All TLDs / .io · meaning · where to buy · price · is it legit?
.io — should you use it?
Country code (British Indian Ocean Territory), used generically · introduced 1997
- Strong developer-brand recognition (I/O)
- Short, clean, good availability for real words
- Google treats it as generic despite being a ccTLD
- Expensive renewals
- Chagos Islands sovereignty transfer puts long-term status in rare-but-real question
- So popular it's now a cliché
The longer take
io = input/output made this the developer TLD, and that association still pays rent. Two caveats: renewals are 3–5x a .com, and the UK–Mauritius Chagos deal means the 'IO' country code could theoretically be retired someday (precedent says years of transition, but .com never has this conversation). For a dev-facing product it remains a strong, safe-enough pick.
Where .io ranks
.io and British Indian Ocean Territory
.io is the country-code top-level domain assigned to British Indian Ocean Territory, administered by the registry Internet Computer Bureau Limited.
The Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) .io is nominally assigned to the British Indian Ocean Territory, but in practice used typically by technology organisations and websites because of its connection with the computer science term input/output.
Source: Wikipedia — .io (CC BY-SA)
Where to buy .io
Renewal trap: .io costs $28.12 in year one but $51.80/yr to renew — 1.8× the intro price. Budget for the renewal, not the promo. Full Renewal-Trap Index
| Registrar | First year | Renews | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Namecheap Sponsored | Live price unavailable — confirm at the registrar. | Go → | |
| Dynadot Sponsored | Live price unavailable — confirm at the registrar. | Go → | |
| Porkbun Trust pick cheapest | $28.12 promo | $51.80 | Go → |
| Cloudflare Trust pick at-cost | $50.00 | $50.00 | Go → |
Porkbun & Cloudflare prices in USD, pulled from their daily feeds (checked 2026-08-30). Cloudflare sells at wholesale cost but requires using Cloudflare’s nameservers. Full comparison: where to buy .io.
Some links are affiliate links. Prices are set by the registrar and can change — always confirm at checkout.