.xyz Domain (Meaning, Price, Safety, SEO, Popularity)
You are probably familiar with domains ending in .com, .net, or a local extension (.fr, .de) but what happens when you see a .xyz domain? Is this top-level domain an alternative to .com or just not good enough?
I will present all the facts and I will provide you an overall perspective for the domain industry to help you with those questions. If you are thinking some alternative option because your ideal domain is not available or too expensive then you are reading the right article.
These are the topics that we will cover:
.xyz Domain Meaning And History
Where Can You Get a .xyz Domain and Price Comparison
.xyz Domain Meaning And History
.xyz is a generic top-level domain that represents the generation x, y, and z. It launched in 3 different phrases: Sunrise Phase – from March 20 to May 20, 2014, Landrush Phase from May 20 to June 2, 2014, and after that date is opened to anyone. Gen.xyz and CentralNic are providing the registry services for .xyz domain.
| Phase | Domains Availability |
| Sunrise Phase | Corporations can secure their trademarks and protect their brands under .xyz domain – Closed for anyone else |
| Landrush Phase | Pre-register for a premium fee, especially for commercially valuable keywords (insurance, health etc) |
| Current | Anyone can register the remaining domains on a first-come, first-served basis |
| Generation | Explanation |
| X | The generation born roughly from the early 1960s to 1979 |
| Y | The generation born in the 1980s to 1994 |
| Z | The generation born from 1995 to 2015 |
The idea and execution of .xyz domain concept belongs to Daniel Negari Founder & CEO of .XYZ. His company is in charge for other new top-level domains such as College, .Rent, .Security and .Protection, .Theatre, .Storage, .Baby, .Monster, and .Cars, .Car and .Auto.
.xyz is one of the most popular domain extensions of the “new era”. In June of 2011 Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) authorized the “New gTLD Program” (gTLD stands for generic top-level domains). The goal was to introduce new top-level domains because the options for the new domain owners were limited to very few options such as .com, .net, and .org.
The good domains were taken and expensive (and still are) for the above top-level domains. ICANN was trying to give many more and cheaper options with this program. In 2014 more than 400 new domain extensions appeared for the first time. Only a few of them had some traction and stood out over the rest.
There are currently over 3 million registered .xyz domains and that brings .xyz to the 3rd position between the new gtlds. Only 8 of them have more than 1 million registrations. You can see live stats here:ntldstats.com
Is .xyz A Good Domain?
In terms of performance on search engines .xyz domain is as good as other top-level domains such as .com. There is no inherent advantage in any domain extension except maybe the country ones (such as .fr) for a specific country audience. In terms of overall trust and memorability .xyz domains are behind comparing with traditional TLDs like .com and .net.
The positive side of using a .xyz domain is that you can find good keyword domains easier and cheaper. .com market is oversaturated and if you are not willing to invest a decent amount you will struggle to find a good domain.
Google has also clearly stated in the past that they don’t favor .com or older extensions. Here is what we read from google webmasters blog in 2015:
Q: How will new gTLDs affect search? Is Google changing the search algorithm to favor these TLDs? How important are they really in search?
A: Overall, our systems treat new gTLDs like other gTLDs (like .com & .org). Keywords in a TLD do not give any advantage or disadvantage in search.
John Mueller, Webmaster Trends Analyst
googleblog.com
The downsides are many more in my opinion. It is harder to market a .xyz domain since people will always assume that you use a .com version. Most of your audience will not even know that there is a .xyz extension for your domain. When they will land to a url that ends with .xyz they will be suspicious if this is a trusty website.
Although you can be successful with any extension, it will be harder if you use some of the new ones. Of course sites with quality content and strong trust signals such as valid contact information, they can overcome this difficulty.
Is .xyz Domain Safe?
Although any domain extension can be used for good or bad reasons some spammers prefer to use .xyz and some other new top-level domains since they are cheaper than .com. However, many legit companies such as Alphabet abc.xyz (parent company of Google) use a .xyz domain.
By checking some metrics from the Spamhaus project site we see that actually, things are not so bad spamhaus.org/statistics/tlds/ . I saw a metric that ranks TLDs based on their “badness” index = number of bad domains detected / number of active domains observed.
.xyz domain has a score of 0.41 and 4.6% of the active domains are spammy. There is not a big difference with .com, where the score is 0.45, and 3.6% of the domains are “bad”. In contrast, the worst tld in the list has 4.75 bad index and 50,8% of the domains are spammy! You can see here screenshots from the results:
Where Can You Get a .xyz Domain and Price Comparison
I am presenting a table with the prices of .xyz domains for the first year and beyond. Check also the pricing links to see any update. Please be aware that the first year of registration and the transfer is usually cheaper. Many registrars offer also very cheap prices for a limited time. In the prices, add the ICANN fee of $0.18 per year and sales tax (or VAT) when it is applicable.
| Registrar | 1st year | Renewal | Transfer |
| Godaddy | $0.99 | $14.99 | $14.99 |
| Namecheap | $1.00 | $12.88 | $10.88 |
| Namesilo | $0.99 | $9.29 | $9.29 |
| Dynadot | $0.60 | $12.99 | $12.99 |
| Epik | $8.50 | $8.50 | $8.50 |
Godaddy Pricing , Namecheap Pricing , Namesilo Pricing , Dynadot Pricing , Epik Pricing
Why Are XYZ Domains So Cheap
.xyz domains are so cheap because domain registrars want to get new customers and the leadership of .xyz domain wants to establish it as .com alternative. Keep in mind that the low price usually applies only for 1 year and then you need to pay an increased fee.
However, there are some .xyz domains that are really expensive. Especially one-word keyword domains that have commercial appeal. Here you can see some interesting statistics for .xyz domains related to the “expensive” ones gen.xyz/premiums (.xyz registry site).
The section that caught my attention was: “.xyz Variably priced premiums”. Here is a list with the most expensive domains currently on sale:
| Domain | First Year | Renewal |
| 123.xyz | 55000 | 55000 |
| abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvw.xyz | 55000 | 55000 |
| au.xyz | 55000 | 55000 |
| cn.xyz | 55000 | 55000 |
| eu.xyz | 55000 | 55000 |
| http.xyz | 55000 | 55000 |
| io.xyz | 55000 | 55000 |
| tw.xyz | 55000 | 55000 |
| w.xyz | 55000 | 55000 |
| x.xyz | 55000 | 55000 |
| y.xyz | 55000 | 55000 |
| z.xyz | 55000 | 55000 |
| 0.xyz | 13000 | 13000 |
| 3d.xyz | 13000 | 13000 |
| 4.xyz | 13000 | 13000 |
| 5.xyz | 13000 | 13000 |
| 7.xyz | 13000 | 13000 |
| 888.xyz | 13000 | 13000 |
| a.xyz | 13000 | 13000 |
| abcdef.xyz | 13000 | 13000 |
| b.xyz | 13000 | 13000 |
| bh.xyz | 13000 | 13000 |
| bm.xyz | 13000 | 13000 |
| c.xyz | 13000 | 13000 |
| careers.xyz | 13000 | 13000 |
| com.xyz | 13000 | 13000 |
| connect.xyz | 13000 | 13000 |
Popular .xyz Domains
I already mentioned earlier that Alphabet abc.xyz the parent company of Google uses a .xyz domain. Here is another list of legit and popular companies that use a .xyz domain:
Company Name: The Engine Website: engine.xyz Linkedin Profile: linkedin.com/company/theengine/ Short Description: The Engine, built by MIT, is a venture firm that invests in early-stage companies
Company Name: Starship Technologies Website: starship.xyz Linkedin Profile: linkedin.com starship technologies Short Description: A company building a network of autonomous delivery robots
Company Name: Vega Protocol Website: vega.xyz Linkedin Profile: linkedin.com/company/vega-protocol/ Short Description: Company is building an open, blockchain-backed public network for fully automated end-to-end trading and execution of financial products.
Company Name: Milk Website: milk.xyz Linkedin Profile: linkedin.com/company/milk-studios/ Short Description: Milk is a digital editorial platform and distribution channel.
Company Name: Moon Website: moon.xyz Linkedin Profile: linkedin.com/company/moonxyz/ Short Description: An influencer marketing platform connecting brands with influencers.
Company Name: Future Fonts Website: futurefonts.xyz Twitter Profile: twitter.com/futurefonts Short Description: Shop fonts in progress and discover talented type designers from all over the world.
Company Name: Public Space Website: publicspace.xyz Facebook Profile: facebook.com/thepublicspacexyz Short Description: A clothing brand through collaborations with artists and charities.
Company Name: twoseven xyz Website: twoseven.xyz Twitter Profile: twitter.com/twosevenxyz Short Description: One-stop to watch together – Netflix, Amazon Prime, HBO, Hulu, Disney+, Crunchyroll, YouTube, personal videos & more.
Company Name: Poap Website: poap.xyz Twitter Profile: twitter.com/poapxyz Short Description: Proof of Attendance Protocol.
Company Name: Feed Agency Website: feed.xyz Linkedin Profile: linkedin.com/company/feed-agency/ Short Description: Feed is an award-winning, full-service agency providing conversion with heart.
I also gathered a list of popular .xyz websites based on how many links have received from other websites. Unfortunately, there are many spammy sites that rank well. Here is a list with some legit ones that have many online visitors:
| Website | Rank (Based on Open PageRank data) |
| mee6.xyz | 13,799 |
| thebreakdown.xyz | 29,238 |
| warrenmusic.xyz | 46,595 |
| socialnews.xyz | 63,823 |
| appmaker.xyz | 261,341 |
| pages.xyz | 277,964 |
| foodandtravel.xyz | 454,463 |
| crazynames.xyz | 568,076 |
| gitcdn.xyz | 582,746 |
*Source: domcop.com/top-10-million-websites
Final Words
I hope that the post was useful to you and helped with your decision. Please don’t forget to share on social media, i would really appreciate it!
