Guide to domain extensions > Generic top level domains
Generic top level domains (gTLDs) are used by particular classes of organisations, such as .biz for business use and .info for informative websites.
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.com
Established in January 1985, the .com (commercial) extension is the largest top level domain (TLD). Often pronounced dot-com, it was originally administered by the US Department of Defense. During the 1990s when it became clear .com was primarily being used for non-defence purposes, it was opened to the public and anyone could register a dot-com. Until 1996 registrations cost $50 a year, with $15 going to the US government. It is currently operated by VeriSign who manage the sale of domain names for hundreds of ICANN-accredited registrars.
.net
Established in January 1985, the .net extension was initially intended for network-orientated websites such as Internet service providers, but there are currently no restrictions on who can register a dot-net. It is often treated as a second dot-com, and many companies will buy both to protect their brand name. It is currently operated by VeriSign who manage the sale of .com and .net domain names for hundreds of ICANN-accredited registrars.
.org
Established in January 1985, the .org extension was originally intended for use by organisations that did not fit into the dot-com or dot-net categories. There are currently no restrictions on who can register a dot-org, although it is commonly used by not-for-profit organisations, personal sites and open-source projects, and to a lesser extent business interests.
The .org registry is operated by Public Interest Registry.
Can't choose your favourite .org? It has to be Google.org, home to the Google Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation that gives out 1% of Google's yearly profit in grants and investments aimed at improving the environment, human health and global poverty.
.biz
Introduced in 2001, .biz is a top level domain extension for businesses. It was created to relieve some of the demand on the .com registry, and to provide an alternative to businesses whose .com domain name had already been registered. It uses the slogan "Nothing Personal. Just Business.™" because its guidelines state that the domains must be for commercial use, and not personal sites or cyber-squatting. It is administered by Neulevel. It is popular in Turkey where "biz" means "we" in Turkish, and not so popular in Belize, where their own domain ".bz" has suffered since the introduction of .biz for business.
.info
Introduced in 2001, the .info extension is intended for informative websites, but there are no restrictions on its use. It was one of seven gTLD's chosen by ICANN out of over 180 proposals and it was designed to relieve the overcrowded .com registry. The dot-info registry is operated by Afilias who are headquartered in Dublin, Ireland. There are over 4 million .info domains registered, with around 1.6 million having active websites. It's ideal for marketing since info means information in over 35 languages. For example, spain.info is used by the Spanish tourist board.
.name
Introduced in 2001, the .name extension is intended for use by individuals real names, pseudonyms, or personal names. It is becoming increasing popular and is being used by individuals and personalities, both fictional and real. There are no restrictions prior to registration, but registrations can be challenged if not by or on behalf of an individual with a similar name. It is operated by Global Name Registry while Verisign manage their DNS registry.
.mobi
Introduced in 2005, .mobi is the domain extension dedicated to delivering the Internet to phones and other mobile devices. It has a huge financial backing from Google, Microsoft, Nokia, Samsung, Ericsson, Vodafone, VISA and other companies. Websites using this extension should be mobi-compatible, in other words they must follow best practice guidelines for mobile content. There is no point having a dot-mobi unless your website is optimized to work on mobiles! It's a young domain extension that so far has been very successful, however "mobi" is an unfortunate choice for mobile phone text entry interfaces, since it requires up to 10 key-strokes on many phones.