Y Combinator Domain Name Trends
An analysis of the domain names and top-level domains (TLDs) of 6,364 Y Combinator (YC) startups from 2005 to 2026, using data from yc-oss. Historical launch domains were recovered from Wayback Machine captures of YC’s startup directory.
Highlights
The Majority of Startups Are Not Using .com Anymore
You Probably Don’t Need an Exact-Name .com
“If you have a US startup called X and you don’t have x.com, you should probably change your name.”
Domain Hacks Are Increasingly Popular
Only One Startup Is Using a .si Domain
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Top-level Domain Popularity
Top-level Domain Composition by Batch Year
Ratios of top-level domains used by startups by batch year
| Startup | Domain | Batch | Status |
|---|
Top-level Domain Counts by Batch Year
Counts of top-level domains used by startups by batch year
| Startup | Domain | Batch | Status |
|---|
Other Top-level Domains
These are the 163 TLDs outside the top six across all batch years, most used first.
| Startup | Domain | Batch | Status |
|---|
Top-level Domains by Industry
Composition of top-level domains used by YC startups in batch years 2024–2026, by the primary industry they selected in the YC startup directory. Industries with fewer than 20 startups were left out.
| Startup | Domain | Batch | Status |
|---|
Top-level Domains by Sub-industry
Composition of top-level domains used by YC startups in batch years 2024–2026, by the sub-industry they selected in the YC startup directory, grouped under their primary industry. Sub-industries with fewer than 20 startups were left out.
| Startup | Domain | Batch | Status |
|---|
Domain Hacks
Domain Hack Style by Batch Year
Exactly the name (stripe.com), the name merged into the TLD (e.g. fenrock.ai for Fenrock AI), the name plus a suffix (e.g. stripehq.com), a prefix plus the name (e.g. getstripe.com), or something else. Legal suffixes like “Inc.” are ignored.
| Startup | Domain | Batch | Status |
|---|
The Most Popular Domain Hacks
Counts of all 278 domain hacks used by startups across all batch years, most used first.
| Startup | Domain | Batch | Status |
|---|
Domain Hacks by Batch Year
The share of each batch year’s startups using each domain hack
| Startup | Domain | Batch | Status |
|---|
Domain Name Migrations
Where They Migrated: Launch TLD → Today TLD
506 startups are on a different domain today. 346 now use exactly their startup name. 150 kept the same name and only switched TLD. Includes rebrands and pivots, not only domain changes.
| Startup | Launch domain | Domain today | Batch | Status |
|---|
Migrations to an Exact-Name .com
Of the 2,438 startups since 2019 that launched on something other than <startupname>.com, the share in each batch year that is on <startupname>.com today. 170 (7%) have made the move so far.
| Startup | Launch domain | Domain today | Batch | Status |
|---|
Outcomes by Top-level Domain
% Inactive by Launch TLD
The percentage of startups in YC’s 2019–2022 batches that are now inactive (acquisitions and IPOs don’t count as inactive), grouped by the TLD they launched with.
Error bars show the 95% confidence interval for each share.
| Startup | Launch domain | Domain today | Batch | Status |
|---|
% Inactive: Exact Name .com vs. Everything Else
The percentage of startups in YC’s 2019–2022 batches that are now inactive (acquisitions and IPOs don’t count as inactive), grouped by whether they launched on their exact name as a .com (i.e. <startupname>.com) or anything else.
Error bars show the 95% confidence interval for each share.
| Startup | Launch domain | Domain today | Batch | Status |
|---|
Every Outcome: .com vs. Everything Else
Outcomes for all startups in YC’s 2019–2022 batches, grouped by whether they launched on a .com or anything else.
| Startup | Launch domain | Domain today | Batch | Status |
|---|
% Inactive by Batch Year: .com vs. Everything Else
The percentage of startups in YC’s 2019–2024 batches that are now inactive (acquisitions and IPOs don’t count as inactive), grouped by batch year and by whether they launched on a .com or anything else.
| Startup | Launch domain | Domain today | Batch | Status |
|---|