Domain extensions list: Every TLD type and what each one signals

What a domain extension is and how the list is structured

A domain extension, or top-level domain (TLD), is the label after the final dot in a web address, and the full list is organised by the governance type each extension belongs to. In example.com the extension is .com.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) coordinates the namespace, and the IANA Root Zone Database is the public record of which extension is delegated to which operator.

Reading the list by type is what makes it useful. A flat alphabetical dump of 1,437 strings answers nothing.

The four working types each carry a different rule set, price band, and resale pool:

• Generic top-level domains (gTLDs): open extensions like .com, .net, and .org, not tied to a country.
• Country-code top-level domains (ccTLDs): two-letter extensions tied to a country or territory, like .uk and .de.
• Sponsored top-level domains (sTLDs): restricted extensions run for a defined community, like .edu, .gov, and .aero.
• New gTLDs: the hundreds of generic strings added from ICANN’s 2012 program onward, like .app, .xyz, and .shop.

The IANA Root Zone Database is the public record behind every row in this list.

The reason this list cites IANA is that the root zone is the authoritative record of delegation. Each extension in the database lists its type and its sponsoring organisation or registry operator.

That is the source the reference tool below draws from, so every operator named in it is verifiable instead of asserted.

The distinction the listicles blur is between the extension string and the operator that governs it. The string is .org; the operator is Public Interest Registry, which sets the policy, the price, and the renewal terms.

Reading the operator alongside the string is what separates a reference from a word list, and it is the first read a serious acquisition runs.

Searchable domain extensions reference: every type, filterable

The reference table below holds 68 notable domain extensions, each with its type, its real registry operator, and what it signals, filterable by type and searchable by extension or note. Type the extension you want in the search box, or filter to gTLD, ccTLD, sTLD, or new gTLD.

Every row draws its type and operator from the IANA Root Zone Database and the named registries. No value scores, no invented facts.

The tool runs entirely in your browser. With scripting off, the full table still renders as static HTML below.

The types of domain extensions and what each type signals

The types of domain extensions sort into four working categories, and the type sets the rules, the price, and the resale pool before any individual extension is read. IANA records six technical classes; a buyer works with four.

Read the type first, then read the specific extension's reputation, then read any SEO or resale claim attached to it.

The type sets the rules, the price band, and the resale pool before the string is read.

Reading the type first is what makes the list tractable. An extension's type tells you who can register it, what it costs, and how deep the buyer pool runs if you ever sell.

A gTLD like .com is open, mid-priced at registration, and backed by the deepest aftermarket. An sTLD like .gov is closed, so it never reaches an open market at all.

A new gTLD can be cheap to register and expensive to renew, because certain registries set premium renewal tiers the registrar cannot waive. That renewal exposure is a type-level fact a flat list hides.

The way an extension's renewal and registry-premium terms feed into what a name is worth runs through the Domain valuation: factors and process guide.

The generic top-level domains list and what gTLDs signal

The generic top-level domains are the open extensions not tied to a country, and they carry the deepest user trust and the deepest resale market in the list. The original set, .com, .net, and .org, anchors the category.

Wikipedia records over 530 generic extensions using common English words. The ones that signal trust are a short list.

The signal a gTLD sends has three parts:

• To users: familiarity. A reader extends credibility to .com before the page loads, because the extension is the default the whole user base has internalised.
• To search engines: neutrality. Every gTLD shares the same direct ranking ceiling, so the extension is read as content-neutral.
• To the resale market: depth. An aged .com draws a deeper buyer pool than any other extension, which is why it holds re-registration value.

Every gTLD shares one ranking ceiling, so the gTLD signal is trust, not rank.

The settled fact about gTLDs is that no generic extension outranks another. A site on .xyz reaches the same direct ranking ceiling as the identical site on .com.

The signal a gTLD sends is therefore trust and recall, not ranking power. A familiar extension earns the click and the link; an unfamiliar one starts the same content from a colder position.

The full evidence behind that direct-versus-indirect split, with the trust and abuse data, runs through the sibling guide Does your domain extension affect SEO? The data, the myths, and the aged-domain nuance.

For an acquired name, the same gTLD that signals trust also prices the resale liquidity, which is the read the final sections of this list develop.

The country-code domain extensions list and how ccTLDs signal geography

Country-code top-level domains are two-letter extensions tied to a country or territory, and search engines read the typical ccTLD as a geographic-targeting signal instead of a quality signal. The codes follow ISO 3166.

About 37.3 percent of all registrations sit on ccTLDs, across 316 country strings. The signal is geography, with one important exception.

The exception is the vanity ccTLD. A handful of country codes the market adopted globally are read as generic extensions, not country-targeted ones:

• .io (British Indian Ocean Territory), used worldwide as a tech and startup brand.
• .ai (Anguilla), adopted globally for AI products and past 1 million registrations in January 2026.
• .co (Colombia), used as a short company alternative to .com.
• .me (Montenegro), read as a personal-brand extension.
• .tv (Tuvalu), adopted for video and streaming.

A ccTLD helps in its home market and constrains international reach by design.

The geographic signal is a feature with a built-in cost. When a search engine treats .de as a strong indicator a site serves Germany, the site gains local relevance and gives up implied global reach.

For a national retailer or a regional service business, that trade is worth taking, and the ccTLD is the right tool. For a cross-border brand, it forces a choice between one country domain per market and a single gTLD with hreflang.

The vanity exceptions sidestep the constraint entirely. A .io or .co carries no geo limit and behaves like any gTLD on the ranking axis, which is why they recur across tech and startup naming.

Confirm whether a given two-letter extension is treated as country-targeted or generic before assuming either, because the same pattern can mean "for one country" or "for the world."

The new gTLD list and what cheap new extensions signal

The new gTLDs are the hundreds of generic strings added from ICANN's 2012 program onward, and the signal each one sends depends entirely on its specific reputation, not on the category. A second application round opened in 2026.

The range is wide. A new gTLD like .app or .bank signals credibility; one like .top or .icu carries a measurable abuse tax.

The split runs along three lines:

• Credible restricted new gTLDs: .app and .dev enforce HTTPS, and .bank verifies every registrant, so the extension itself signals a security or eligibility standard.
• Descriptive open new gTLDs: .shop, .store, .tech, and .online read as on-topic but carry lower recall and resale depth than an aged gTLD.
• Cheap high-volume new gTLDs: .xyz, .top, and .icu are low-cost and high-volume, the condition under which bulk abuse concentrates.

The new gTLD signal is set by the specific extension, not by the new-gTLD label.

Treating new gTLDs as one bucket is the error the listicles make. A clean .dev with enforced HTTPS and a verified .bank sit at the opposite end of the trust scale from a bulk-registered .xyz.

The working rule is to read the extension's reputation, its abuse association, and its renewal terms before reading any signal into the category. A descriptive new gTLD can fit a brand well when the audience reads it as a deliberate choice.

For a trust-sensitive build aimed at a broad audience, an established gTLD starts the content from a neutral reputational position a cheap new gTLD has to work to reach.

The data behind that abuse and trust gap is set out in the sibling guide Does your domain extension affect SEO? The data, the myths, and the aged-domain nuance.

Which domain extensions hold resale liquidity and backlink equity

On the aftermarket the extensions that retain backlink equity and resale liquidity are the established gTLDs and the aged vanity ccTLDs, because they carry the deepest buyer pools. This is the lens the registrar lists omit.

The investor read inverts the new-registration question. A fresh registration weighs branding fit; an acquisition weighs inherited equity and how fast the name converts to cash.

Three extension facts drive aftermarket value:

The extension prices the liquidity, and the domain's history prices the equity.

The distinction that matters on an acquisition is between equity and liquidity. The inherited backlink profile and topical history decide the SEO value; the extension decides how deep the resale pool around it runs.

An aged .com with a clean, relevant inherited profile combines both: the equity that carries the ranking and the deepest resale market in the list. A new gTLD with identical metrics carries the same on-page equity and a thinner exit.

The condition on inherited equity is relevance and cleanness, not the extension. A profile concentrated in relevant, clean sources transfers authority forward on any extension; an engineered profile discounts the name on .com as readily as on .xyz.

The way that inherited value is read and scored across the decision runs through the metric guides What is a good Domain Authority score and Trust Flow to Citation Flow ratio.

A careless extension-led purchase exposes itself to risks mapped in Risks of buying an expired domain: 7 costly mistakes and how to avoid them. The reasons businesses acquire across the extension spectrum are collected in Why businesses buy an expired or aged domain: 7 SEO use cases with documented outcomes.

How a screened catalogue reads the extension inside the list

The whole list resolves to one operational point: the extension is one signal, and the type, the governance, and the inherited history are what decide value. The four types, the per-type signals, the resale-liquidity read, and the reference tool all point the same way.

SEO Domains reads the extension exactly that way at intake. The curated catalogue screens each aged domain in a fixed order:

• Its inherited backlink profile, read for relevance and cleanness.
• Its topical history, read against the buyer's intended use.
• Its abuse and trademark exposure, surfaced before acquisition.
• The extension and its type last, read as a trust-and-liquidity modifier on top of that screen.

Domain Authority, Domain Rating, Trust Flow, and Citation Flow are reported alongside the inheritance read, so a buyer sources a name selected on the history that decides the SEO and the extension that prices the resale liquidity around it.

The catalogue reads inherited equity before the extension, which is the order the list demands.

The discipline SEO Domains applies is to invert the order the registrar lists encode. A raw list prices a name on its extension and leaves the history unread.

The catalogue reverses that. It reads the inherited backlink profile for relevance and cleanness, reads the topical history against the buyer's intended use, reads the abuse and trademark exposure, and only then reads the extension and its type as the trust-and-liquidity modifier they are.

An aged domain on an established gTLD combines the inherited SEO equity that carries the ranking with the deepest resale pool the extension prices. ICANN-accredited transfer applies to every acquisition regardless of extension, and the underlying diligence runs on RDAP after the WHOIS sunset of 28 January 2025.

A buyer who reads the list by type and governance, not by suffix alone, is the buyer best served by inventory screened on the history that is the larger lever.

A screened catalogue raises confidence in the history, and it guarantees no outcome.

The honest takeaway is two-sided. Extension hype, a cheap new gTLD sold as equal to a gTLD, a vanity ccTLD assumed global, a hidden premium renewal, and a history ignored in favour of the suffix are real ways a domain decision goes wrong.

They concentrate in unscreened pools where a name reaches a buyer priced on its extension with its history unread.

A screened catalogue does not write the content, earn the new links, or run the conversion the inherited equity rewards. It does not provide financial, investment, or legal advice, and it promises no ranking or sale outcome on any name or extension.

What it does is read the inherited equity, the topical history, the abuse exposure, and the resale liquidity that decide the outcome, and place the extension where this list places it, as one signal on top of the asset.

A reader who finishes this list is equipped to stop reading the suffix in isolation and start reading the domain.