Why Are AI Domains So Expensive? The Surprising Truth

You’re probably familiar with .ai domains. They’re becoming more popular as new Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools arrive on the market. However, .ai domains can be very expensive when compared to other popular Top-Level Domains (TLDs).

Fortunately, it’s still possible to find affordable .ai domains, especially if you know where to look. But before you spend money on that domain, it’s important to understand why it costs more than other options, and whether it’s a worthwhile investment for you.

In this article, we’ll talk about .ai domains and how much they cost. We’ll also discuss what has made them so expensive. Let’s get to it!

An Introduction To the .ai Domain Extension

You might be surprised to learn that .ai didn’t start as a TLD for artificial intelligence businesses. In fact, it’s the Country Code TLD (ccTLD) for Anguilla, a British territory in the Caribbean.

Every country in the world has a unique ccTLD. While some countries restrict who can use these TLDs, others are much more lenient.

The .ai domain is a great example of this. These days, it’s not uncommon for web professionals to use this TLD for their AI products.

If you Google a list of recent popular AI startups, you’ll notice that a large number of them use the .ai domain extension.

For example, Activechat.ai offers AI-assisted live chat automation:

Similarly, Jasper.ai is a company that provides AI content generation tools:

Anguilla doesn’t place any restrictions on who can register an .ai domain. In fact, the AI boom has somewhat benefitted the island.

It was estimated that domain registrations would bring $30 million into the Anguilla economy in 2023. With the rising popularity of AI, that figure is likely to grow in upcoming years.

Anguilla is not the only country that doesn’t restrict who can use its ccTLD. Other country domain extensions that are widely used include .co (Colombia), .tv (Tuvalu), .io (British Indian Ocean Territory), and .me (Montenegro).

How Expensive Are .ai Domain Names?

To put the cost of .ai domain names into perspective, you need a baseline. The .com extension is possibly the most popular TLD in the world. You can typically find .com domains that cost between $10 and 20 per year.

For instance, we used our NameHero domain search tool, and found a huge difference in price between the .ai and .com versions of the same domain name:

As you can see, the .com domain costs $16.98 per year, while its .ai counterpart costs $159.96 per year. While this price may still be affordable for some businesses, especially those with larger revenues, there’s still a significant difference.

Why Are AI Domains So Expensive? (3 Reasons)

Now that you have a rough idea of the costs for an AI domain, let’s look at some of the reasons this TLD is so expensive.

1. Demand for AI Services

The AI industry continues to gain ground. AI innovation has hit almost every industry you can imagine over the past couple of years, from marketing and advertising to web development and customer service.

Every modern business needs a website and, by extension, a domain. If you’re in charge of choosing the domain name for a tech startup, you’ll likely consider an AI extension for your site.

Although .ai didn’t originate as a domain extension for AI services, it has become the preferred option for many professionals in the industry. It’s a similar scenario to how .io became incredibly popular among tech startups, even though it’s a ccTLD.

As the AI industry continues to grow, the demand for .ai TLDs will likely rise alongside it. Although these domain extensions are expensive, a couple hundred dollars is not an outrageous expense for a business hoping to look more professional and establish authority in the AI field.

2. Two-Year Minimum for Registration

When you register a domain, you can choose the length of the contract. Some domain registrars enable you to register domain names with multi-year contracts instead of having to renew them every year:

One year is the standard minimum for domain name registration. However, with AI domains, the minimum registration length is two years. That means upfront costs are bound to be higher than other TLDs.

It’s important to note that registrars don’t control the minimum registration length for .ai domains. The body in charge of the Anguilla ccTLD decides what to charge and what the base registration length is.

While two years is the minimum, you can also register AIdomains for longer periods. Anguilla supports domain registrations for two, four, six, eight, and ten years.

If you’re registering an AIdomain for your business, it makes sense to lock in the property for at least a few years. This way, you won’t have to worry about domain renewal for a while.

3. Anguilla’s Fixed Wholesale Price

When dealing with ccTLDs, each country can determine how much to charge for their unique domains. In Anguilla’s case, the .ai domain gained popularity due to growing interest in AI tools.

That left Anguilla in a unique position where they can charge a base fee of $140 for .ai domain registrations. That’s a lot more than what most other countries charge for their TLDs, and it makes AIdomains among the most expensive options on the market.

Other ccTLDs can’t command these prices, as there are always other domain extensions that site owners can use. For example, if a .co domain is too costly, you might opt for the .com version, and it likely wouldn’t affect your branding.

However, if you run an AIbusiness, the .ai domain is possibly a key aspect of your site branding. Therefore, it may be worth the investment.

Conclusion

As the demand for AI services continues to grow, .ai domains will probably continue to command high prices. If you run a tech business, having a .ai domain can be an important aspect of your branding – it tells people that you specialize in artificial intelligence.

Do you have any questions about .ai domains and how to find the best prices for these TLDs? Let us know in the comments section below!