.com vs .app: is .app a good TLD for mobile apps and PWAs?

Updated May 11, 2026

Short answer: .app is excellent if your product is app-shaped (mobile app, PWA, single-purpose web tool) and your audience is technical. Switch to .com if you need cold-traffic trust or sell to non-technical buyers.

What .app actually is

.app is a Google-run TLD launched in 2018, operated by Charleston Road Registry (a Google subsidiary). It made history as the first TLD to enforce HTTPS at the registry level — every .app domain MUST serve HTTPS (HSTS is preloaded into browsers). This baked-in security is a marketing point Google emphasised at launch and is the reason most .app sites feel native to mobile / SaaS positioning.

Where .app shines

Mobile-first products that have a corresponding web landing page.
Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) — the TLD literally reinforces the category.
Single-purpose web tools where the URL replaces an installer (e.g., web.app, photopea.app).
Internal tools and dashboards within a larger company brand.

Cost reality

	.com	.app
Standard annual price	~$10-15	~$15-20
Premium pricing	Many short names premium-priced	Many short names premium-priced (Google reserves "obvious" names)
HTTPS requirement	Optional (recommended)	MANDATORY — HSTS preloaded
Registry	Verisign	Charleston Road Registry (Google)
Public WHOIS	Standard	Limited — Google deprecated public WHOIS in favor of RDAP

The HTTPS-only point matters

Because .app is HSTS-preloaded, your visitors literally cannot reach your site over HTTP. This sounds like an inconvenience but in 2026 it's actually a strong trust signal: no mixed-content warnings, no certificate edge cases, no "your connection is not private" intermittents on enterprise WiFi. Browsers will not even try HTTP first.

TipFor a marketing site, make sure your hosting provider issues a valid TLS cert automatically (Cloudflare, Vercel, Netlify all do). You will not be able to launch a .app site otherwise.

Real brand examples

web.app — Firebase Hosting's default hosting domain (Google).
photopea.app — popular browser-based Photoshop alternative.
todoist.app — secondary domain for the Todoist app.
figma.app — Figma's desktop-app installer landing.

SEO impact

Google treats .app as a generic TLD — no ranking handicap and no boost from being Google-owned. Click-through rate is comparable to other newer TLDs (.io, .dev). The HSTS guarantee is a Core Web Vitals positive for mobile-first audits (no insecure-redirect penalty).

When .com still wins

You're selling to enterprise procurement or financial-services audiences.
Your product is broader than "an app" — a platform, a marketplace, a media property.
You're running offline ads where listeners type from memory.

Try this starter prompt

“Mobile app for budget-conscious freelancers”

Find available .app names →

Frequently asked

Can I host a regular website on .app?+

Yes — .app is just a TLD. The only constraint is that the site must serve HTTPS (Google preloaded HSTS at the registry level). Most modern hosts handle this automatically.

Is .app safer than .com?+

Marginally. The forced HTTPS prevents some downgrade-attack scenarios and ensures users never accidentally hit an insecure version. For most product brands the safety difference is invisible.

Why does Google look up .app WHOIS via a custom URL?+

Google deprecated public WHOIS for .app in favor of RDAP (the modern replacement). Most domain-lookup tools handle this transparently. If you need to inspect registration data, use a tool that supports RDAP.