already know, .io is frequently used in computer science to refer to I/O or input/output. So it makes perfect sense that this TLD ranks high for popularity in the tech world.
It’s also gained interest for its recognizability and brandability, with countless words already ending in “io,” like pistach.io, aud.io and mustach.io. Then of course there’s the words that sound catchy with “io” added to the end, like frame.io.
Along with tech startups, .io is most commonly associated with browser games, Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), open source projects and more.
Some popular browser games with this TLD include itch.io and webgames.io. APIs using .io include polygon.io’s stock market API and agify.io’s hilarious age, name and ethnicity predictive API (it was only 13% certain about the origins of my name, for which it guessed incorrectly, although astutely.)
Some open source projects and beyond: intelx.io, synthesia.io’s text-to-video generator, hackr.io’s online courses for learning tech skills and gofile.io’s all-in-one storage management.
Like we said… .io is catching on for broad applicability and clever branding.
7 – .me
It’s not just about .io, it’s also all about .me! Ok, not in a selfish way or anything ;). About .me, there’s just so much .we could say about it. (.We doesn’t actually exist yet so if you want to start a TLD maybe for the online dating world, it’s fair game.)
First fun fact about the TLD .me which you may or may not be wondering: Is .me considered a gTLD (generic TLD) or ccTLD and does it matter? Surprise, technically…it’s both! The Eastern European nation of Montenegro lays claim to assignment of the original .me ccTLD.
So for ccTLDs, there are some restricted ccTLDs, meaning that they have stipulations for use designated by the nations they are assigned to. Some ccTLDs however have opened their namespaces, allowing anyone from anywhere around the world to register them. Known as open ccTLDs, they are used as a creative branding tool rather than representing a particular territory or country.
And here is where the .me plot thickens. A huge majority of .me TLD registrants come from Western, predominantly English speaking countries. 71% of registrants were from the US, followed by the UK, Canada, and Australia. Who utilizes .me TLDs the most? There’s a clear correlation between personal branding websites (like portfolios for creatives, etc.), consulting firms and built-in CTA branding like join.me.
You might also wonder if there are any restrictions for generic use vs. geographical use of this domain. The answer to that question is no (kind of). The only geographical limitations for the .me TLD are a few third-level domains related to education, academia and government in Montenegro.
If your site doesn’t fall under those three categories, you’re free to grab a .me for your website. You can thank.me later.
6 – .mobi
Well, there’s little surprise for this TLD and how it’s most frequently used. .Mobi was originally intended for domains optimized for mobile devices.
Though it emerged in 2005 (and cell phones have also existed for at least a couple of decades), we can assume that the rise in mobile e-commerce has contributed to the surge in demand for the .mobi TLD. Many companies using mobile e-commerce aim to create a completely mobile experience, sharing sales, promos, etc. via SMS marketing and providing links to their mobile-optimized sites.
Like several of the other TLDs we’ve mentioned, .mobi also retains a tremendous amount of versatility. It could be used by any brand, product or industry. However, on the other side of that coin comes perhaps its limitations. This TLD is definitely associated with mobile devices.
A .mobi could be great for an app or the mobile version of an e-commerce brand, but maybe less memorable as a primary website domain extension. (On that note if you’re looking for additional domains for a new campaign or product line, you can always use a URL redirect to point your additional domain sites back to your main site. Just a friendly tip, if you weren’t yet aware.)
5 – .biz
We’ve discussed a lot of random tidbits about the other top TLDs of 2024, but now, it’s time to get down to .biz-ness.
What’s the bottomline on this hot TLD? As you can guess, .biz serves the business world, but more specifically small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), consultants, retailers, marketing agencies, trade associations, startups and of course…e-commerce (to name just a few of those in the “.biz” biz).
Speaking of e-commerce, did you know that .com is actually short for .commercial and like .biz, was intended for commercial use? And on that note, since .com remains the number one most popular TLD of all time, it can be tough to capture that perfect domain name in a highly saturated .com market. Naturally, .biz is one of .com’s best and most preferred go-to alternatives. So, if that catchy .com name is taken, consider swapping out a .biz instead.
Additionally, “brand protection is the most common use of .biz domains.” According to Shopify, “many businesses register multiple TLDs—even if they hold a .com with the same name—to avoid losing traffic to copycats and capture mistaken traffic.” (And as we mentioned using URL redirects above, many large companies purchase dozens of miscellaneous TLDs paired with their brand name in order to get their customers in the right place and also protect from imposter websites.)
4 – .tv
Did you know that the TLD “.tv” actually belongs (more or less) to the tiny island nation of Tuvalu? And while many gTLDs get their start as ccTLDs, this one has a particularly unique story you don’t want to miss.
As you probably guessed, the .tv TLD has a pretty predictable user demographic. With the countless CTV streaming platforms available, this TLD landing at fourth on our list says a lot about the demand for connected television. (Basically, that means any TV connected to the internet that can stream digital video content, whether through built-in smart TV functionalities or external devices like streaming sticks, consoles, or set-top boxes). That includes popular streaming platforms like Pluto.tv and video game platforms like Twitch.tv for example.
But here is where .tv’s story gets interesting. Back to Tuvalu. Very long story short: Tuvalu struck gold when it was assigned this TLD in the late 1990’s, now making millions of dollars from .tv profits. (Ironically, this remote South Pacific nation has until recently had little or unreliable internet access for streaming services.)
But there’s another fascinating plot twist. The island is rapidly sinking due to rising sea levels, and as such, Tuvalu is also on track to become the world’s first “digital nation,” creating something to the effect of a digital clone of all things Tuvalu: archiving its history, culture, political policies and more. In doing so, it also hopes to protect its national sovereignty in the event that its lands are overtaken by the sea.
There’s really so much more we could say about .tv and Tuvalu, but perhaps we’ll save that for another blog. Stay tuned!
3 – .co
Landing solidly as the third most popular TLD of 2024, enter .co. Surprise… it’s not short for .com or “commercial.” But, it is actually short for “company,” “corporation,” and sometimes “community.” (And yes, it did originate as the ccTLD for the nation of Columbia.)
If you reside in the U.S., you’ll notice .co far less frequently than in Commonwealth countries like the U.K. and Australia, where .co also refers to the “ltd” type of business entity (similar to an LLC business structure in the U.S.).
While .co may refer to a kind of business entity or structure, like several of the other TLDs we’ve explored, it also maintains flexibility for its diverse array of potential uses.
There are a number of popular U.K. businesses using .co, but here is one of its most famous users. Did you know that the popular dating app, Hinge, utilizes a .co for its domain extension? Yup. Hinge.co. (Ugh oh, now I’m going to have to explain to my boyfriend why I’m getting ads for Hinge in my feed!)
This TLD is another popular URL redirect for hundreds of big names like Apple and Amazon to help their audiences reach them faster, and protect them from brand impersonators and scam sites.
Additionally, .co has become a popular tool for shortening long website url links, making it easier to quickly share potentially long and complicated url links via text, social media, etc. Google announced in 2011 that “g.co” was their URL shortcut linking to official Google products and services. If you type “o.co” into your browser, you’ll get automatically redirected to overstock.com.
Whether you want to create some kind of collaboration, collective, community or company, or just need an easy URL redirect, .co could be the TLD you’re looking for.
2 – .ai (tech)
AI seems to be the buzzword of 2024 so we’re honestly a little taken aback that it didn’t rank first for the top TLD of 2024. While this TLD has actually existed for a while, (it was assigned as a ccTLD for the government of Anguila in 1995) it started to make a major upswing in the last few years (for obvious reasons).
In a way, we could say the world changed in November 2022 when the public introduction of the most famous AI platform, ChatGPT, basically revolutionized much of technology as we knew it. While forms of AI (artificial intelligence) date back decades, ChatGPT brought the most significant and sweeping AI model directly into the mainstream, available for anyone. Access to ChatGPT’s large language learning model also facilitated innovative and unique applications for AI, resulting in thousands of new AI-based startups basically overnight (or, what felt like overnight.)
Already on the move prior to ChatGPT becoming publicly available, .ai steadily but slowly increased in registrations between 2020 and 2021, but 2022 brought the onslaught. According to Forbes, “year over year, .ai domain registrations grew 50% in 2022 and 230% in 2023 before soaring to 300% in 2024. As of March 2025, there are almost 600,000 .ai domains registered – that’s a tenfold increase from November 2022.”
Now back to the islands, where “life’s a beach” and the pace is slow and sweet. Like Tuvalu, the island nation of Anguila makes a substantial amount in GDP from the .ai TLD alone. Even better for Anguilla, .ai is sneaking up as a more pricey domain and also requires a minimum two year purchase.
But that’s not all, this TLD comes with a few more considerations. Usage must not violate the laws of Anguilla. There are actions and uses that could get a .ai domain suspended or revoked. So it could be wise to do a little research and ensure your site complies with Anguila’s guidelines before purchasing a .ai domain!
1 – .info
And finally, it’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for…arriving in first place for the most in-demand TLD of 2024: .info. Perhaps the most unsuspecting of them all, we tried to find the 411 and a fancy backstory for this tip-top top level domain but, like its name, its story is equally straightforward.
Introduced in 2001 as the first unrestricted TLD alternative to .com, .info has held its own for over two decades, with millions of registrations worldwide.
It’s a natural choice for sites featuring news, heavily informative or education-based content. Public information services and many nonprofit organizations also utilize the .info TLD to offer focused, reliable and accessible info to their specific audiences. Blogs and sites emphasizing specialties or niche topics often also use .info to convey clearly informative messaging as their subject matter (as opposed to perhaps a business-oriented .com, etc.)
Additionally, (and truthfully, we assume this might be one of the real reasons .info ranked first in demand) .info has managed to maintain a low price point in recent years. It’s one of the least expensive domains available in the expanse of TLDs on the market. (Domain renewal prices typically increase every few years, so getting in early on an affordable or inexpensive TLD is something many users evaluate when purchasing a TLD.)
Trends in TLDs of 2024
Our birdseye view of top TLDs doesn’t just tell us which TLDs made the charts for 2024, but also conveys a bit more about global business and socioeconomic trends. With the surge in demand for tech-related TLDs, we could associate these with the ebb and flow of the tech industry in the last year.
Booms followed by burst bubbles can force adaptation (such as companies like AirBnB and Uber that emerged out of the 2008 recession). Tech layoffs could catalyze fresh ingenuity in developing relevant technologies, like niche applications for AI across sectors for both individual consumers and businesses of all sizes.
And speaking of AI, will .ai become the most popular extension for 2025? At the pace it’s in demand now we can guess it might. But, needless to say, we’ll have to wait to find out!
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