.net vs .com – What Is the Difference? [Easy to Follow Guide]

.net and .com are easily two of the most popular domain extensions on the internet. But have you ever wondered about the difference between the two?

In this article, we’ll discuss everything related to .net vs .com, highlighting the differences and helping you choose the right domain extension.

What Are Domain Extensions?

The last part of your domain name is referred to as a domain extension. It is also the address of your website. While it is important to choose the right domain name for your website, it is equally important to choose the right domain extension. You may not know this, but each domain extension was created for a particular type of website. A few of the most common examples include .com, .net, .org, .edu, .us, etc.

While there are different domain extensions for each purpose, they are often interchangeable. There is no strict rule that if you have a nonprofit company you will have to choose .org. You can easily use .com if you prefer. But we still advise you to research the extensions and choose the best one. While most people may not pay attention to the domain extension, it still forms an important part of your website, and in turn, your business.

.net vs .com – What’s the Difference?

These domain extensions are the two most commonly used ones. Each serves a different purpose, however. While .net is mainly used for networking websites, .com is used for commercial websites. Let us take a look at each of these individually.

What Is .net?

.net stands for ‘network’, and as the name suggests it is mainly used for networking websites. Many umbrella companies like internet infrastructure, website builders, internet network providers, technology companies, etc. use this extension. Based on a Statista report, .net covers 3.3% of the top-level domains as of April 2021. This makes it one of the leading TLDs when compared with other extensions.

Although anyone can use .net, it is still advised that only companies in the network sector should use it. The domain extension itself adds a lot of meaning to the domain name, and it will be easier for customers and clients to understand what your company does better.

What Is .com?

So, what does .com mean? .com is short for commercial. It is the most popular domain extension and based on the same Statista report 52.3% of the domain names use this extension! This extension can be used by commercial entities, professional websites, personal blogs, and a lot more! This domain extension is trustworthy, and even our smartphones have a separate button on the text box for .com. It is also easier to remember a website’s name if it has a .com at the end. Many popular companies like Google, Instagram, and Twitter have this extension.

As tempting as it is to use it, it is possible that you may not get your desired domain name with this extension. As it is so popular, most of the domain names are already taken and it creates a problem in domain availability, especially with WordPress hosting.

Other Popular Domain Extensions

Now that you’ve understood the difference between .com and .net, here are a few other domain extensions that are also popular and widely used:

.org

It is an abbreviation of organization. This domain extension was popularly used by non-profit organizations but can now be used for every type of website. Research says that it is more popular than .net with a share of 4.4% in the total domain names.

.in

.in is a second-level domain, coming right after .com in popularity. 18% of the domain names use .in as an extension. It is used for every type of website, from commercial to personal. However, many use it to represent the location of their business. In this case, .in is used for websites operating in India, just like .uk is used for the United Kingdom.

.co

It is an abbreviation of company and is also used by commercial companies.

.us

It is the TLD for websites operating in the US. The registrars of the domain should be US residents or a company operating in the USA. The use of such domain extensions allows people to establish the location of their company.

.gov

This extension is mainly used by official government websites. It is not advisable for a business to use this extension.

How to Choose the Right Domain Extension

The first thing to consider while choosing the domain extension is the purpose of your website. Is it a business or a nonprofit organization? .com or .co is preferred for businesses as it is more credible whereas .org is preferred for nonprofit organizations. If you have a network website, consider using .net.

If you want to convey the location of your business through your website’s name, then instead of .com, .net, or .org, you should opt for a location-based domain extension. For the USA it is .us, for Australia it is .au, and for Canada, it is .ca. Choosing such an extension also increases the local traffic to your website.

Another thing to consider is the SEO of your website. Popular domain extensions like .com get an upper hand as they are the most commonly used and rank higher in search results. However, this also implies that the competition amongst the sites that use .com is much higher.

If you plan on keeping and growing your business through your website, you should also consider purchasing other domain extensions along with a VPS hosting or dedicated Windows VPS hosting. Many popular companies like Google have done so. Even if you type Google.net, you will be redirected to the main Google page. Thus, instead of focusing on .com vs .net, you should consider buying both these domain extensions to avoid others getting hold of different versions of your domain.

Conclusion

To sum things up, the last part of your domain name is referred to as domain extension and it acts as the address of your website. While you can choose the domain extensions interchangeably, .com is usually used for commercial websites whereas .net is used for network-based websites.

In order to choose the right domain extension, you should consider things like SEO, your company’s location, and the purpose of your website. Many also purchase several domain extensions to avoid anyone else creating a website with their company’s name.