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Ask HN: What are the best TLDs to rely on for the long-term?

12 points by Asdrubalini ↗ HN
I am looking for a cool domain name, mostly for personal email and blogs. It should also be short and easy to spell, and most importantly, reliable in the long term. I don't want to lose it in 10 or 20 years because some random country where the domain is based in decides to take it away from me or some other political issues.

Are only the traditional ones (.com, .net, .org) good for this purpose? For example .me is cool but it is the official TLD for Montenegro, or .ai which is for Anguilla. What about .xyz or .space? Can I rely on them?

Also feel free to suggest reliable registries.

Thanks!

15 comments

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369548684892826
Doesn't this depend in part on your own nationality? If you are Montenegran then you should probably be less worried about future .me rule changes working against you.
ajonit
.com - In all probability the domain ideas you first come up with would be unavailable. Get creative and secure short, pronounceable domain but don’t look beyond .com.
cudder
Nobody really knows with the new vanity TLDs. They probably won't just disappear into thin air, but price hikes or other dark behaviours from their owners are possible. Delivering mail from them might be a bit harder too.

.io already raised their prices once it became the hip and cool TLD. .ai will likely see the same fate. On top of that there's the possibility that ccTLD's might impose restrictions on foreigners getting their domains.

I'd say go with the traditional ones like com/net/org, or your own country's ccTLD.

exdsq
.ai is already way more expensive than .io; I looked the other day and if I remember correctly it was $100pa. I usually get .io for around $33 a year.

There’s some vanity domains that are $249 a Year

2000UltraDeluxe
The advice I usually give to customers is:

* .org if you're a non-profit with international presence.

* .com is good for most international businesses.

* .eu can be used as an alternative to .com for businesses and organizations in the EU.

* Country-specific tld's should only be used for services aimed at those specific countries.

* Avoid .net unless you're a network operator (edit: the same applies to .aero unless you're doing aviation stuff).

Anything else can be considered to be of novelty value only. Do not base your business on one of the new gtld's, but feel free to use them for landing pages or specific campaigns. Skip the cool domains like .io. Exception: .nu, which has long been used as a secondary tld in Denmark and Sweden.

rosndo
> * .eu can be used as an alternative to .com for businesses and organizations in the EU.

This is bad advice. Nobody should use .eu

2000UltraDeluxe
Why's that? It's pefectly usable for things like portal pages linking to country-specific pages.
rosndo
Sure, for pages that you don’t hope anyone to actually find.
HershheleGibbs
Here's what I think.

I believe that the best TLDs to rely on for the long-term are .com and .net. The reason for this is that these are tried and true TLDs that have been around forever, and they are trusted by consumers. We know this because when we have tested it, we found that people trust these TLDs more than any other TLD, by far. So I would advise you to go with one of them.

freemint
For personal use i go with .de DENIC comes with a privacy shield equivalent build in. .de domains have not constraints on who can own then. DENIC (and things sorounding .de) have been processed by german civil courts. As long as you do not plan to violate German Law (no holocaust denial etc) .de seems a good alternative to .com if rule of law goes sour in the US or the UK or the .com is already taken.
DerekBickerton
Any generic one like .club .party .site .page etc

I avoid country-code TLDs because I've read countless articles of people having to submit passport scans to the country's registrar to prove they actually lived there. As for .com, all the good ones are taken and you have to have reallylongoneslikethisnow.com

karmakaze
I don't mind .app and it has the extra guarantee that it's always https.

I've used Namecheap forever and it's a good price with the least hassle. Not all TLDs you're interested may be there so could use a backup. The CloudFlare registrar is good too but have very few TLDs.