Google launched .dev domains

Google registry officially launched .dev domain names yesterday.

Starting February 19 at 8:00 a.m. PT and through February 28, .dev domains are available to register as part of the Early Access Program, where you can secure your desired domains for an additional fee. The fee starts at about $12,000 (on top of the regular registration fee). The fee decreases according to a daily schedule. Beginning on February 28, .dev domains will be available at a base annual price through your registrar of choice.

Like the other Google recent launches for .app and .page, this new domain will be secure by default because it requires HTTPS to connect to all .dev websites.

Google Registry announced .dev, a brand new top-level domain (TLD) “that’s dedicated to developers and technology”. They hope .dev will be a new home for you to build your communities, learn the latest tech and showcase your projects—all with a perfect domain name.

I say “they hope” because I am not sure how many companies will join .dev and if they “join” I am not sure to what expend they will.

.App launched in May 2018 and now has 364,086 domains according to NameStat.org, while .Page launched in October 2018 and has 9,717 domains. I expect .dev will have similar number to .page. The .app craze is not there for .dev.

Google has already started using .dev for some of its own projects, like web.dev and opensource.dev.

Check out what some companies, both big and small, that Google says are doing on .dev:

• Want to build a website? Both GitHub.dev and grow.dev have you covered.
• Trying to create more inclusive products? Visit accessibility.dev for digital accessibility solutions.
• Learn about Slack’s helpful tools, libraries, and SDKs at slack.dev.
• Connect with Women Who Code at women.dev.
• Who doesn’t want to do more with their time? Jetbrains.dev offers software solutions that make developers more productive.
• Want to brush up on your skills (or learn new ones)? Check out Codecademy.dev.
• Learn how to build apps on the Salesforce platform at crm.dev.
• Interested in learning how to increase the agility and productivity of your data team? Visit dataops.dev.
• Want to build & deploy serverless apps on a global cloud network? You can do that with Cloudflare at workers.dev.
• Get a sneak peek of what’s running under the hood of the Niantic Real World Platform at ar.dev.