.co is the country-code domain of Colombia. Since 2010 it has been marketed worldwide as a short alternative to .com, with the pitch that "co" reads as company, corporation or collective. It has worked: more than three million .co names are registered, and brands from Angel.co to Twitter's t.co used it. The question for you is narrower than whether .co is respectable. It is whether a name on .co will lose you traffic, email and trust compared to the same name on .com, and whether the saving or the availability is worth it.
The answer depends on one fact you can check in two minutes: who owns the .com of your name. If it is a dormant page, .co is a reasonable brand choice with a known leak. If it is a live business, .co puts you one typo away from your competitor's inbox.
MailShrine Domains sells .co and .com side by side with the renewal price visible before you buy, so you can compare the two over a three-year horizon rather than on the first-year promo. Email DNS is written at registration for either one, and two business mailboxes come with the name.
Real-life example: Amara's fashion label
Amara Diallo designs and sells ready-to-wear from a studio in Dakar, with a growing wholesale list in Paris and Abidjan. Her label is "Diallo Atelier". dialloatelier.com was registered in 2019 and shows a blank page. dialloatelier.co is available. She wants a short, modern address for the label and for her wholesale emails, and she has heard that .co "looks like a startup".
Amara's goals:
- Decide whether .co is a sound choice or a compromise she will regret.
- Measure the risk of the dormant .com waking up.
- Register the name and get
orders@working for wholesale buyers.
.co and .com side by side
| .co | .com | |
|---|---|---|
| Type | ccTLD, Colombia | Generic TLD |
| Registry | .CO Internet S.A.S., operated by GoDaddy Registry since 2020 | Verisign |
| Launched to the public | 2010 (open to anyone worldwide) | 1985 |
| Registered names | About 3 million | About 155 million |
| Typical price | $25 to $35 first year, similar renewal | $12.99/yr |
| Minimum term | 1 year | 1 year |
| Residency requirement | None | None |
| How Google treats it | As a generic TLD, no geo-targeting penalty | Generic |
| What visitors assume | Startup, creative brand, or "the .com was gone" | A business |
| Typo risk | Visitors type .com by habit | None |
Three things .co does well
It is short. For a name that is already long, dropping a letter from the extension helps on a label, a hang tag or a business card. dialloatelier.co is 16 characters; the .com is 17.
It is available. Roughly 155 million .com names are taken. .co has a fiftieth of that. Short, pronounceable words that are gone on .com are often free on .co.
It is treated as generic by search engines. Google lists .co among the country codes it treats as generic, alongside .io, .me and .tv. A .co site is not geo-targeted to Colombia and does not need separate handling in Search Console.
Three things it does not do
It does not stop people typing .com. When a wholesale buyer in Paris hears "diallo atelier" on the phone, she types .com. If that domain is blank, the buyer thinks the label is gone. If a competitor buys it later, the buyer orders from them.
It is not cheaper. .co's registry fee is roughly double .com's. The availability is the advantage, not the price.
It is not a trademark. Owning the .co does not stop someone registering the .com, nor the reverse. If the name matters, the trademark and the .com matter more than the extension you brand with.
The dormant .com problem
Amara's .com has been registered since 2019 and shows nothing. There are three possibilities, and each has a different answer.
- It is parked for sale. Look for a "for sale" banner or a Buy Now listing. MailShrine shows aftermarket prices up to a cap; outside that, you negotiate. A few hundred dollars once can be cheaper than years of lost email.
- It is held by someone who forgot it. Check the expiry date in RDAP. If it expires soon and the owner has not renewed, the name may drop and you can backorder it.
- It is held by a competitor. Then you have a naming problem, not an extension problem, and .co is a bad idea.
Amara's RDAP lookup showed a Paris registrant and an expiry eight months out. She chose .co, made a modest offer on the .com, and set a reminder for the expiry.
What you need before you start
| You need | Why |
|---|---|
| Availability on both .co and .com | The whole decision rests on the .com's status |
| The .com's RDAP record | Expiry date, registrar and whether it is for sale |
| The three-year total for each | .co renews at two to three times a .com |
| Your audience's habits | Consumers and wholesale buyers default to .com |
| A fallback plan | Register a second generic if the .com cannot be had |
Step 1: Search both extensions
Enter the bare name in the MailShrine checker and read the .co and .com rows together, with renewals.
Step 2: Look up the .com
Run an RDAP query or open the site. Note expiry, registrar and any for-sale listing.
Step 3: Decide based on the .com's status
Dormant and for sale at a sane price: buy the .com, use .co as the short brand if you like. Dormant, not for sale: .co with a backorder on the .com. Live competitor: rename.
Step 4: Register .co for two years or more
Leave WHOIS privacy and transfer lock on. A longer term locks the renewal and stops reminders for the duration.
Step 5: Set up email and the fallback
Point orders@ and your own address at the .co. If you also own the .com, redirect it. Amara registered dialloatelier.co for three years and diallo-atelier.com as a fallback she redirects to the .co.
Amara's checklist
- Searched both; .co free, .com dormant since 2019Completed
- RDAP shows the .com expiring in eight months, Paris registrantCompleted
- Registered
dialloatelier.cofor 3 years, privacy and lock onCompleted - Sent an offer on the .com and set a calendar reminder for the expiryCompleted
orders@andamara@live on Business EmailCompleted- Put the .co address on the next print run of hang tagsNot completed
- Backorder the .com if it is not renewedNot completed
Common mistakes
Choosing .co because it is "modern" without checking the .com. The .com owner decides how much traffic you lose, not your taste.
Expecting .co to be cheap. It costs about twice a .com each year. Budget for it.
Saying "dot co" and expecting people to hear it. On a phone line "co" and "com" are nearly identical. Spell it out: "c-o, no m".
Treating .co as a Colombian domain. For search and perception it behaves as generic. It is the typo risk, not geography, that matters.
Skipping the fallback. If the .com is not available, register a second generic so you have somewhere to move if the brand ever needs it.
Check your work
Type both addresses into a browser and confirm where each lands. Say "diallo atelier dot c-o" to someone and ask them to type it. In the MailShrine dashboard confirm Active, expiry year, privacy and lock on and email setup complete. Send a test to orders@ from an outside mailbox.
FAQ
Is .co a good domain extension?
Yes, for a brand that is comfortable with a known leak to the .com. It is short, available, treated as generic by Google and widely recognised. It is not a substitute for owning the .com when the .com is a live business.
Will people trust a .co website?
Trust comes from the site and the brand, not the extension. .co is familiar enough that it does not raise flags the way an obscure extension might. Email from orders@dialloatelier.co with SPF, DKIM and DMARC in place delivers normally.
Why is .co more expensive than .com?
The .co registry sets a higher wholesale fee than Verisign's .com fee, and registrars pass it on. The premium buys availability, not better service.
Does .co hurt SEO?
No. Google treats .co as a generic top-level domain for ranking purposes, so it is not geo-targeted to Colombia and there is no penalty.
Should I buy .co and .com?
If the .com is free or affordable, yes: use one as the brand and redirect the other. If the .com is a live business, choose a different name. See what to do when your domain name is taken.
Next steps
- .io vs .ai vs .com for Startups and Tech Products — the other country codes that became startup defaults.
- Short Domain Names: Why They Cost More and How to Find One — why .co is where short names are still free.
- How to Check If a Domain Name Is Taken — running the RDAP lookup on that dormant .com.
Citations & References
- Reference: IANA: .co delegation record
- Reference: Google Search Central: Generic ccTLDs list
- Reference: ICANN: Registration Data Access Protocol (RDAP)
- Reference: Verisign: Domain Name Industry Brief
Written by Isabelle R., domains editor. Isabelle explains how names, DNS and registrars fit together so first-time buyers know exactly what they are paying for.