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Comment by ravenstine | Hacker News Reader

Do TLDs even matter? I'm working on building a professional blog, and although a .dev TLD seems appropriate, using a cheaper one like .co or .be, or even .io seems functionally identical and a lot less costly. Paying hundreds or thousands for .dev seems like paying for pure vanity.

Is it going to help people reach your site? I kinda doubt it. Will Google use it to index your site differently? Maybe, but I dunno. I hope not, but it would kind of make sense.

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Just don't forget that .co is subject to Columbian jurisdiction, .be to Belgian jurisdiction, and .io to British jurisdiction. Also, .io has colonialist/imperialist baggage: https://gigaom.com/2014/06/30/the-dark-side-of-io-how-the-u-...

... as opposed to .dev, which is under what, google's jurisdiction?

ICANN's.

Arguably, ICANN's jurisdiction.

gTLDs have very different rules under ICANN from ccTLDs. For the most part, ccTLDs, the ones governed by countries are very subject to those own countries laws/jurisdictions as ICANN has let countries be relatively sovereign in their domain name usage. This is a part of why it is even possible for there to be colonialist/imperialist baggage in domain names, because ICANN won't interfere in "local" politics, it "simply" allows ccTLD registrars to act as they see fit. Once "hip" ccTLDs have had domains seized in regime changes, for example.

Meanwhile, as mentioned elsewhere in these threads, ICANN has a much more hands on regulatory approach to non-country-code gTLDs. They have formal escrow requirements and complicated seizure/forfeiture rules intended to protect domain registrants. These are not entirely immune to political battles, but are generally more "internationally protected".

Anyway, the point is awareness. Use a ccTLD if it makes you happy, just be aware that there is a different risk footprint than a gTLD.

.dev is only prohibitively expensive during the pre-sale. After Feb 28, there will be no extra charge ($0 one-time fee).

The initial $11k premium threw me off at first, but if you click the (not immediately obvious) “Early Access” button you can get the full EAP pricing chart, or here’s a direct link: https://support.google.com/domains/answer/9232417?hl=en#inva...

To save some clicks (in addition to the $12/year):

Feb 19: $11.5k

Feb 20: $3.5k

Feb 21: $1150

Feb 22-24: $350

Feb 25-27: $125

After the 27th you only have to pay the normal $12/year rate.

Unless it's a "premium domain" which has a separate pricing structure, independent of the release phase, and renewal fees that stay higher forever.

Hence, right now kjaegrlkjnfvaf.dev is "$11,500 + $12/year" [0] while hn.dev is "$11,500 + $720/year" [1]

So alex.dev and aj.dev will cost $720/year forever, tim.dev, james.dev and emma.dev are $360/year, tony.dev and grace.dev are $180/year, olivia.dev and harry.dev are $98/year, yusef.dev, oscar.dev and sanjay.dev are $12/year.

Maybe not "prohibitive" but a big premium for the Alexes among us!

[0] https://domains.google.com/m/registrar/search?searchTerm=kja... [1] https://domains.google.com/m/registrar/search?searchTerm=hn....

Do Premium name stays premium forever? If they don't get registered for 2 - 3 years, would it drop its price?

I mean with these sort of pricing, are Startup suppose to be creative with their name or else they are forced to pay thousands to Google every year.

Thank you for explaining this; I don't see these high yearly priced domains adequately disclosed anywhere. Google's marketing is all about how the "premium" is a one time fee for early registration, do they explain the higher yearly fee names anywhere?

TLDs matter, in that you want .com if you can get it. Otherwise, personally I would use something more well known, but most of the differences are vanity, unless you're using a country specific TLD such as .co.uk or .us

I believe the price of a .dev eventually will go to $12/year. The hundreds/thousands price applies to people who want to pay more upfront to get the first shot at a "popular" domain name.

You just need to pay hundreds or thousands during EAP or for a "premium" domain. A regular .dev domain will cost less than $15/year.

.io domains cost a lot more than .dev domains.

On a per-year basis, yes. However, this is the subtotal at the checkout on namecheap when I typed in ravenstine.dev:

C$14,572.71

Check again on the 29th.

Yeah, because we're currently in the early access program, which is a Dutch auction. Once the auction ends on the 28th, domains will be available starting from the base registration price.

How does a company who owns a trademark get a domain early like Slack and Github did?

You need to get your trademark into the Trademark Clearinghouse: https://newgtlds.icann.org/en/about/trademark-clearinghouse

Then you use a corporate domain name registrar to register it during the sunrise phase.

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