Useful Information

.dev Domain Zone: Statistics, Trends & Investment Insights

The .dev domain zone, launched in 2014 as a Google-operated gTLD, has grown into a premier namespace for developers, tech startups, and digital innovators. With 678.4K+ registered domains (678 442 total), .dev offers a unique blend of brevity and brandability. Understanding its composition—from average length (8.30 chars) to the prevalence of the letter 'a' (562 477 occurrences)—is critical for domain investors and SEO specialists. This data-driven analysis reveals patterns that drive value, helping you identify premium opportunities and anticipate shifts in the .dev landscape through 2026.

Domain Length Distribution in .dev

The most common length is 6 characters, with 89 206 domains. Average length is 8.30 chars, and the maximum is 63. Short domains like 0.dev (1 char) are rare but highly valuable.

Infographics for .dev

678,442
Total Domains
+2,198
New Today
−596
Dropped Today

Domain length distribution by number of characters

Character Composition: Letters, Digits, and Hyphens

Letters dominate: 90.63% of domains (614 854) are purely alphabetic. Digits appear in 4.83% of domains (32 770), while only 0.07% (461) are all-numeric. Hyphens are minimal at 4.47% (30 357 domains).


Average domain name length

8.30 characters
Representative domain: 0.dev
Representative name length: 1

Top Symbols and First-Letter Trends

The most frequent character is 'a' (562 477 times), and the most common first letter is 's' (63 671 domains). These patterns influence brand recall and SEO.

Popular Domain Zones

.fitness .info .academy .engineering .pl .studio .cn .fun .house .bg .dev .bio .tennis .club .dk .finance .game .cars .eco .hospital

Character frequency in domain names

# Symbol Occurrences
1 a 562477
2 e 534741
3 i 392483
4 o 387733
5 r 380422
6 n 346836
7 s 340118
8 t 332551
9 l 285859
10 c 216495
11 d 193973
12 m 188586
13 u 170378
14 h 170177
15 p 149073
16 b 135445
17 g 130643
18 k 122263
19 y 107571
20 f 83335
21 v 80933
22 w 69293
23 j 48305
24 x 42845
25 z 42498
26 q 14662
27 1 9310
28 0 9053
29 2 8028
30 3 7815
31 8 7303
32 4 6406
33 6 5453
34 7 4680
35 9 4152
36 5 3946

Vowel vs. Consonant Balance in .dev

Consonants make up 59.94% (3 374 312 chars) vs. vowels at 38.29% (2 155 383 chars). A balanced ratio often correlates with pronounceability and memorability.


Most common first character in domain names

# First char Domains count
1 - 0
2 0 1119
3 1 1356
4 2 781
5 3 890
6 4 696
7 5 438
8 6 721
9 7 536
10 8 500
11 9 419
12 a 56908
13 b 34582
14 c 46473
15 d 34220
16 e 21857
17 f 22851
18 g 24410
19 h 21331
20 i 18154
21 j 25817
22 k 22850
23 l 25705
24 m 47515
25 n 24077
26 o 16111
27 p 33821
28 q 4281
29 r 30242
30 s 63671
31 t 37564
32 u 7780
33 v 15872
34 w 16550
35 x 4231
36 y 6130
37 z 7983

Top Words and Numeric Tokens in .dev Domains

The most common word is 'go', appearing in 11 293 domains (1.66% share). The top numeric token is '3' (3 632 domains). These indicate trending niches.


Character distribution in domain names

Vowels (2155383 · 38.29%)
Consonants (3374312 · 59.94%)
Digits (66146 · 1.18%)
Hyphen (33208 · 0.59%)
Other (0 · 0%)

Hyphen Usage and Its Impact on Domain Value

Only 4.47% of domains contain hyphens (30 357), while 95.53% (648 085) are hyphen-free. Hyphen-free domains are generally preferred for branding and SEO.


Domain names with numbers and letters

Only numbers (461 · 0.07%)
Only letters (614854 · 90.63%)
Numbers and letters (32770 · 4.83%)
Other (30357 · 4.47%)

Total Character Count and Structural Insights

All domains combined contain 5.6M+ characters (5 629 049). Digits account for 1.18% (66 146), and other characters are negligible (0.00%).


Most frequent word fragments inside domain names

# Word Domains count %
1 go 11293 1.66
2 lab 10512 1.55
3 pro 7464 1.10
4 tech 6186 0.91
5 app 5794 0.85
6 one 5257 0.77
7 web 5098 0.75
8 car 4698 0.69
9 my 4688 0.69
10 dev 4250 0.63
11 net 3974 0.59
12 cloud 2913 0.43
13 get 2502 0.37
14 hub 2222 0.33
15 data 2204 0.32
16 box 1837 0.27
17 star 1794 0.26
18 game 1735 0.26
19 top 1596 0.24
20 pay 1478 0.22

Trends & Insights 2026

Short, brandable domains under 8 characters will command premium prices as .dev matures; the average length of 8.30 chars suggests a sweet spot for investment.
The dominance of the letter 'a' and first letter 's' indicates phonetic patterns that could guide AI-driven domain generation tools.
With 90.63% of domains being purely alphabetic, expect increased competition for letter-only names, especially those containing high-value words like 'go'.
Hyphen-free domains (95.53%) will remain the gold standard; hyphenated names may see declining resale value as users prioritize simplicity.
The low digit usage (1.18% of characters) suggests numeric domains are undervalued; tokens like '3' could gain traction in tech niches.
As .dev approaches 1M domains, early registrants of short, vowel-rich names (vowels at 38.29%) will benefit from scarcity-driven appreciation.

Hyphen usage in domain names

With hyphen (30357 · 4.47%)
Without hyphen (648085 · 95.53%)

Popular numeric tokens in domain names

# Token Domains count
1 3 3632
2 2 3368
3 0 3298
4 1 3054
5 4 2984
6 8 1771
7 7 1407
8 5 1233
9 9 1127
10 6 923
11 88 920
12 10 458
13 6686 403
14 11 347
15 24 333
16 360 287
17 42 283
18 99 280
19 365 241
20 77 226