A real TLD developers once borrowed
For years, many developers used made-up hostnames ending in .dev for local projects. Then Google, which won .dev in ICANN's 2012 round, added it to the HSTS preload list in 2017 and opened public registrations in February 2019. Local setups that assumed plain HTTP suddenly broke — a good reminder to use the reserved .test and .localhost names for that.
Today .dev is a natural home for portfolios, docs and developer tools, with HTTPS enforced for every site.
Good for
- Developer portfolios and blogs
- Documentation, SDKs and open-source projects
- Staging and tooling sites that still need real certificates
Watch out for
- HTTPS is mandatory — local-style plain HTTP setups won't work on public .dev names
- Before 2019 many developers used .dev for local testing; those setups break now
.dev by the numbers
.dev is a generic top-level domain (gTLD), aimed at tech & startups. Charleston Road Registry Inc. runs the registry under a contract with ICANN.
.dev entered the DNS root zone on December 18, 2014, 11 years ago. It came out of ICANN's New gTLD Program, the 2012 application round that grew the root from 22 generic TLDs to well over a thousand.
Charleston Road Registry Inc. operates a large portfolio of 46 TLDs, including .ads, .android, .app, .boo and .cal.
On the technical side, .dev is served by 5 authoritative name servers, every one of them reachable over IPv6. It is also DNSSEC-signed: the root zone carries a DS record for .dev, which lets validating resolvers check its answers cryptographically. Registration data is published over RDAP.
Same registry, other endings
45 other TLDs share this operator.
.dev vs other endings
.dev FAQ
Why don't my .dev sites load over HTTP?
The whole .dev TLD is HSTS-preloaded in major browsers, so they upgrade every request to HTTPS. You need a valid certificate.
Can I use .dev for local development?
Not safely — it's a real public TLD. For local and test setups use reserved names like .test or .localhost, which will never be delegated.
What does .dev mean?
.dev is a generic top-level domain named for the word "dev", and it's aimed at tech & startups. It doesn't belong to any country.
What is .dev used for?
.dev is mostly used for tech & startups. Like most gTLDs, it's a label of intent rather than a guarantee — check the site, not just the ending.
What country is .dev?
None. .dev is a generic top-level domain, so it isn't tied to any country.
Who owns the .dev domain extension?
Charleston Road Registry Inc. operates .dev as its registry, under a registry agreement with ICANN.
When was .dev created?
.dev was delegated to the DNS root zone on December 18, 2014.
Is .dev a valid domain?
Yes. .dev is an active top-level domain in the DNS root zone, delegated in 2014, so .dev addresses work in every browser.
Is .dev DNSSEC-signed?
Yes, the root zone holds a DS record for .dev.
Sources
Data from IANA root zone version 2026102000. Last changed October 21, 2026. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.
