The Future of Domain Extensions: Will .com Still Reign Supreme?

Over time, all of us have grown accustomed to .com. When you’re searching for a business on the internet, unless you’re working from a business card or a former knowledge, the chances are you’ll be typing ‘.com’ whether you know if that’s the domain extension or not.

Ever since it was introduced as the first top-level domain four decades ago, it has become a universal standard for web addresses, synonymous with professionalism, credibility, and trust. Indeed, the prevalence of .com has become so ingrained in our internet habits that it often feels like the default choice, with many businesses assuming it is necessary to add legitimacy – even if an alternative extension is just as functional and valid.

But the truth is, there are alternative extensions, and they might just be the future. As the digital landscape is evolving, newer domain extensions are emerging to challenge .com’s long-standing reign, with over 1,500 domain extensions now available. With this in mind, we wanted to look at the future of domain extensions, and what a change to the status quo might mean for the makeup of the internet itself. Before we get started, however, let’s first take a look at what domain extensions actually are.

What are Domain Extensions?

Put simply, domain extensions – also known as top-level domains – are the backbone of the internet. Serving as a way to categorise websites and provide context about their purpose, the domain name is the suffix at the end of all web addresses, ordinarily following the main name of the website itself. This all started back in the 1980s when the Domain Name System – DNS – was created. At that time, there were seven original TLDs, including:

• .com
• .org
• .net
• .edu
• .gov
• .mil
• .arpa

Over time, however, six of these categories became less rigid, with .com emerging as the most popular and widely used extension, regardless of the type of site – although .org, .net, .edu, and .gov have seen continued usage within their original categories to some extent.

In 2025, however, the internet has expanded far beyond these original domains, with thousands of new TLDs having been introduced by the ICANN – the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. These include everything from industry-specific extensions like .tech or .store to more creative extensions like .xyz or .hi.

The History of .com

So why did .com become the most popular? As mentioned before, when .com was introduced in 1985 as one of the top-level TLDs, it was designated solely for commercial use. But as the internet grew beyond its initial academic and governmental applications, .com became far more accessible for both businesses and individuals alike. Unlike other extensions with stricter regulations – such as .gov for government agencies or .edu for educational institutions – the use-case of .com remained fairly open, allowing users to choose it for a variety of purposes.

As the internet became far more commercialised throughout the 1990s, .com was there playing a central role, to the point where it became synonymous with being part of the digital revolution. High-profile brands like Amazon, Google, and Microsoft adopted it early on, and like a line of dominoes, thousands of other brands followed, giving .com a level of trust and familiarity that no other domain extension could match.

With that being said, as the internet expanded and millions of websites were created in the late 1990s and throughout the 2000s, the availability of desirable .com domains began to decline. Early adopters had the advantage of registering simple, memorable domain names, but as businesses and individuals rushed to establish their online presence, many of the most intuitive and valuable domains were quickly claimed. This, of course, created scarcity and exclusivity around .com, but while this increased the perceived value of domains – cars.com reportedly sold for $872 million in 2015, with business.com changing hands for $345 million back in 2008 – it also pushed less fortunate people and brands to find alternatives.

A Look At Alternative Domain Extensions

In 2025, there are now over 2,000 domain extensions, with that number continuing to grow as the internet expands. While .com remains one of the most trusted and widely-used TLDs, more users are growing accustomed to seeing these alternatives, which has only aided their growth and, potentially, could even see them overtake .com in the near future. But before we get into that, let’s take a look at some of the domains that have been doing the rounds over the last two decades.

Industry Specific Domains

As mentioned above, most TLDs revolve around specific niches, making them optimal choices for businesses and individuals looking to align their online presence with their area of expertise. The most common niche has to do with the industry the domains are representing. For instance, .tech is widely used by technology companies, startups, and innovators looking to emphasise their industry-specific offerings, while .store has become a natural fit for e-commerce businesses looking to immediately inform customers their site involves shopping.

Location-Specific Domains

On the other side of the coin, we have location-specific domains, designed to emphasise a connection to a particular city, region, or country. Particularly valuable for companies relying on local clientele, tourism, or regional identity, these TLDs have become increasingly more common, appealing to smaller businesses and service providers wanting to stand out in their local markets. For instance, .nyc has become a go-to domain for startups in New York City, while .uk is utilised by a number of businesses in the UK to emphasise their national identity.

Innovative Domains

While discovering alternative domains, we should also mention the significant rise of innovative TLDs – extensions that move beyond location or industry-specific categories to bring a new level of creativity to the table. For businesses and individuals looking to stand out in the crowded digital space, these extensions serve as a unique identifier, completely personal to their brand and without any standard, traditional connections. For instance, .xyz is now commonly associated with forward-thinking startups and creators, while .io has become particularly popular among tech companies for its sleek, modern aesthetic.

The Role of SEO When Choosing a Domain

With alternative domains in mind, it’s clear to see that over the last few decades, they have become just as much a part of the aesthetic of websites as the website names themselves. But that’s not the only reason they’re being utilised. One of the other key factors in the domain selection process is Search Engine Optimisation.

When choosing a domain, the extension can play a big role in conveying relevance to search engines, especially when it ties into keywords that are important for a business or niche. For example, if a company is selling handcrafted goods from a .shop domain, it signals to search engines the nature of the business, improving the chances of the website ranking higher in searches related to both handcrafted products and shopping.

Similarly, for businesses targeting local customers, using a location-specific domain can enhance local SEO efforts, with websites with a .nyc or .london domain making it easier for search engines to associate them with their geographical area. This can be particularly important for smaller businesses looking to make an impact against competition.

Since SEO has become one of the biggest digital marketing avenues, more businesses and individuals are trying to find ways to cut through the traffic. This is another reason why .com is steadily becoming overwhelmed: all of the biggest companies have the .com domain, but since alternative domains are helping smaller companies rank higher, more and more are opting to change the script and go for something different.

Conclusion

This brings us to the big question: will .com still reign supreme in the future? Well, as we’ve just mentioned, alternative domains are becoming more common, and for good reason. Not only are they helping companies with their SEO endeavours, but they’re also helping users to pinpoint exactly what a website is offering.

According to a recent study, the number of new websites that emerge every day is around 252,000, and it goes without saying that .com cannot be used for all of them. It’s becoming increasingly clear, however, that the owners of these websites don’t want to. As the internet grows more user-oriented, alternative domains are going to play an increasingly important role in shaping how businesses and individuals present themselves online, allowing them to embrace a more diverse and flexible identity.

That’s not to say that .com will soon become obsolete. On the contrary, it will likely remain the standard domain extension. But it’s important to remember that we’re still in the early stages of the internet’s evolution. In twenty, thirty, fifty years, millions, (perhaps billions given the emergence of AI and its continued evolution) more websites will have been added to the mix, and the landscape of the internet will look entirely different. It’s not unreasonable to suggest, then, that the domain extensions we’re accustomed to now are going to be playing a different role. As ever with this unpredictable and ever-changing digital world, we’re just going to have to wait and see.