.ai Domain Statistics 2026: Registrations, Revenue, and Growth

The .ai extension crossed one million registered domains in early 2026, up from roughly 533,000 two years earlier, and it is still adding names faster every month. The extension belongs to Anguilla, a small Caribbean island whose government now earns an estimated 93 million dollars a year from .ai registration fees, close to half of its entire budget. New names were being registered at about 2,008 per day in January 2026. Here are the current .ai domain statistics, what they mean for demand and pricing, and why the numbers matter if you are trying to buy one.

Key .ai domain statistics for 2026

How many .ai domains are registered?

More than one million .ai domains were registered as of early 2026, a milestone the extension passed after years of steep growth from roughly 144,000 in 2021 and about 533,000 in 2023. That makes .ai one of the fastest-growing namespaces relative to its size. The vast majority are held by technology companies and startups that use the extension for artificial intelligence branding rather than any connection to Anguilla.

How fast are .ai domains growing?

Very fast. New .ai registrations ran at about 2,008 per day in January 2026, up from roughly 1,318 per day the year before. At that pace some estimates put the total near 1.7 million by the end of 2026. The growth tracks the broader AI boom: every new wave of AI startups, tools, and agents wants a name that signals the category instantly, and .ai is the clearest way to do it.

How much money does .ai make for Anguilla?

A remarkable amount for a territory of about 16,000 people. Anguilla earned an estimated 93 million US dollars from .ai registration fees in 2025, close to 47 percent of total government revenue, and the 2026 budget forecasts EC$260.5 million, roughly 96 million US dollars. The windfall has funded a new airport terminal and other public projects, turning a two-letter country code into one of the island's largest sources of income.

How much does a .ai domain cost in 2026?

The registry raised its wholesale price to 160 US dollars per two-year registration in March 2026, up from 140, and that fee goes to the Anguilla treasury. After registrars add their markup, buyers typically pay 160 to 220 dollars or more for the mandatory two-year minimum on an available name. A name that is already owned, which describes nearly every short or real-word .ai, is bought on the aftermarket, where prices run from a few thousand dollars into six and seven figures. See our full breakdown of what a .ai domain costs.

What is the .ai domain renewal rate?

Around 90 percent, which is high for any extension. A renewal rate that strong tells you owners find the names worth keeping year after year rather than letting them lapse. For a buyer, it also means the good names rarely drop back onto the open market, so the supply of short, brandable .ai domains stays tight and the aftermarket is where most real names change hands.

Why are so many companies buying .ai domains?

Because the extension does branding work the moment anyone reads it. A .ai name tells investors, press, and customers that artificial intelligence is the product, which is hard to communicate any other way in a single word. Google treats .ai as a generic domain with no country penalty, so it ranks globally, and a short, ownable name is a scarce asset that tends to hold value. Many teams that secure a .ai then put a budget behind the product and let an AI media buyer run the campaigns to turn the new brand into signups.

What do the numbers mean if you want a .ai?

They mean act sooner rather than later. Registrations are climbing about 2,000 a day, the registry price just went up, and the 90 percent renewal rate keeps strong names off the drop lists. The short, exact-match names that make the best brands were claimed long ago, so the practical path is the aftermarket. If a tight, memorable .ai matters to you, the sensible move is to see what is available now and secure it before demand pushes prices higher. Compare the best .ai domains and premium AI domains on BoldDomains, each with secure, escrow-backed transfer.

How does .ai compare to other extensions?

By raw count, .ai is still small next to the giants: .com holds more than 160 million registrations against roughly one million .ai. Where .ai stands out is growth rate and price. Newer generic extensions as a group grew about 31 percent year over year in early 2026, and .ai led that surge, while .com grew in the low single digits. A .ai also costs far more to register, roughly 70 to 160 dollars a year versus 10 to 20 for a .com, which reflects the registry's premium pricing rather than any difference in how the names work. For the full market picture across every extension, see our domain name statistics hub.

Figures above are drawn from public reporting on Anguilla's 2026 budget and industry registration data and reflect the most recent numbers available at the time of writing.