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The .dev TLD: A Practical Guide for Developers

Google's .dev registry enforces HTTPS by default and has carved out a clear niche. Here is what you need to know before registering.

· · 5 min read

The .dev TLD: A Practical Guide for Developers

Google Registry launched .dev in 2019 as a TLD for developers and developer-facing products. It has since built a clean reputation with none of the spam baggage that plagues generic TLDs like .xyz or .online.

The HTTPS Requirement

.dev is on the HSTS preload list — it is hardcoded into browsers as HTTPS-only. This means:

  • You cannot serve a .dev domain over plain HTTP in any modern browser
  • SSL/TLS is required, full stop
  • Attempting to bypass this won't work — it's enforced at the browser level, not the server

For production web products, this is not a meaningful restriction — you should be using HTTPS regardless. For local development, it means myproject.dev will not work as a localhost alias without a self-signed cert and a browser override.

Practical implication: Use .test or .localhost for local dev environments. Reserve .dev for public-facing products.

Who .dev Works Well For

  • Developer tools and APIs — the TLD signals "built for developers" without explanation
  • Open source projects — clean, professional appearance without the .com availability crunch
  • Documentation sites — docs.yourtool.dev or api.yourproject.dev are readable and obvious
  • Personal developer portfolios — firstname.dev or handle.dev reads well on a CV

Who .dev Works Less Well For

  • Consumer products with a non-technical audience — .dev may read as unfinished or niche
  • E-commerce — .com or a locale-appropriate ccTLD is still the default trust signal for buyers
  • Anything where HTTPS setup is genuinely difficult (embedded systems, internal tooling without a cert infrastructure)

Pricing and Availability

.dev is priced in the $12–$20/year range at most registrars — comparable to .com. Availability is better than .com and .io for technical compound names, though single-word .dev names are largely claimed.

Short two-word compounds (buildfast.dev, clearlog.dev, stackwatcher.dev) still have meaningful available inventory. Batch checking across stems is the fastest way to find them — the gap between registered and available names in this space is not obvious without data.

RDAP on .dev

.dev is fully supported in the IANA RDAP bootstrap. BatchDomain can check .dev availability alongside .com, .io, and .ai in the same run — no separate lookup needed.