[alphatesterguy]

I wanted speechtotext.com (or .ai, .io) for a side project but they're all taken or parked at $5K+. Ended up grabbing speechtotext.xyz for $12/year and redirecting it to my main domain. Now I'm second-guessing myself. A few concerns:

1. Do users hesitate to click .xyz links? (spam association from the early days) 2. Does Google treat .xyz differently for ranking? 3. For a redirect-only domain, does TLD even matter?

I know Google's own parent company uses abc.xyz, but that's Google. Curious what the actual experience is for indie projects. Anyone running a .xyz as their primary domain? How's it working out?

[Jacques2Marais]

I've been using .xyz domains for a while now because of how cheap they are (around $2 on Spaceship for first year), especially as a solo dev building all kinds of side projects that would benefit from having their own domains.

I recently launched an app on a .xyz domain that's been getting steady traffic and some people actually signing up for it (it's tinytune.xyz if you're curious to see).

Doing a quick Google search I found a few other popular services using .xyz domains:

1. MEE6 (the popular Discord bot): mee6.xyz

2. Together AI (used to be on .xyz before going over to .ai, an example perhaps of starting with a cheaper domain before going more expensive): together.xyz

3. Block (large fintech): block.xyz

4. Starship (millions in funding): starship.xyz

This pdf has some more: https://gen.xyz/downloads/xyz-10th-anniversary-registry-port...

[alphatesterguy]

Thanks, this is exactly what I needed to hear. The Together AI example is interesting- starting cheap on .xyz then upgrading to .ai once you have traction/revenue makes sense. Appreciate the examples and the PDF link! How's tinytune.xyz doing for you SEO-wise? Any issues with Google indexing?

[Bender]

If you mean for HTTPS it will probably be fine. Plenty of self hosted mail servers still block it as they should. Cheap domains lower the bar to spamming.