How the domain worth calculator works
Most of what makes a domain name valuable is visible in the name itself: which extension it sits on, how short it is, whether it is made of real words, and whether it is easy to say. The calculator scores each of those, adds the registration age from the domain’s public record, and — if you give it a figure from your own backlink tool — the number of sites linking to it.
| Factor | Points | What earns them |
|---|---|---|
| Extension | 25 | .com scores highest; .net and .org, then popular startup extensions (.io, .ai, .co), then major country extensions; newer generic extensions score lowest. |
| Length | 20 | Shorter is better: full points up to four characters, nothing beyond twenty. |
| Words | 25 | One common dictionary word scores highest, then two, then three. An invented but pronounceable name scores like a brand; noise scores almost nothing. |
| Characters | 10 | Letters only score full points; a hyphen, digits mixed with letters, or both cost points. |
| Registration age | 10 | From the registry’s creation date. Long continuous registration adds a little. |
| Backlinks | 10 | Only if you enter a referring-domain count from your own backlink tool. |
The score is the points earned divided by the points possible across the factors that could be measured, so a missing registration date or backlink figure is left out rather than counted as zero.
From score to value band
A score maps to one of four bands. The boundaries are our judgement, anchored to the only public figures we can cite: GoDaddy reported in July 2019 that GoDaddy Auctions had an average sale price of $170, while the Afternic reseller network averaged over $1,500. Our guide to domain appraisal tools explains why that gap matters.
- Registration-fee territory (under 40): rarely worth more than registering a new name.
- Investor resale range (40–59): the kind of name that trades between investors at auction.
- End-user range (60–77): a name an end buyer might pay a real premium for.
- Premium name (78+): priced by negotiation, not formula — get offers before you name a price.
Why it will not give you a single price
The same name is worth different amounts to different buyers in different markets. A figure to the dollar would hide that choice and claim a precision no formula has. The band tells you which market a name belongs in; a buyer sets the price. If you are selling, list it where that kind of buyer looks; if you are buying at an auction, decide your ceiling before bidding starts.
What the score does not know
It cannot see trademarks, so check those yourself before buying or pricing a name. It does not know who wants the name, or what similar names sold for. And for an expired domain, the past matters as much as the name: run the domain history checker and the domain spam history checker before you bid — a great name with a spam history is a worse buy than its score suggests.