Most expensive domain names ever sold

What are the most expensive domain names ever sold?

Note: domain sale prices are reported figures and many are private or disputed, so treat all amounts as best available estimates.

• AI.com reportedly sold for about $70 million, a 2025 deal paid in cryptocurrency and disclosed in 2026, the largest reported domain-only sale.
• Voice.com sold for $30 million in 2019, the cleanest confirmed all-cash domain sale.
• 360.com reportedly sold for about $17 million in 2015 when Qihoo bought it from Vodafone, though that price was never officially confirmed.
• Chat.com was acquired by Dharmesh Shah for $15.5 million in 2023, then sold to OpenAI on undisclosed terms reportedly involving shares.
• NFTs.com reached $15 million in 2022, Rocket.com $14 million in 2024, Sex.com $13 million in 2010, Crypto.com $12 million in 2018 and Icon.com $12 million in 2025.
• Every reported top-tier sale is a short .com.

Here is the accuracy that most lists miss. Cars.com ($872 million), Business.com ($345 million) and LasVegas.com ($90 million) do not belong in a clean cash domain-sale ranking, and each is excluded for a different reason.

Cars.com was an intangible-asset and trade-name valuation; Business.com was a web advertising and directory business acquisition; and LasVegas.com was a long-term installment-style domain-rights deal rather than a simple cash sale.

What is the average price of an aftermarket domain sale?

Note: figures come from Sedo and InterNetX’s 2026 Global Domain Report and reflect Sedo’s platform, not the whole market.

• Sedo’s median domain sale price was about $818 in the 2026 Global Domain Report.
• The average sale price was higher at about $2,753, pulled up by larger deals.
• The gap between median and average shows a broad mid-market base.
• .com made up about 66% of Sedo sales in the report.
• The multimillion-dollar sales are rare outliers, not the norm.

The median of $818 is the reality check. For every Voice.com-style headline sale, the broader aftermarket is mostly made up of domains changing hands for hundreds or low thousands of dollars.

What are the highest public marketplace domain sales?

Note: public marketplace figures are reported sales that vary by platform and year, so these illustrate typical transparent-sale ranges.

• The biggest domain sales are usually private brokered deals, not public marketplace transactions.
• Sedo’s largest 2024 sale was Bagels.com at $500,000.
• Strong public results often land in the tens to hundreds of thousands.
• Names like humanity.org ($225,000) show typical high-end territory.
• Open marketplace sales rarely match the eight-figure private records.

Public marketplaces and private sales operate at different scales. The record-setting deals happen quietly through brokers and direct negotiation, while public results, though more transparent, tend to clear at far lower prices.

How much do premium .com domains typically sell for?

Note: premium pricing varies enormously by the specific name, so these reflect reported medians and market patterns.

• .com had a median sale price of about $595 in Sedo’s 2026 Global Domain Report.
• Roughly half of .com sales fall below that median, while rare category-defining .coms can reach millions.
• Reported .com prices vary widely by length, word quality and buyer demand.
• .com accounted for about 72% of reported aftermarket dollar volume in 2025.
• Short, generic and category-defining .com names dominate the highest-value public charts.

Premium pricing follows a steep curve. The jump from a good two-word .com to a single-word, exact-match .com can be a hundredfold, because true single-word names are permanently scarce and tied to entire industries. For standard pricing, see our domain name cost research.

How big is the domain aftermarket?

Note: aftermarket size reflects reported sales only; private and undisclosed deals push the true figure higher.

• Publicly reported aftermarket sales tracked by NameBio reached about $244 million in 2025, up from roughly $185 million in 2024.
• The true total is far higher, since NameBio captures only an estimated 5% to 10% of retail sales and many deals are private.
• NameBio’s historical database now exceeds $3 billion in recorded sales.
• .ai domains surged in 2025, with NameBio-reported dollar volume up 90.6% year over year to more than $22 million.
• .com still dominates aftermarket value despite new extensions.

The aftermarket is sizable but concentrated, with a few large sales and a long tail of modest ones. The rise of .ai shows how new sectors create fresh demand, even as .com keeps its grip on the highest-value names. For registration basics, see our domain name cost research.

Sources & additional resources

• Financial Times. “AI.com Bought by Crypto.com Founder for $70mn in Biggest-Ever Website Name Deal.” Financial Times.
• MicroStrategy. “MicroStrategy Sells Voice.com Domain Name for $30 Million.” SEC Exhibit 99.1.
• TechCrunch. “OpenAI Acquired Chat.com.” TechCrunch.
• DNJournal. “The All-Time Top 20 Cash Domain Sales Reported by DNJournal.” DNJournal.
• China Daily. “Qihoo Pays Record Price for Full Rights to 360 Domain.” China Daily.
• Sedo. “Global Domain Report and Market Study.” Sedo.
• Domain Name Wire. “New Report Contains Interesting Aftermarket Domain Name Data.” Domain Name Wire.
• SIDN. “Global Domain Report 2025: Trends and Sales in Domains.” SIDN.
• NameBio. “Domain Sales History Database.” NameBio.
• NamePros. “2025 Domain Name Market Dollar Volume Trends.” NamePros.
• U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. “Cars.com Inc. Form S-1 Registration Statement.” U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
• Domain Name Wire. “R.H. Donnelley Acquires Business.com for $345M.” Domain Name Wire.
• DNJournal. “George Kirikos Discovers 2005 Deal to Purchase LasVegas.com.” DNJournal.

Web Hosting Services helps you find a great name without overpaying, with independent domain and hosting research, current domain and hosting deals and managed WordPress hosting to put your new domain to work.