.software domain — meaning, price and how to register

What does .software mean?

The .software extension means exactly what it says: it is a top-level domain for software — the companies that build it, the products they ship and the people who use them. It was delegated in 2014 as part of the great expansion of new generic TLDs that opened up the right-hand side of the address bar beyond the original handful of .com-era extensions. Where .com is deliberately neutral, .software is the opposite: it tells anyone reading the address, before they even load the page, that there is a program, a tool or a SaaS product on the other end.

The registry behind it is Identity Digital (the operator formed from the old Donuts and Afilias portfolios), which runs one of the largest families of descriptive keyword TLDs on the internet, including siblings like .systems and .tools. That shared lineage matters in practice: the registries are managed the same way, the policies are the same, and the prices sit in the same $20–25 band. A .software name is therefore less a leftover and more a deliberate label — you pick it because the word software is doing real work in your brand.

Who uses .software?

The natural audience is anyone shipping a product made of code: independent SaaS makers, app studios, open-source projects with a commercial arm, and established companies that want a clean home for one product rather than burying it under a corporate .com. A team launching a standalone tool can put it on a name like getclay.software and have the category communicated for free.

It is also popular as a redirect or campaign domain — a company that already owns the .com may register the matching .software to point at a product page or stop a competitor grabbing the obvious name. Because it is open with no proof-of-eligibility, none of this needs permission; the only real limit is whether the word you want is still available. Developers usually weigh it against .dev and .app for the same kind of project.

.software registration rules and requirements

There are none beyond the basics. .software is a fully open generic TLD: anyone in any country can register one, with no requirement to actually produce software, no business licence, no local presence and no identity documents. Registration is first-come, first-served — whoever registers an available name first holds it, for as long as they keep renewing. The only universal obligation is the standard ICANN contact-information policy that applies to every gTLD, plus Identity Digital's standard registry terms that your registrar accepts on your behalf.

How much does a .software cost?

A .software runs about $25 per year at mainstream registrars — typical for an Identity Digital keyword TLD and noticeably more than a $11 .com, which is the trade-off for a descriptive extension. Pricing is fairly consistent because the registry sets a single wholesale rate, so the main variation between registrars is markup and whether a first-year discount is on offer. Watch the renewal figure rather than the headline first-year price.

Is .software good for SEO?

Not in the algorithmic sense. Google and Bing do not rank a .software page any higher than a .com just because the extension contains a keyword — search engines stopped treating the TLD as a ranking signal long ago. What you actually gain is a human benefit: an address like getclay.software states the category instantly, which can improve recall, click-through on a shared link, and the relevance a visitor feels before clicking. That is real value, but it is branding, not a ranking lever. For the full picture on choosing between extensions, see our guide on how to compare and choose a TLD.

.software vs alternatives

The closest comparisons are its own Identity Digital siblings and the developer-flavoured extensions. .systems leans toward IT, infrastructure and engineering teams rather than a shipped product; .tools suits a single utility more than a whole company; and .app (run by Google, HTTPS-enforced) is a tighter fit when the thing is literally an application. For developer credibility without naming the category, .dev is the popular default. .software wins when you specifically want the word "software" in the name — for everything else, one of these siblings is usually the better match.