Million-Dollar URLs: The 7 Most Expensive Website Names
A website's name, formally known as a domain name, can make or break the site's success. Each name must be unique, which creates a race to claim the perfect, brand-building online address that's easy for visitors to find.
The most expensive website names have sold for tens of millions of dollars, according to a new study(Opens in a new window) by Hostinger, a web hosting provider. “It’s fascinating to see how much money has exchanged hands for specific domain names—the cost of the seven names in the list adds up to more than $100 million," says a spokesperson from Hostinger.
But are these website names worth all that? While some of the priciest names sold for top dollar have achieved a huge number of monthly visitors, others fell flat. Here are the top seven biggest-ticket domain name sales of all time.
Cost: $30 million
Purchased: 2019
Current monthly traffic: 90,000
What is it? Voice.com actually has nothing to do with voices. Rather, it's a marketplace where users can create NFTs and list them for sale. Voice.com aims to "empower artists from all walks of life to build sustainable art practices by using the power of blockchain technology," according to the site description(Opens in a new window). It is both the most expensive and least visited site on the list.
Cost: $17 million
Purchased: 2015
Current monthly traffic: 24 million
What is it? A Chinese company called 360 Security Technology bought 360.com from Vodafone in February 2015. It's now just the 154th biggest website in China, proving that it takes more than money to secure the number-one spot.
Cost: $15 million
Purchased: 2022
Current monthly traffic: Not available
What is it? This one's a bit of a wildcard. NFTs.com was purchased in August 2022, which
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