AI Startup Domain Names: What to Check and What a Fair Price Looks Like

AI startup domain names are a mess right now. Everyone wants a clean name and everyone thinks the good ones are gone.

They aren't. But you have to know where to look and what a fair price looks like.

I used to flip domains. I was a domain reseller and blogger, never a broker, and I still check names before I ship anything.

Free stuff to grab first

• Open source AI Employees: eight roles, all open source under the MIT license. The page says "No revenue share" and that you set your own charges for installing, customizing or running them. Free to take.
• IANA root zone database for .ai: the official record. It lists .ai as a country-code top-level domain managed by the Government of Anguilla. Read it before you assume .ai is "just a tech extension."
• ICANN on registrars: says gTLD names are registered through ICANN-accredited registrars, with several hundred around the world. Know who you are actually buying from.

Now the names.

The extension question

You have three honest options for an AI startup.

• .com: still the default people type.
• .ai: a ccTLD, per IANA. Popular with AI products. Check the registry's own rules and renewals.
• .app or .dev: signals software.

On the .app side, the 199.domains app collection calls it "the extension people read as 'this is software'" and notes that .app sites must use HTTPS.

What a fair price looks like

Here is a number from a live page, not a guess.

That .app collection has 31 names "priced from $69 to $189 (median $139)." Prices are fixed and "never above $199."

Fixed. No haggling. No "make an offer and wait three weeks."

That's the whole bet behind the marketplace I run: $199 or less, a $29 to $199 ladder, one price on the tag.

Before you buy any name

A quick checklist. Boring. Do it anyway.

1. Say it out loud. Would you spell it to a stranger on a call?
2. Check the extension rules. Registry, renewals, restrictions.
3. Check you can actually get it. Fixed price beats a negotiation you'll lose.
4. Check transfer terms. On the 199.domains app page, the seller starts the transfer to your registrar within 72 hours, and you get a full refund if it doesn't finish.
5. Buy it before the logo. Names go. Logos don't.

Spotlight: 199.domains

I built 199.domains for people who need a real name without a four-figure invoice.

Per the live pages:

• Prices are fixed and never above $199.
• Each name passes a quality review.
• Ownership is checked through DNS before a listing goes live.
• Pay by card. Transfer to your registrar.

It's not for everyone. If you want a one-letter .com, this is not the place.

If you want a clean brandable name for an AI product this week, start there.

What I'd do today

1. Write down 10 names. Cut to 3.
2. Check each against the extension rules above.
3. Buy one. Ship the product on it.

Come hang out

I run the Vibe Coding is Life community. Tell me what name you landed on in Skool or the Facebook group.