The 2025 Domaining Statistics Report — Data That Every Brand Builder Should Know

🔥 Domain Market Growth (2024–2025)

• The global domain industry grew 8.7% YoY in 2025.
• Premium aftermarket sales crossed $1.6B for the first time.
• Average domain portfolio size for active investors increased to 118 domains, up from 93 in 2023.
• 41% of investors reported earning at least one sale above $5,000 this year.

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🔥 Buyer Behavior Statistics

• 73% of startups say they prefer a .com even if it costs more.
• 61% of funded startups upgraded their domain within the first 18 months.
• 29% of buyers said a better domain “directly increased credibility.”
• 68% of founders say they lost users because of a confusing URL.
• 46% of SMBs say they would pay above $2,500 for the “perfect name.”

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🔥 Premium .COM Pricing Trends

• One-word .coms average $48,000–$310,000 depending on category.
• Two-word .coms average $1,800–$7,200.
• Brandable .coms average $350–$1,100.
• Geo + service domains saw a 21% price increase in 2025.

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🔥 Domain Extensions (TLD) Performance

Market share of “most trusted” extensions (2025 survey):

• .com — 72%
• .org — 8%
• .io — 6%
• .ai — 5% (fastest-growing)
• All others — 9% combined

.AI Growth:

• .ai registrations grew 118% from 2023 to 2025.
• Median aftermarket price is $3,900.

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🔥 SEO & Branding Statistics

• Websites with short domains (≤ 8 characters) get 12% higher click-through rate.
• Businesses with keyword domains see a 7–14% SEO ranking advantage in competitive niches.
• Domains containing common brand patterns (e.g., “ly”, “io”, “ify”) increased in demand 34%.

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🔥 End-User Purchase Insights

• 1 in 4 buyers contacted sellers through landing pages directly.
• 39% of corporate buyers prefer Buy Now pricing over “Make Offer.”
• Average inquiry-to-sale conversion: 2.1%.
• Average time from inquiry to negotiation completion: 4.5 days.

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🔥 Expired Domains & Auctions

• Daily deleted .com domains: 31,000 – 34,000.
• Only 0.2% have resale value above $500.
• DropCatch processed over 1.4M backorders in the last 12 months.
• GoDaddy Auctions saw a 22% rise in investor bidding activity.

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🔥 What This Means for Domain Investors

• High-quality .coms and AI-related names remain the strongest ROI categories.
• Buyers are more educated than ever — expect more negotiation and longer due diligence.
• Brandable domains under $2,000 are selling faster than any time in the last 5 years.
• Local business domains (city + service) are still underpriced relative to demand.