| 1. | Used for | It is used for general purpose and commercial sites (by for-profit entities). | It is used by networking-based companies or entities such as Internet Service providers and similar infrastructures, by miscellaneous organizations or when the preferred name in .com domain is exhausted. |
| 2. | Popularity | .com is more popular than .net. | It is less popular than .com. |
| 3. | Registration | The registration is handled by Verisign. The domains can be handled by other registrars (e.g. Google, Go Daddy), however, they ultimately have partnerships or affiliations with Verisign. | .net registrations are also handled by Verisign. |
| 4. | Cost | It is costlier than .net (due to the popularity of .com domains). | It is cheaper than .com (due to .net being less popular). |
| 5. | Top Level Domain (TLD) | It is a top level domain (TLD). It is one of the first domains ever created. It is also a generic domain. Generic means it can be used for general purpose. | It is a generic top level domain (gTLD). It is one of the first domains ever created for generic use. |
| 6. | Purpose | It was intended to be used by commercial entities. | It was introduced to be used by networking organizations. |
| 7. | Derived From | It has been derived from the word commercial. It was intended for commercial entities. | It has been derived from the word networking. It was intended for networking entities such as ISPs (Internet Service Providers). |
| 8. | Registry website | The registry website is www.verisign.com. | The registry website is www.verisign.com, that is similar to .com registry site because both are handled by the same unity, Verisign. |
| 9. | First site | The first site ever registered under .com domain is www.symbolics.com. | The first site ever registered under .net domain is www.nordu.net. |
| 10. | Examples | Examples : www.google.com, www.bbn.com, www.think.com, www.mcc.com, www.dec.com, www.northrop.com, www.xerox.com. | Examples : www.behance.net, www. broken.net, www. nsf.net, www. nyser.net, www. uu.net, www.sesqui.net, www. mr.net, www.oar.net. |
| 11. | Pros | - Popularity- People will automatically type .com extension when searching for your website.
- Trust- Using .com, reflects business-oriented website that gives trust to the customers.
- Easy to type- It is mobile friendly as the keyboard is having a dedicated button of .com.
- Inexpensive
| - It is an excellent choice for the businesses in networking.
- It is easily available as compared to .com for registration.
- As .net extension is best for networking services and for internet service providers so potential clients would quickly associate with your sector and thus helps in marketing.
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| 12. | Cons | - The .com is not easily available as it is being already used by websites.
- It is not suitable to use for those websites that are for specific location (like India, UK) as it represents general domain.
| - As .net extension is solely related to technology services so not much in use.
- It costs more as compared to .com.
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