Real five-year costs for .io, .ai and .dev, what each extension signals, why .dev forces HTTPS, and what the Chagos Islands treaty means for the future of .io.
Domains & Web
Last updated: October 2026.
You have built a data tool, a dashboard or an AI side project, and it needs a home. The .com is gone, so you look at the extensions tech people use: .io for startups, .ai for anything with machine learning, .dev for developers. Then you see the prices. A .dev costs about the same as a .com, a .io costs several times more, and a .ai is priced like a small subscription.
Here is how the three compare in October 2026, with real costs over five years, what each extension signals, and the questions over the future of .io.
Short answer: Choose .dev for developer tools, documentation and personal tech projects: it is cheap, secure by default and clearly technical. Choose .io for a software startup if you are happy to pay about $50 a year to renew. Choose .ai only if AI is central to your product and the name is worth around $80 a year, with a two-year minimum at most registrars. For small data projects on a budget, .xyz and .dev cost a fraction of the others.
| .io | .ai | .dev | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | Country code of the British Indian Ocean Territory | Country code of Anguilla | Generic extension from Google |
| Treated by Google as | Generic | Generic | Generic |
| Cheapest renewal we found | $50 a year | $80 a year | $12.20 a year |
| Minimum term | 1 year | 2 years at most registrars | 1 year |
| HTTPS required | No | No | Yes, built in |
| Signals | Software startup | AI product | Developer or technical project |
Cost
Five years at the cheapest registrar we found
First registration plus renewals at October 2026 prices, US dollars
Prices read on registrar pages on 19 October 2026, including the ICANN fee where charged. The .com price will rise slightly after 1 November 2026.
By the numbers: Keeping a .ai for five years costs about seven times as much as a .dev, even at the cheapest registrars. At Namecheap, where a .ai renews for $114.98 a year, five years costs about $525.
.dev is run by Google Registry. Its standout feature is that every .dev domain is on the browser HSTS preload list, so it only works over HTTPS. That means your site must have an SSL certificate, which most hosts and services such as Cloudflare, Netlify or GitHub Pages provide free, and visitors are protected from some kinds of interception by default. Google’s sister extension .app works the same way.
Prices (verified 19 October 2026): $8.20 for the first year and $12.20 to renew at Cloudflare, or $8.75 and $12.87 at Porkbun. Namecheap renews it for $20.98 plus the ICANN fee, so the registrar matters.
Best for: developer tools, documentation, portfolios, data side projects and anything aimed at a technical audience.
.io is the country code of the British Indian Ocean Territory, but it became popular with software companies because “IO” also stands for input and output. Google treats it as a generic extension, so it carries no country signal. It is managed by the Internet Computer Bureau and operated by Identity Digital.
Prices (verified 19 October 2026): about $28 to $32 for the first year at Porkbun, Dynadot, Spaceship and Cloudflare, and about $50 to $54 a year to renew at those registrars. Namecheap renews at $75.98 and GoDaddy at $89.99.
In May 2025, the UK and Mauritius signed a treaty to transfer the Chagos Islands, which make up the British Indian Ocean Territory. That raised the question of whether the .io country code would eventually be retired, as happened to some country codes in the past. In April 2026 the UK shelved the legislation needed to bring the treaty into force, so nothing has changed for now.
Even if the territory’s status does change, ICANN’s rules mean retirement only starts if the code is removed from the international ISO country list, and the default wind-down period is five years, which can be extended. Identity Digital has said it continues to support the extension. The risk is real but slow-moving: fine for a project, worth a thought for a brand you plan to build for decades.
.ai is the country code of Anguilla, a small Caribbean territory, and the AI boom has made it one of the most valuable extensions in the world. Local media reported that .ai domain sales brought Anguilla about EC$230 million in 2025. Google treats .ai as generic.
Prices (verified 19 October 2026): most registrars require a two-year minimum. Spaceship charges $79.98 a year, Cloudflare $160 for the first two years and then $80 a year, and Porkbun $82.70 a year. Dynadot offered a one-year option at $85.60. Namecheap charges $89.98 a year for the first two years and then $114.98 a year.
Best for: products where AI is the core of what you sell and the name itself is part of the brand. For a side project, the same name on .dev or .xyz costs a fraction as much.
Common mistake: registering a .ai for a weekend project and forgetting the renewal. With a two-year minimum and $80 to $115 a year to renew, an abandoned .ai can cost more than the project ever earned. Turn off auto-renew for names you are only testing.
For small data and tech projects, .xyz is the other common choice: about $2 for the first year and around $14 to renew at the cheaper registrars. It has a weaker reputation than .dev because of past abuse, which we cover in our honest .xyz review. .app, also from Google, works like .dev with HTTPS built in and suits mobile and web apps, at $14.93 a year to renew at Porkbun.
Decision guide
.io, .ai or .dev?
Start at the top. Stop at the first yes.
Not for now. The UK shelved the Chagos treaty legislation in April 2026, and even if the territory changes status, ICANN’s retirement process only starts if the code leaves the ISO country list and then normally lasts five years.
Demand from AI companies has soared, and Anguilla’s registry sets high prices with a two-year minimum at most registrars. In October 2026 the cheapest renewal we found was about $80 a year.
Yes. .dev and .app are on the HSTS preload list, so browsers only load them over HTTPS. Free certificates from your host or a service like Cloudflare solve this.
Google treats .io and .ai as generic extensions, like .com, so they carry no country signal and no ranking penalty.
.dev, by a wide margin: about $12 a year to renew at the cheaper registrars, compared with about $50 for .io and $80 for .ai.
Find the lowest renewals in the cheapest domain registrars, compare every option in domain extensions explained, and read our honest .xyz review.
Keep reading
Short, free guides that take you from zero to your first real analysis. No sign-up needed.
Join our newsletter for new data guides, tool reviews and free resources.
By subscribing you agree to our Privacy Policy and consent to receive emails from DataFume.
© 2026 DataFume. All rights reserved.
