.AI Domains Soar to Record High in Escrow.com’s Domain Investment Index
Escrow.com's Q2 2025 Domain Investment Index reveals that .AI domains hit a record high
- Highlights:
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- Incredible interest in AI tools reflected in latest ‘digital real estate’ data
- First detailed statistics on the value of dictionary words
- Half-yearly increase in total domain transactions
SAN FRANCISCO, California - August 14, 2025
Escrow.com, the leading provider of secure online payments, today released its Q2 2025 Domain Investment Index, revealing that .AI domains hit a record high, as H1 domain sales were up on last year.
AI Domains Take Off
For the second consecutive quarter, .AI sales have surged - with a quarterly record of $4.5 million in volume in the quarter (up from $3.48 million in 1Q25) as demand for artificial intelligence-related branding accelerates.
It reflects the incredible public embrace of artificial intelligence - with separate research showing more than 378 million people and nearly 78% of companies using AI tools in 2025.
“Two huge tech trends are colliding here: the incredible uptake of AI in business and the realisation that domains are the commercial real estate of the Internet,” Escrow.com Chief Executive Matt Barrie said.
Rank.ai Co-Founder Alex Vainer is even more bullish. After purchasing the domain through Escrow.com last quarter, he stated the .AI domain could now be considered more valuable than .com.
“AI domains signal you're building for the future, not the past. They carry instant credibility in the AI space,” Mr Vanier said.
“The businesses that rank in AI will capture massive market share, while everyone else becomes invisible. That's why we wanted to own Rank.ai - because in this new world, ranking isn't just important, it's existential.”
“I genuinely believe AI represents a shift as significant as the industrial revolution.”
Alex says he’ll use his new piece of digital real estate to help others succeed in the AI era by providing assistance appearing in chatbot recommendations. He says the Escrow.com team ensured this business started smoothly.
“They handled everything professionally and gave both sides peace of mind.”
New category provides greater insight
Escrow.com not only leads the way for facilitating sales but also leads in detailing the most significant domain sales trends.
For the first time, we are reporting on **dictionary words** in the Escrow.com Domain Investment Index. The data confirms actual words, as opposed to random letters, are more coveted as domain names. The mean value for a .com domain that is just an English word was US$259,325 in 2Q25.
“For the first time, the data proves what seasoned investors have known for years: dictionary word domains aren’t just names, they’re brands in waiting," said Matt Barrie, Chief Executive of Escrow.com. "When a single word can define an industry or idea online, it becomes a scarce asset, and scarcity drives value.
Examples of exact dictionary word domains sold through Escrow.com in 2Q25 include: door.com, fits.com, falcon.com, untouchable.com, earned.com, hyper.com, noticed.com, employ.com, prank.com, and relaxation.com.
Earlier marquee transactions Escrow.com has transacted in this category in the past include Meta.com to Meta, Grok.com for xAI, and Chat.com which has since been purchased by OpenAI.
“People spent $10 to register a dictionary word .com years ago, and we routinely close deals at $10 million, $15 million, $20 million or more - we did so this quarter. That's a million-to-one return on a domain name - try getting that from your crypto portfolio,” Matt Barrie said.
“I guarantee we'll see our first $50 million or $100 million .com before Bitcoin hits a million. If you're sitting on an English word .com, contact us to get it valued.”
Broader trends
While 2Q25 volume fell 16% to $89.9 million, the beginning of the year saw a 9.3% rise in total domain sales for the first half of 2025 against the same period last year, climbing to $196.85 million.
Four-number .com domains (NNNN.com) exploded in value, with median prices rising from $20,000 to $92,500.
Additional highlights:
- Two-letter .com (LL.com) domains returned to the market with a median sale of $775,000.
- U.S.-based domain transactions rose slightly to $71.9 million
- Content-rich domains saw a resurgence, with volume climbing to $7.7M, while content-less domains dropped to $62M.
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- Country-code domains (ccTLDs) gained traction:
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- .gg up 2,240% QoQ ($30k → $702k)
- .io up 6% ($545k → $579k)
- .co.uk more than doubled ($211k → $466k)
READ THE FULL REPORT:
Download the full Escrow.com Q2 2025 Domain Investment Index
About Escrow.com
Winner of the BBB Torch Award for Ethics for Silicon Valley, San Francisco, and the Bay Area, Escrow.com is the world’s largest online escrow provider. Founded in 1999 by Fidelity National Financial, today, over US$7.75 billion in transactions have been secured from over 3 million customers.
Escrow.com is the world’s number one platform for domain name transactions — it also facilitates large-value transactions for vehicles, property, electronics, jewelry, general merchandise, and other categories of products, using the most secure payment method from a counterparty risk perspective - safeguarding both buyer and seller. All funds transacted using escrow are kept in trust.
The company is a division of Freelancer Limited (ASX:FLN, OTCQX: FLNCF). Escrow.com’s headquarters are in San Francisco, California, the United States.
For more information, contact:
| Brent O’Halloran | Director of Communications |
| Tel | +1 650 442 3334 |
| bohalloran@escrow.com |