How much is a domain name worth? 7 factors that set the price
There's no price list for domain names, but there are rules. The seven factors that drive domain value, realistic price ranges, how far to trust free appraisal tools, and how to work out what a name is worth to your business.
"How much is this domain worth?" is the question we hear most, right after "why does this name cost €3,000 and that one €300?" There's no official price list for domain names. There are, however, factors that show up again and again in real sales, and they're the same ones we use to price our own catalog. Here they are, roughly in order of how much they matter.
How much is a domain name worth? The short answer
A domain name is worth what a business will pay to use it as its name. Most registered names are worth little more than their yearly renewal fee. A small share, short, clear and on a well-known extension, sell for hundreds or thousands of euros, and a handful of one-word .com names have sold for millions.
Scarcity is what drives the price. There were 401.6 million registered domain names worldwide at the end of June 2026, and 179.1 million of them were .com or .net, according to Verisign's Domain Name Industry Brief. With that many names taken, a short, meaningful one that's still available to buy is the exception.
7 factors that determine domain name value
1. Length
Shorter is better, up to a point. Every extra character is one more chance to mistype, and short names fit better on a logo, a truck or a business card. Two clear words beat one long, made-up string.
2. The radio test
If someone hears your domain on the radio or a podcast, can they type it correctly the first time? No hyphens, no numbers that could be spelled out, no double letters that people drop. A name that passes the radio test is worth more than a shorter one that fails it.
3. The words in it
A name that matches what people search for ("hotel", "insurance", "coffee") makes a business instantly understandable and easier to remember. Don't expect a keyword domain to rank on its own, though: search engines judge the site, not the name. What a keyword name does improve is recall and click-through, and that has real value.
4. The extension
For the same name, .com is worth the most worldwide because it's the extension people type without thinking. A country-code extension can be worth just as much in its own country: a common Italian word on .it is a prime asset for a business selling in Italy. Extensions like .net, .org or .eu usually sell for less. Our guide .com vs .it vs .eu covers when each one makes sense.
5. Age and history
A name first registered in 2005 and never used for spam carries mentions, links and a track record a new name doesn't have. Check the registration date in ICANN's Registration Data Lookup and the domain's past on the Wayback Machine.
6. Commercial demand
How many businesses could use the name, and how much is a customer worth to them? The same name is worth more in finance, insurance, software or law than in a hobby niche, because the buyer's margins are higher.
7. Comparable sales
The closest thing to an appraisal is what similar names actually sold for. Public sales databases cover mostly English-language .com names; for Italian names on .it, public data is thin, so the sales history of people who trade in that market counts for more.
Domain name value by type: realistic ranges
Every name is its own case, but these are the ranges we see in public sales reports and in our own catalog:
| Type of name | Example of the pattern | Typical range |
|---|---|---|
| Invented, brandable name, 6–10 letters | a new word that sounds good | €300–€1,500 |
| Two industry words | word + word, .com or .it | €500–€3,000 |
| One common word, secondary extension | one word on .net or .eu | €500–€2,500 |
| One common Italian word on .it | an everyday Italian word | €1,500–€10,000 |
| One common English word on .com | a generic English word | €5,000 to six or seven figures |
Are domain appraisal tools accurate?
Free domain value checkers give you a number in seconds. They're useful for comparing two names and for a first sense of scale. They're unreliable on the exact figure, because they don't know who the buyer is. Use them this way:
- Read the order of magnitude, not the number: "hundreds" or "thousands" is the useful part.
- Be skeptical of high values for long or hyphenated names: algorithms reward keywords and ignore the radio test.
- Cross-check with comparable sales before you make or accept an offer.
What a domain is worth to you as a buyer
Sellers think about the highest price they can get. Buyers should ask a different question: what does it cost me not to have this name? A hyphen or an odd spelling costs you every day, in phone calls spent spelling it out, emails that bounce and customers who end up on someone else's site. Seen that way, a €2,000 domain you'll use for 20 years costs less than €10 a month.
That's why every domain page on SeeURL shows a market valuation next to the price, and how far below it our price sits. It's not a fake "was" price: it's a comparison with what the name would cost elsewhere.
How we price the domains we sell
We own every domain we sell. The roughly 1,000 names in our catalog belong to Nexia S.r.l., a company based in Milan, Italy, and we picked them one by one for the name, its history and its industry. The price you see is the price you pay: in euros (EUR), including 22% Italian VAT, with the first year of renewal included. Businesses outside Italy with a VAT or tax ID pay no VAT. You can pay in up to 24 monthly installments, interest-free, and a domain paid in full is registered in your name as soon as you pay. No brokers, no commissions, and the invoice comes from Nexia S.r.l.
Want a second opinion on a name? Call +39 02 500 427 87, Monday–Friday 9 AM–7 PM and Saturday 9 AM–4 PM, Italian time (CET/CEST), or see business domains for sale: every page shows the price and the market valuation.