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 re­cog­nised, 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 or­gan­isa­tion ICANN. The .com domain was launched on 1 January, 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. For com­par­is­on, the .uk top-level domain was in­tro­duced in July 1985.

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.

The ab­bre­vi­ation .com is in­ter­na­tion­ally re­cog­nised, 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 pound per month.
• Re­gistered .com domains may be af­ford­able, but some can also be extremely expensive. Short names like cars.com or insurance.com can easily fall into the seven-figure range.

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.