.ai vs .app — Which Domain Extension Should You Buy?
.ai vs .app compared on what actually costs you money: how many names are ready to buy in each extension on NameSale, what the typical one lists for, and what each renews at every year.
Live numbers from the NameSale catalogue, plus what each extension costs to keep. Figures as of 2026-10-26. Renewal figures are one registrar's public list prices (Porkbun, October 7, 2026); other registrars charge different amounts.
| .ai | .app | |
|---|---|---|
| Ready to buy now | 22 | 0 |
| Median price | $239 | — |
| Cheapest listing | $239 | — |
| Yearly renewal (per year after the included first year, at one registrar's list prices; for .ai the first 2 years are included and it renews 2 years at a time) | $82.70 | $14.93 |
| Five years of ownership (median price plus four years of renewal) | $570 | — |
What the numbers say
Only one of these is actually stocked right now: 22 .ai names are ready to buy, while nothing in .app has passed an availability check in the last seven days.
The difference that lasts is renewal. At one registrar's list prices, .ai renews at $82.70 a year against $14.93 for .app — $271 more over the first five years.
About .ai
.ai is the country-code top-level domain of Anguilla. IANA lists the Government of Anguilla as its manager and records its registration date as February 16, 1995. The government sponsors the extension, and Identity Digital provides the registry's technical operations.
Registration of .ai names is unrestricted, so residency in Anguilla is not required. Names are registered and renewed for a minimum of two years, and a transfer to another registrar includes a two-year renewal. The registry states that it adheres to the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) for disputes over names.
Sources: IANA root zone database, nic.ai, identity.digital, wipo.int, godaddy.com, dynadot.com
About .app
The .app extension is a generic top-level domain. IANA lists Charleston Road Registry Inc. as its sponsoring organization and https://www.registry.google, the Google Registry website, as its URL for registration services. IANA's root zone database gives its registration date as June 25, 2015.
Google Registry says its domains are open to the public through any of its registrar partners. The .app top-level domain is on the HSTS preload list, which makes HTTPS required on all connections to .app websites. Under the registry's .app registration policy, registrars must tell prospective registrants, clearly and before purchase, that HTTPS serving has to be configured for browsers to load .app websites.
Sources: IANA root zone database, registry.google, registry.google, registry.google, hstspreload.org
Some .ai names ready to buy
- answerbench.ai — $239
- askstudio.ai — $239
- askworks.ai — $239
- clipworks.ai — $239
- docengine.ai — $239
- draftforge.ai — $239
- graphengine.ai — $239
- inferbench.ai — $239