
Ask HN: .io vs .ai for a startup? - genevpd
.com is taken, both .io and .ai are available.<p>Would you pick .io or .ai for a business app where ML&#x2F;AI is major value proposition?
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segmondy
None, leave it and find an available .com

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eb0la
Today .com is a serious asset. It it's taken, buy it as soon as you raise
money.

Investors won't protest if you buy a $XXX asset that might not loose value if
everything goes bad.

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deurzen
.io is becoming increasingly popular amongst startups.

[https://www.forbes.com/sites/christophersteiner/2017/05/03/m...](https://www.forbes.com/sites/christophersteiner/2017/05/03/most-
startups-still-believe-they-need-a-dot-com-domain-but-that-is-
changing/#542f33bc6a21)

I would go for the .io TLD myself.

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rcfox
It sounds like the .io TLD is very poorly managed, what with people being able
to take over the nameservers. [https://hackernoon.com/stop-using-io-domain-
names-for-produc...](https://hackernoon.com/stop-using-io-domain-names-for-
production-traffic-b6aa17eeac20)

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LiamPa
Agreed good advice that came from this was to host anything important (API) on
www.

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innoprenuer
I would go for .ai because thats the core feature. domain with .ai gives away
your core offering (i.e. ML/Al) and you would have customer attention from the
very beginning. According to me, it also adds credibility and legitimacy in a
subtle way which goes a long way in lead conversion.

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tedyoung
I would personally get both: you want the .ai, because that's your niche, and
add on the .io given that it isn't very expensive at $32.88/year.

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edward8628
I would go with .io and .ai is not bad neither

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nik736
I would only get .io or .ai if the .com is taken but can be bought. Otherwise
add a word to take the .com.

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rajacombinator
Doesn’t matter at all but “AI” is still in the buzz cycle might as well hop on
board.

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sgillen
Either is going to be fine honestly.

I agree with the others in that I would choose .io

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throwaway180118
Which domain registrar would you recommend?

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tedyoung
I like HexoNet ([https://www.hexonet.net/](https://www.hexonet.net/)) and
NameCheap ([https://www.namecheap.com/](https://www.namecheap.com/)) and pick
the one that has the lower price for the TLD that I'm interested in.

In this case, HexoNet has .ai for $80/year, and NameCheap has the .io TLD for
$32.88/year.

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throwaway413
.ai is the new .io

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nightfly
buy both

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genevpd
Several people suggested to buy both, in that case, which one you will make
primary and other for redirect?

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eb0la
Don't redirect. Just setup the same site with the same content and see what
happens / converts better / etc.

