Guides › Reading comps
Last updated: October 2026
A comparable sale, or comp, is a recent sale of a similar domain. Comps are the most useful evidence you have when you price a domain, because they show what buyers actually paid. They are also easy to misread. This guide covers how to choose good comps and how to avoid the common mistakes.
Extensions trade at different price levels. In DNScroll's database, over the last 12 months, the median price of sales of $100 or more was $623 for .com, $570 for .org, $599 for .net and $990 for .ai. The median for .ai was about 59% higher than for .com. Comparing a .ai domain with .com sales would put your estimate far too low.
| Extension | Recorded sales | Median price |
|---|---|---|
| .com | 121,824 | $623 |
| .org | 10,221 | $570 |
| .net | 5,254 | $599 |
| .ai | 4,208 | $990 |
| .co.uk | 2,131 | $680 |
| .io | 1,611 | $660 |
| .co | 1,580 | $666 |
| .top | 1,136 | $659 |
A median from 121,824 .com sales is solid. A median from a dozen sales of an unusual extension is not. Treat extensions with only a handful of recorded sales with caution. The counts above reflect what DNScroll has recorded, which does not include every sale on every marketplace.
Length, number of words, whether the name contains hyphens or numbers, and the category of the keyword all affect value. A one-word dictionary name and a random string of letters are different assets even on the same extension. On every DNScroll domain page, the comparable sales table lists recent sales of the same extension in a similar price range, and in the same category when one is detected.
A few very large sales pull an average up and make typical prices look higher than they are. The median, the middle value when sales are sorted by price, is a better guide to what a typical name sells for.
Markets change. A sale from ten years ago says less about today's price than one from the last year. Use recent comps first, and treat old sales as background.
Marketplaces report different things. An auction's price may be the last price seen before it closed, which can differ from what the buyer finally paid because of a late bid, a cancelled sale or fees. Private sales appear only when someone reports them. See our methodology for how DNScroll collects and checks prices.
If the exact domain has sold before, that history is the strongest comp you have. Open its page to see earlier prices, dates and marketplaces, and check whether the price has risen or fallen over time.
Comps give you a range, not a guarantee. The price a buyer will pay also depends on who is looking and how you sell.