AI.com is the most expensive publicly reported domain name sale, at $70 million.

The transaction closed in 2025 and became public in February 2026. It more than doubled the previous record held by Voice.com, which sold for $30 million in 2019.

That answer needs one important qualification though: no complete ledger of every domain transaction exists.

Many deals remain private, while some widely repeated “domain sales” actually involved operating companies, customer databases, trademarks, or websites.

This ranking therefore covers the 50 largest credible, publicly reported domain transactions we could document.

The most expensive domains ever sold: quick facts

• Record sale: AI.com, $70 million

• Previous record: Voice.com, $30 million

• Combined nominal value of the 50 entries: $432,030,888

• Median sale price: $5.5 million

• Extension represented: all 50 are .com domains

• Very short names: 25 contain four characters or fewer before .com

• Recent activity: 16 transactions occurred from 2020 onward

The combined figure is the sum of the reported values in the table.

It should not be read as an audited cash total because a few older transactions included stock, receivable forgiveness, another domain, or a lightly developed website. Those cases are labeled.

Top 50 most expensive domain name sales

Amounts are nominal U.S. dollars and are not adjusted for inflation. “Reported” means the price was disclosed by a buyer, seller, broker, court record, financial filing, or a specialist publication with supporting evidence.

Domain	Reported price	Year	What to know
1) AI.com	$70,000,000	2025	Closed in 2025 and disclosed in 2026; the cryptocurrency consideration was valued at $70 million.
2) Voice.com	$30,000,000	2019	A company-reported cash sale and the previous public record.
3) 360.com	$17,000,000	2015	Widely reported acquisition by Chinese internet company Qihoo 360.
4) Chat.com	$15,500,000	2023	Dharmesh Shah disclosed what he paid; the price of his later transfer to OpenAI was not disclosed.
5) NFTs.com	$15,000,000	2022	Publicly reported private domain sale.
6) Rocket.com	$14,000,000	2024	Price later identified in public-company records.
7) Sex.com	$13,000,000	2010	Cash sale brokered by Sedo.
8) Crypto.com	$12,000,000	2018	The 2018 acquisition price was publicly disclosed in 2026.
9) Icon.com	$12,000,000	2025	Acquisition price confirmed by the buyer.
10) Tesla.com	$11,000,000	2014	Elon Musk later said acquiring the name cost $11 million.
11) Hotels.com	$11,000,000	2001	Publicly reported purchase price.
12) Club.com	$10,000,000	2025	The 2025 transaction was disclosed through public records in 2026.
13) Connect.com	$10,000,000	2022	Price surfaced in public-company records.
14) Porn.com	$9,500,000+	2007	The broker reported an all-cash price above $9.5 million but did not publish the exact amount.
15) Porno.com	$8,888,888	2015	Publicly announced cash sale.
16) Gold.com	$8,515,000	2024	Price confirmed after the transaction.
17) FB.com	$8,500,000*	2010	Seller records tied $8.5 million to FB.com and at least one additional domain; the exact FB.com allocation is unknown.
18) HealthInsurance.com	$8,133,000	2019	Price identified from public-company filings.
19) We.com	$8,000,000	2015	Price confirmed after the private transaction.
20) Green.com	$7,500,000	2026	Price found in first-quarter 2026 public-company records.
21) Diamond.com	$7,500,000	2006	Publicly reported cash sale.
22) Business.com	$7,500,000*	1999	Contemporary sources reported $7.5 million; later industry coverage questioned the precise cash-and-stock structure.
23) Beer.com	$7,000,000	2004	Publicly reported transaction price.
24) Z.com	$6,800,000	2014	A rare one-letter .com, acquired by GMO Internet.
25) Slots.com	$5,500,000	2010	Publicly reported cash sale.
26) Casino.com	$5,500,000	2003	Publicly reported transaction price.
27) Toys.com	$5,100,000	2009	Domain sale approved through bankruptcy court.
28) AsSeenOnTV.com	$5,100,000	2000	Publicly reported transaction price.
29) Korea.com	$5,000,000	2000	Publicly reported transaction price.
30) Clothes.com	$4,900,000	2008	Publicly reported domain acquisition.
31) Medicare.com	$4,800,000*	2014	$4.5 million cash plus $300,000 in forgiven receivables; a lightly developed site also transferred.
32) IG.com	$4,600,000	2013	Publicly reported acquisition by IG Group.
33) iCloud.com	$4,500,000	2011	Reported acquisition price; higher figures on some secondary lists remain unconfirmed.
34) AV.com	About $4,180,000	2021	Sold for £3.013 million, approximately $4.18 million at the reported exchange rate.
35) GiftCard.com	$4,000,000+*	2012	Reported as more than $4 million in a mix of cash and stock.
36) IT.com	$3,800,000	2022	Installment transaction reported complete in 2022.
37) YP.com	$3,800,000	2008	Price disclosed through a public-company filing.
38) HG.com	$3,770,000	2016	Publicly reported transaction price.
39) Mi.com	$3,600,000	2014	Xiaomi reported the acquisition price.
40) Shop.com	$3,550,000	2003	Publicly reported transaction price.
41) Ice.com	$3,500,000	2018	Private cash sale announced by the parties.
42) Hippo.com	$3,300,000	2021	Price identified in public records.
43) Wine.com	$3,300,000	2003	Publicly reported transaction price.
44) AltaVista.com	$3,300,000	1998	Contemporary publicly reported transaction price.
45) Software.com	$3,200,000	2005	Publicly reported transaction price.
46) Christmas.com	$3,150,000	2020	Broker-reported transaction price.
47) Floor.com	$3,144,000	2021	Seller-confirmed transaction price.
48) Whisky.com	$3,100,000	2014	Publicly reported transaction price.
49) Help.com	$3,000,000	2023	Broker-reported transaction price.
50) Yolo.com	$3,000,000	2021	Price publicly disclosed after the sale.

* Qualified transaction: the reported figure was not a clean, separately itemized, cash-only domain price.

We include it because it remains a material and well-documented domain acquisition, but we do not hide the limitation.

The cutoff contains a tie though. Place.com, California.com, Candy.com, Vodka.com, and Loans.com have also been reported at $3 million.

The sales that changed the domain market

1) AI.com reset the record at $70 million

The AI.com transaction is exceptional even by premium-domain standards.

According to reporting based on the buyer’s disclosure, Crypto.com cofounder Kris Marszalek bought the domain in April 2025 using cryptocurrency worth $70 million.

The sale became public in February 2026.

The name combines the strongest commercial extension with the defining technology category of the decade.

It is two letters, globally understood, easy to type, tied to a very lucrative industry, and broad enough to anchor an entire platform.

Those characteristics explain why the buyer did not have to invent demand around the name; the market already understood it.

2) Voice.com proved a domain alone could command $30 million

Voice.com held the public record for nearly seven years.

MicroStrategy announced the $30 million cash sale in 2019, and its annual report recorded a one-time gain of about $29.8 million from the transaction.

The buyer used the name for a blockchain-based social platform.

This was a particularly useful benchmark because the seller was a public company and the transaction appeared in company reporting.

That created a stronger evidence trail than the anonymous claims that often circulate in the domain market.

3) Chat.com shows why transaction history can influence future sales

HubSpot cofounder Dharmesh Shah said he bought Chat.com for $15.5 million in 2023.

OpenAI acquired the domain later, in 2024, but the consideration for that second transaction was not publicly disclosed.

That distinction is routinely lost in rewritten rankings.

The $15.5 million belongs to Shah’s purchase, not automatically to the later OpenAI deal.

A domain can change hands more than once, and each transaction needs its own evidence.

4) Crypto.com, Club.com, and Green.com reveal sales years later

Private transactions can remain invisible until a buyer, seller, or corporate filing reveals the price.

• Crypto.com’s $12 million price was disclosed in 2026 — eight years after the 2018 acquisition.

• Club.com’s $10 million 2025 transaction and

• Green.com’s $7.5 million 2026 sale also emerged from public-company records.

This is why any “all-time” ranking is a snapshot. A newly disclosed old deal can reorder the list without a new sale occurring.

5) Short brand names compete with exact-match keywords

The top 50 contains two different kinds of valuable names:

• Category and commercial keywords: Hotels.com, Gold.com, HealthInsurance.com, Clothes.com, Casino.com and Software.com immediately describe a market.

• Short, flexible brands: AI.com, Z.com, FB.com, We.com, IG.com and Mi.com can support a broad company identity.

Keyword domains can communicate intent immediately. Short brands offer memorability, scarcity, and room to expand.

The very highest prices increasingly go to names that deliver both—AI.com and Voice.com are obvious words or abbreviations, but they are also powerful brands.

Famous “domain sales” that do not belong in this ranking

Several eye-catching numbers appear in other lists.

We excluded them when the evidence showed an operating business or a bundle of assets was purchased, when the purported sale was disproved, or when completion could not be verified.

Often-quoted deal	Headline value	Why it is excluded
Cars.com	$872 million	Valuation associated with a broader business transaction, not a domain-only sale.
CarInsurance.com	$49.7 million	QuinStreet bought the shares of CarInsurance.com, Inc. and related entities. It was a company acquisition.
Insurance.com	$35.6 million	A website business acquisition. An SEC filing allocated only $4.35 million to the website, trade and domain names combined.
VacationRentals.com	$35 million	The frequently quoted transaction involved an operating site/business, with no reliable domain-only allocation.
PrivateJet.com	$30.18 million	The cash-plus-equity deal was announced, but later reporting found evidence that the transfer may never have completed.
Insure.com	$16 million	The purchase included a developed insurance website and business assets, not only the domain.
Fund.com	$9,999,950	DNJournal removed the entry in 2024 after evidence showed the claimed sale was false.
Internet.com	$18 million	The transaction covered a network of websites and business assets.
Israel.com	$5.88 million	The announced auction result did not close.

What the top 50 tells us about premium domains

.com still sets the ceiling

Every name in this top 50 uses .com.

That does not mean another extension cannot be effective. It means the largest disclosed aftermarket prices continue to reward .com for its global recognition, limited supply, and long history with U.S. businesses.

For a new project, the right name is not necessarily an eight-figure asset.

A clear, available name that fits the business and its budget can be more valuable than a prestigious name that consumes the capital needed to build the product.

Start by checking an available .com domain at Truehost before entering an aftermarket negotiation.

Scarcity is visible in the length

Half of the names in the ranking have four characters or fewer before .com.

There are only 26 possible one-letter .com names, and no new two-letter combinations can be created once they are registered.

Short length alone does not guarantee value, but pronounceability, meaning, and commercial fit become especially powerful when combined with genuine scarcity.

A price is evidence of one negotiation—not a universal appraisal

A reported sale records what one buyer and one seller agreed at a particular time. It does not prove that a similar name is worth the same amount.

Buyer urgency, financing, trademarks, market timing, traffic, prior use, and the seller’s willingness to wait can all change the result.

Automated appraisals can offer a reference point, but they cannot reliably model strategic value to a specific buyer.

Use comparable sales as inputs, not as a substitute for due diligence.

How to buy a premium domain safely in the United States

The mechanics of buying a $5,000 name and a $5 million name are similar, but the cost of a mistake is not.

For a material purchase, involve qualified legal, tax, and technical advisers.

a) Define the domain’s business value

Set a walk-away price before negotiating.

Estimate what the name could save in advertising, reduce in customer confusion, protect in brand leakage, or contribute to a future rebrand.

Compare that value with the cost of a strong available alternative.

You can use Truehost’s domain search to test alternatives and extensions before committing to an aftermarket deal.

b) Confirm registration data through RDAP

ICANN made the Registration Data Access Protocol, or RDAP, the definitive source for generic top-level domain registration data in January 2025.

Use an RDAP or WHOIS lookup to confirm the registrar, status codes, important dates, and available registration data.

Privacy services may hide the beneficial owner, so registration data alone is not proof that a person offering the name has authority to sell it.

c) Search for trademark and legal conflicts

Search the USPTO trademark database, state records, company names, and relevant international registers.

A domain’s availability does not create a right to use it as a brand. Avoid buying a name primarily because it matches someone else’s distinctive trademark.

For a consequential transaction, ask a U.S. trademark attorney to review the intended use, seller warranties, and dispute risk.

ICANN’s Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy can transfer or cancel domains registered and used in bad faith.

d) Investigate the domain’s history

Review archived pages, past ownership, search-engine visibility, backlinks, email reputation, blocklists, and previous security incidents.

A short name can carry long baggage.

Check whether it was used for spam, malware, counterfeits, adult material, or deceptive redirects, and whether that history could affect customers or email delivery.

e) Verify the seller and use a written agreement

Confirm identity and authority to sell.

The agreement should identify the exact domain, price, payment method, taxes and fees, transfer steps, deadlines, warranties, confidentiality terms, and what happens if either party fails to perform.

If a broker is involved, determine whom the broker represents and how the broker is paid.

Do not rely on an email thread alone for a high-value acquisition.

f) Use an established escrow process

An escrow provider holds the buyer’s funds while the seller transfers control of the domain.

The buyer receives an inspection period, and the provider releases funds when the agreed conditions are met.

Read the provider’s rules, verify payment instructions independently, and watch for impersonation or last-minute bank-detail changes.

g) Plan the transfer before paying

Confirm whether the domain is eligible to transfer.

ICANN policies can create 60-day locks after a new registration, a registrar transfer, or certain registrant changes.

Also check the authorization-code process and whether the name has registry or dispute locks.

After the purchase, you can transfer the domain to Truehost to manage it alongside your hosting and other domains.

Enable multifactor authentication, registrar lock, renewal protection, and registry lock where the value justifies it.

How we researched and ranked these sales

We built the ranking from transaction-specific reporting, corporate disclosures, court or regulatory records, and established domain-industry archives.

DNJournal’s all-time cash-sales chart was the starting benchmark, then we checked newer disclosures and older edge cases individually.

Our rules were:

• The domain had to be central to the transaction.

• The price needed a credible public source or documentary trail.

• We excluded uncompleted, disproved, or unverifiable claims.

• We excluded operating-company and developed-business purchases unless a defensible domain price was separately disclosed.

• We labeled transactions involving stock, another domain, receivable forgiveness, or a lightly developed site.

• We used the price at the time of sale, without inflation adjustment.

Domain Sales FAQs

What is the most expensive domain name ever sold?

AI.com is the largest credible, publicly reported domain sale at $70 million. The transaction closed in 2025 and was disclosed in February 2026.

What was the most expensive domain before AI.com?

Voice.com held the public record after selling for $30 million in cash in 2019. AI.com surpassed it by $40 million.

Did Cars.com really sell for $872 million?

No domain-only sale at that price has been documented. The $872 million figure came from the valuation of Cars.com in a broader corporate transaction, so it is not comparable with a standalone domain purchase.

Why are some famous sales missing from this list?

Some headline deals included a complete website or company, some never closed, and others were later disproved. The ranking excludes those deals or labels the structure when the domain value cannot be cleanly separated.

Why are all 50 domains .com names?

The largest disclosed aftermarket transactions continue to favor .com because it is globally recognized, commercially established, and limited in supply. Other extensions can still be a practical fit when the name, audience, and budget support them.

How can I find out who owns a premium domain?

Start with an RDAP lookup to identify the registrar, status, dates, and any public registration data. If privacy protection hides the owner, use the registrar’s contact channel, the domain’s website, or a reputable broker—and verify that any seller has authority to transfer the name.

Is an expensive domain automatically a good investment?

No. A premium domain can improve memorability and credibility, but its return depends on the business built around it, the purchase price, legal risk, and the availability of lower-cost alternatives. Treat comparable sales as context, not a guaranteed valuation.

The bottom line

AI.com’s $70 million sale is the new public high-water mark, but the broader lesson is not that every business needs an eight-figure address.

The best domain is the one that customers remember, the business can legally use, and the budget can justify.

Before negotiating for a premium name, compare it with available alternatives. Search for your domain with Truehost, secure the strongest fit for your brand, and keep enough capital to build the business customers will actually visit.

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