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Domains · 4 min read

Choosing a domain: .com vs .io vs .me

The extension matters less than the name — but it changes price, trust and who remembers you. Here's how to decide in ten minutes.

The default answer: .com

If the .com of your name is available at a normal price, take it. People still guess ".com" first, it resells best, and email from a .com gets the least suspicion. Only skip it if the name itself is weak.

When .io makes sense

.io signals "developer tool / startup" and the namespace is far less crowded — you can often get a short, clean name. The trade-off is price: renewals run several times higher than .com (around $39/yr at our pricing), so only commit if the brand earns it back.

When .me (or similar) fits

.me works for personal brands, portfolios and clever wordplay (hire.me, remind.me). Same rule as .io: check the renewal price, not the first-year promo, and make sure visitors won't misremember it as .com.

Name rules that beat any extension

• Short, pronounceable, spellable over the phone
• No hyphens, no numbers, no clever misspellings
• Say it out loud — if you must explain the spelling, pick another
• Secure the matching social handles the same day

Two traps to avoid

1. Free WHOIS privacy matters from day one. Without it, your name, email and phone sit in a public database harvested by spammers and scammers. Ours is free on every domain — never pay extra for it.

2. Never let a domain expire "for a day". After expiry comes a redemption period where getting it back often costs $80+. Turn on auto-renew and keep your payment method current — losing your domain means losing your email too.