The .com Is Taken. Now What?
Last updated: 12 October 2026
The short version. First find out whether the .com is in use or just parked. If it is parked, an offer through a broker often works for a few hundred to a few thousand. If it is in use by a real business, change the name or the extension; a prefix like "get" is the worst of the options.
Step 1: find out who has it and why
Look the domain up in a WHOIS/RDAP tool (the registry data we use for availability shows the registrar and dates). Then visit it. There are four situations: an active business uses it; it redirects to a parking page with ads; it shows a "for sale" page; or nothing loads at all. The first means you should move on unless you have a legal claim. The other three mean the owner may sell.
Option A: make an offer
Parked and for-sale domains are usually priced by the owner's expectation, not by your budget. Approach through a broker or the registrar's domain-sale service rather than from your company email, because a startup with a logo and a LinkedIn page is a signal to raise the price. Offers for short, generic-looking names start in the low thousands; coined names that only you would want can go for a few hundred. Use escrow for the transfer and expect it to take one to three weeks.
Option B: change the extension
For technical and B2B products a .io is a respectable primary domain, and for AI products so is .ai. Consumer brands have fewer good options; .co is accepted in the US, .app works for apps, and country extensions (.de, .ro, .eu) work if your market is national. Read our .com vs .io vs .ai comparison before choosing. Whatever you pick, set a reminder to check the .com every few months; many parked domains expire.
Option C: modify the name
Changing the name slightly is often better than changing the extension. Blends (drop a syllable at the join), a different ending (-o, -a, -ly is overused), or a twisted spelling can produce a free .com with the same feel. The "Variations" button on every name card in our generator does exactly this: it spins two dozen alternatives around the name you liked and checks them live.
Option D: add a word
This is the common move and usually the wrong one. "getname.com", "nameapp.com" and "namehq.com" tell every visitor that someone else owns your brand, and that someone collects your typo traffic forever. The exception is when the added word is part of the brand itself ("Basecamp" rather than "Base"), in which case it is Option C, not D.
Option E: pick another name
If the .com is held by an active business in a related field, the domain is the smaller problem; the trademark is the bigger one. A rename now costs nothing. A rename after launch costs the launch. Our brandable domain generator is tuned to names whose .com is still free.
A note on expired-domain tricks
Backordering an expiring .com works occasionally, but drop-catching services compete for anything with value, and the process can take months. It is a hobby, not a naming strategy.
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