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.io Domains

Get a .io Name. Skip the Setup.

The ending startups and developer tools reach for. Buy it here and we point it at your website for you.

See if your .io is free
Type a word to see it across the popular endings, or the whole name, like mystartup.io, to ask about just that one. A standard .io here is $67.50 a year.
Tell us what the site is, in a word or a sentence, and we suggest names, then check which ones are still available.

What to Know Before Buying a .io

  • Reads as global, ranks as global

    It is officially a country code, but Google lists .io among the ones it treats as generic, so a .io website is not tied to one country in search.

  • Open to anyone, anywhere

    There is no local presence to prove and no paperwork beyond ordinary contact details. Short, clean names are also easier to find here than on .com.

  • It costs more than .com, everywhere

    The registry charges every seller about $50 a year, whoever you buy from. It has told registrars that rises to $56 on January 19, 2027, so expect prices across the market to move.

.io Domains at a Glance

Registry
Internet Computer Bureau
Type
Country code (British Indian Ocean Territory)
Who can register
Anyone, anywhere
Shortest term
1 year
HTTPS
Not forced by the ending
How Google treats it
Generic, not tied to a country

Who Uses It

itch.io

The indie game marketplace

socket.io

The realtime JavaScript library

The .io Situation, Dated

.io has been the default for developer tools for years, which is odd for a country code. It belongs to the British Indian Ocean Territory, and a treaty signed in May 2025 would hand the Chagos Islands to Mauritius. That raised a fair question: what happens to the ending when the territory it stands for changes?

Here is where things stood in November 2026. In April 2026 the UK was reported to have frozen the treaty for lack of US support. Nothing has changed for .io names in the meantime. And if the IO code were ever removed from the ISO list, ICANN says a phase-out of five years would begin, which could be extended. So the worst case is measured in years and comes with notice.

The other thing to watch is cost. Domain Name Wire reported that the registry fee rises from $50 to $56 a year on January 19, 2027, and every seller pays that. It is already an expensive ending to keep, so count the renewal before you commit.

A Good Fit For

  • Developer tools and technical products. Developers have seen .io on tools they use for years, so it reads as normal to them, and it sends a clear signal about who the product is for.
  • Short product names long gone on .com. A clean one-word .io can be easier to say and remember than a .com with an extra word attached, which can justify the higher yearly cost.

Not the Best Fit For

  • A name that must last for decades with no backup. The ending's future depends partly on the Chagos treaty, so if the name matters that much, buy the .com as well if you can.
  • Local businesses, where the ending means nothing to customers. A plumber or a restaurant pays a high yearly price for an ending most of their customers will find strange.

What the Price Pays For

A registrar that only sells names will usually charge less for the name. What you get here is everything after it, in the same place as your website.

  • The connecting is done for you

    We write the DNS records and join the name to your website ourselves. Nothing to look up and nothing to copy between accounts.

  • The padlock comes with it

    The SSL certificate is issued when you pick the website, then renewed for as long as you use the name. It is not an extra.

  • Email on your name

    Add hello@ or info@ on the name, and mail sent there lands in the inbox you already read. The forwarding and MX records are set up here.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it safe to buy a .io domain?

It works normally today, and there is a real question worth knowing about. .io is the country code of the British Indian Ocean Territory. The UK and Mauritius signed a treaty in May 2025 to hand over the Chagos Islands, which could in time remove that code. In April 2026 the UK was reported to have frozen the plan for lack of US support. If the code were ever removed, ICANN says a five-year phase-out would begin, which could be extended, and that a change is not a foregone conclusion. So the risk is slow and comes with years of warning. If the name has to last decades, buy the .com too.

What does .io stand for?

It is the country code of the British Indian Ocean Territory. Developers took to it because it also reads as input/output, and it has been a startup habit ever since.

Does a .io domain hurt my Google ranking?

No. Google lists .io among the country codes it treats as generic, the same way it treats .com, so it does not tie your website to one country.

Why is .io more expensive than .com?

Most of it is the registry. Every seller pays the registry about $50 a year for a .io, against roughly $10 for a .com. A low first-year price elsewhere is a sale on that, and the renewal is where it shows.

What happens to my .io if the code is removed?

According to ICANN, a phase-out of five years would begin, which could be extended. You would have years to move to a new name.

Do I need a paid plan?

The name is its own yearly purchase, and you can use it with a website kept anywhere. Connecting it to a website here needs a paid plan, from Starter. Free websites stay on a free subdomain.

Is the name mine, and can I move it later?

Yes. It is registered in your name, and the code you need to take it elsewhere is a click away in its menu. A name you already own elsewhere can move here the same way.

Other endings: .com domains, .co domains, .store domains, .shop domains, .xyz domains, .app domains, .studio domains, .design domains, .dev domains, .ai domains, .tech domains, all domain names

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