What is an .xyz domain? Is it any good? — Francisco Salvetti
.xyz domains became available to the general public on June 2, 2014. Like any other domain extensions, at first, they seem strange to many. We are used to the prevalence of .com and maybe to the endings specific to each country (such as .us, .ca or .mx). But the .xyz domain is borderless and originally intended to capture innovators, entrepreneurs and creatives.
So much so that Google also decided to bet on the .xyz domain. Those behind Google, Larry Page and Sergey Brin have always had a very clear philosophy: that of having a company that is different from the rest. They chose the domain name abc.xyz for their parent company, Alphabet. It’s important to note that this domain extension works great for Alphabet simply because it matches its branding. Otherwise, .xyz domains are considered useless today by most developers, who prefer the alternative domain extensions .io, .me, or .co.
Why are .xyz domains so cheap?
On June 1, 2017, .XYZ launched the 1.111B class .xyz domains which are cheap domains priced at US$0.99 per year and renewed for the same price. They are numeric combinations of 6, 7, 8 and 9 digits between 000000.xyz and 999999999.xyz. Daniel Negari, CEO of .XYZ said it is to bring competition, choice and innovation to the market.
While this decision made the domain extension easily available to a broad market of entrepreneurs, it also gave spammers and other malicious actors a cheap source of disposable domains. As a result, today .xyz domains are generally associated with untrustworthy sites.
Is an .xyz domain good?
The .xyz domain is good for the price, as it is extremely cheap and can be used in the early stages of developing a new site. During development stages, a temporary domain name using .xyz can be used to send a preview of the site to the client before the definitive domain or brand is defined. .xyz domains, however, aren’t recommended for launching a live site.
Is .xyz better than .com?
Not really. If given the possibility to choose, you should always select the .com option. The problem is that .coms have become generally unavailable because too many companies have decided to buy them and sell them to the highest bidder and prices have risen considerably. In fact, there are companies that do not offer them as such but buy them with the idea of reselling them for a much higher price than usual. And, this very thing, limits the options of those who want to go online.
Who owns XYZ TLD?
Daniel Negari launched the .xyz domain option and made it available to the general public in 2014 with the idea of opening a new market of available domain names seeing that most .com domains are already taken.
What is XYZ used for?
Some have claimed that the XYZ domain can be used to target the different generations that have existed in recent years and that have come to be known as Generation X, Y and Z. These are the generations of the Internet innovators, entrepreneurs and creatives.
The first of them could be understood as the one that firmly believes in the right of everyone to have access to the Internet. Generation Y went a step further and the Internet began to become a fundamental tool because it made life easier and, of course, it kept people connected in a simple and fast way. Finally, Generation Z believes that the Internet can be used to help each other (even if they did not know each other before), to connect with new people and, ultimately, to be able to change the world together.
