Key points
- Cost: a .ai name costs about $80 a year, sold in two-year terms (Domain Name Wire), several times what a .com usually costs.
- Search: Google treats .ai as a generic domain, so it doesn't hurt you outside Anguilla (Google Search Central).
- In practice: many of the biggest AI products run on .ai, including claude.ai, perplexity.ai, x.ai, mistral.ai. 59 of the 72 directory companies with email on their .ai name use Google Workspace there, which suggests the .ai is their main company domain.
- Some brands keep .com as home: on 8 November 2026 we found suno.ai, jetbrains.ai and axon.ai all redirecting to .com sites.
What it costs
A new .ai registration is about $80 a year and must be bought for at least two years; renewals work the same way (Domain Name Wire, Wikipedia). A .com is usually much cheaper per year. For a single name the difference is small next to other startup costs, but it adds up if you register many variations.
Search engines
Country-code domains like .de normally tell Google which country a site targets. .ai is an exception: Google lists it among the country codes it treats as generic, because people use them that way (Google Search Central). A .ai site ranks like a .com site would, worldwide.
Perception
.ai tells people you build AI before they read a word. That's useful while AI is your product and a risk if you later pivot: a company that moves beyond AI may find the name says the wrong thing. A .com is neutral and is what most people type by default.
What AI companies actually do
Three patterns show up in our directory:
- .ai for everything. The product, the company site and email all run on the .ai name. Most directory companies fit here: 59 of 72 run Google Workspace email on their .ai domain. Examples: perplexity.ai, harvey.ai, mistral.ai.
- .ai for the product, .com for the company. Anthropic runs Claude on claude.ai, which has no mail servers and declares it sends no email, while the company itself uses anthropic.com. Meta runs its assistant on meta.ai.
- .com first, .ai as a redirect. When we checked on 8 November 2026, suno.ai redirected to suno.com, jetbrains.ai to jetbrains.com and axon.ai to applovin.com.
Who's behind .ai
.ai is Anguilla's country-code domain, and its fees go to the Government of Anguilla. That means prices and rules are set locally rather than through ICANN's agreements for domains like .com. See who owns .ai.
How to decide
| If… | Consider |
|---|---|
| AI is the product, and the .ai name is short and clear | .ai as your main domain, plus the .com if you can get it |
| You may grow beyond AI | .com as home, .ai as a product or redirect |
| The .com is taken and expensive | .ai, which is often easier to get in a short, brandable form |
| You're registering many names | .com for most; .ai costs add up |
Questions
- Is a .ai domain bad for SEO?
- No. Google treats .ai as a generic domain rather than as targeting Anguilla, so it ranks like any other domain.
- Why is .ai more expensive than .com?
- The base fee is set by the Government of Anguilla and the registry, and names are sold in two-year minimum terms, at about $80 a year.
- Do big AI companies use .ai or .com?
- Both. Perplexity, Harvey and Mistral run everything on .ai; Anthropic uses claude.ai for its product and anthropic.com for the company; some brands redirect .ai to .com.
Sources
- Domain Name Wire: The coming .ai junk drop (29 Jun 2026)
- Wikipedia: .ai
- Google Search Central: Managing multi-regional and multilingual sites
- Directory figures are computed from aidomaindata's listings, each linked to its own sources
Written by aidomaindata from the sources above. For information only, not financial or legal advice. Spot a mistake? Email hello@aidomaindata.com and we'll review it within two working days.