.COM still rules the domain world, and by a wide margin. Despite the flood of new extensions hitting the market, internet users worldwide continue to prefer it above all others. Only in a handful of countries, like Germany, do users favor their national extension over .COM.
.com domains recently crossed the 115 million mark worldwide, and growth shows no sign of slowing. Between April and November of this year, the number of .com domains grew by more than 2 million, according to Verisign. The organization that manages the .com registry also points out that far more names are still available than most people think. Some of the numbers it shares: 23 million domain availability checks happen every day. 95% of all 5-character combinations are still up for grabs. Push that to 6 characters, and 99% remain unclaimed.
For now, the promise of new domains like .club, .direct, and others to offer fresh registration options hasn’t put a dent in .com’s reputation as the most established and recognized extension on the internet.
