A business’s domain name is one of its most important digital assets, driving discoverability, reinforcing credibility and anchoring brand identity. While an exact
match .com remains the benchmark, limited availability and soaring prices have accelerated the adoption of alternative extensions in recent years. For businesses, domain strategy is no longer just about securing availability; it’s about making brand-aligned choices that inspire trust and fuel growth.
While new domain extensions such as .AI and .io gain traction, traditional conventions continue to hold weight. In this virtual climate, companies must understand both the opportunities and the risks to stay competitive online.
The Gold Standard: .com For Ultimate Recognition
The .com extension was among the first introduced, and over three decades later, it remains the gold standard for brands seeking recognition and authority online. Across the B2B world, .com is associated with professionalism, and if your customers are faced with the choice between a branded .com and an alternative extension (say, .tech), they’ll place their trust in the .com business.
Crucially for ambitious B2B brands, investors surveyed by Atom.com say that .com domains are more likely to receive funding. Among newly funded startups, 64% are operating from a .com domain, demonstrating that an elite-tier domain matters to all your stakeholders, from clients to potential investors.
Despite the growth of alternative extensions, .com remains the first pick for brands. In fact, research has found that two-thirds of consumers find a longer .com more credible than a shorter domain at an alternative extension, even for .AI, with 67% of those surveyed preferring brandAI.com to brand.ai. B2B brands across every industry should consider a .com domain a key business asset, if it’s available and affordable.
Alternative Extensions in 2025
While .com remains the favored extension for startups, B2B organizations have more choice than ever for alternative extensions. In fact, while consumers rarely recognize alternative extensions, the industry specificity of extensions such as .ai and .io makes them viable choices for those with B2B clients.
.AI – the Rising Star
From humble beginnings – it’s the country code extension for the British Overseas Territory of Anguilla – .AI is now a serious contender for any brand built on this technology. As of April 2025, 12.1% of all newly funded startups are opting for .AI extensions, and since ChatGPT propelled artificial intelligence into the public’s consciousness in late 2022, .AI domain registrations have soared. There are now over 600,000 .ai domains, a 10x increase since 2022. In that time, brand interest in this domain has surged, and on Atom.com: revenue from .ai domains has increased 4700%.
Despite the growth of .AI, and its evident value to startups seeking to position themselves at the cutting edge of technology, brands should be careful not to just jump on the bandwagon. Using the .AI domain makes a serious brand promise: your business is truly AI-first. If artificial intelligence is only a peripheral part of your products or services, the domain could mislead your customers and harm trust.
.io – Recognized in Tech
.io is the country code TLD for the British Indian Ocean Territory, but to a tech and developer community, it reflects the familiar I/O of input-output. It’s increasingly adopted by SaaS tools such as branch.io and apiary.io and other tech platforms, like Segment.io. .io is now the third-most popular extension among startups, and one in 20 newly funded startups operates from a .io domain.
Startup funding has a heavy bias toward technology companies, meaning that the value of this domain to many businesses could be overstated. This extension should only be used by organizations with a tech-educated audience: 77% of tech-employed respondents recognize the domain compared to 40% of consumers overall.
.co – Thinking Outside the Box
While the extensions .io and .ai have strong industry specificity, a lack of memorable and available .com domains has led brands in other industries to choose alternative options. The main choice is .co, which makes up 3.5% of newly funded startups, and used by forward-thinking B2B companies such as mural.co and elastic.co.
While recognition of .co is growing, its similarity to .com means that some of your customers will likely forget your domain, and you could lose business if you have a .com competitor. If opting for this extension, pair it was a super short, single-English business word name (such as Elastic or Mural) to ensure an enhanced brand recognition.
Getting Creative
In 2025, just a few extensions offer brands top-tier credibility, authority and memorability online. Among thousands, .com, .ai, .io and .co stand out as the strongest picks for a digital identity.
Still, the internet offers many ways to connect with your audience, even for B2B brands. Social media, dynamic marketing channels and app-based services mean that brands can find success using extensions outside the norm. Recently, startups such as Calo.app ($39M), Lovable.dev ($200M) and Harmonic.fun ($100M) have recently received significant funding rounds.
These trailblazers are building powerful brand identities around alternative extensions, but they also have strong financial backing and innovative products. For most businesses, an unproven extension will create more challenges than opportunities.
Don’t Let Extension Be an Afterthought
Securing an exact match domain is a must-have for ambitious B2B brands who want to own the online space around their name, which means founders face a choice: do you match a longer, less memorable name with an available .com domain, or pursue a powerful brand identity at an alternative extension?
Each of these two paths can be the foundation of a strong business and an impactful brand, but knowing your ambitions, your audience, and your trajectory can guide your decision.
Either way, your choice of domain extension matters, and can communicate both your business’s purpose as well as your broader vision to clients and investors alike. Domain extensions may come ‘after the dot’, but don’t let them be an afterthought.
