If you are looking at short domain names for sale, start from the fact that changes the whole search: no 3- or 4-letter .com can be registered today. Any short .com you see is a resale, priced by its owner. Short names you can register yourself still exist, but they are five letters long in .com, or four letters in another extension, or two words. For what short names sell for, see 3-letter domain value and 4-letter domain value. All pages were checked on 29 October 2026.
Why every 3- and 4-letter .com is taken
The arithmetic is small. With 26 letters there are 26³ = 17,576 three-letter names and 26⁴ = 456,976 four-letter names, 474,552 in total. Add digits and the counts grow to 46,656 and 1,679,616.
The most recent full check comes from Findadomain.name (October 2026), a free name-finder that publishes its data and method. In its snapshot of 23 October 2026 it queried the .com registry’s nameservers for all 474,552 names and found that “not one can be registered today”. All 17,576 three-letter .coms are registered. Of the four-letter ones, 456,973 are registered and the other 3 are held names that cannot be registered either. Its conclusion: “A three- or four-letter .com is a purchase from its owner, not a registration.”
Two caveats. These counts are an independent scan, not a registry figure; neither Verisign nor ICANN publishes them. And the source says “registrations change daily, so this is one day’s snapshot.” It is not the first to find this. WhoAPI checked every four-letter .com in December 2013 and confirmed “all four-letter domains are registered”, which tells you the 4-letter .com space has been closed for over a decade.
The same snapshot found 153,666 registered four-letter .coms (33.6%) pointing at a domain marketplace’s nameservers, which usually means they are offered for sale; for three-letter .coms the share was 10.1%. The source itself warns that this misses names listed on their own pages and counts some parked names that are not really for sale, so treat it as a rough sign of supply, not a count.
Where short domain names are still available
Short names you can register yourself fall into four groups. The figures below are all Findadomain.name snapshots from October 2026, with the date of each.
| Option | What is left | Price at a registrar |
|---|---|---|
| 5-letter .com, pronounceable (CVCVC) | 74.2% of 231,525 registered; 59,765 unregistered (23 Oct) | 40 of 40 checked could be registered at the standard price |
| 4-letter pronounceable (CVCV) in .io | 2,589 free at the normal price (25 Oct) | From $29.98 first year; $79.99 renewal at Name.com |
| 4-letter CVCV in .dev | 4,318 free; 118 premium only (25 Oct) | From $10.98; renewal $22.99; premium median $111 |
| 4-letter CVCV in .app | 2,815 free; 16 premium only (25 Oct) | From $10.98; renewal $26.99; premium median $124 |
| 4-letter CVCV in .me | 3,099 free; 33 premium only (25 Oct) | From $10.98; renewal $27.99; premium median $3,750 |
| 4-letter CVCV in .co | None at the normal price; 4,183 premium only (25 Oct) | Premium median $140 the first year |
| 4-letter CVCV in .net / .org | 789 / 1,070 free (25 Oct) | From $12.48 / $8.48; renewal $23.99 / $19.99 |
| 3-letter .io | 109 of 451 unconfigured names checked were registrable (23 Oct) | Standard price |
| Two-word .com (adjective + noun) | 387 of 1,000 sampled were taken (19 Oct) | Not priced in the sample |
Five letters is the shortest length where free .com names still exist, but among random 5-letter strings, 86% of the free ones have at most one vowel or three consonants in a row. In other extensions, 17,004 pronounceable four-letter names across nine extensions still sold at the normal price on 25 October. Three-letter names are closed in .net and .org too, and in .co the unregistered ones Findadomain.name checked were offered only as premiums, at a median of $7,000.
Two-word .coms are the widest-open option. About six in ten of the random two-word names in that sample looked free, though the source says a registered name without nameservers counts as free, so the true share taken can be a little higher. Single common words are a different story: 999 of 1,000 are taken in .com. If you are weighing an extension rather than a length, are .net domains worth it covers the main alternative, and brandable domains for sale covers invented names. Names get registered every day, so check any specific name yourself before you plan around it.
Premium pricing and renewals
A short name in a newer extension can look available and still cost far more than the standard price, because the registry has marked it premium. The bigger issue is renewal. Under section 2.10 of ICANN’s Base Registry Agreement, the standard contract for new gTLD registries, a registry “must have uniform pricing for renewals”. The exception is a registrant who “expressly agreed” to higher renewal pricing at initial registration, “following clear and conspicuous disclosure” of it.
In plain terms: a name registered at the standard price renews at the uniform price. A premium-priced name can carry a higher renewal price for as long as you hold it, if that was disclosed when you registered. The same section requires 30 days’ notice of price rises on new registrations and 180 days on renewals, with the option to renew for one to ten years at the old price. So read the renewal line before you pay for any premium short name. Premium labels and registry tiers are covered in more depth in premium domain names.
Buying a short name that is taken
For a 3- or 4-letter .com, buying from the owner is the only route. Prices vary widely by name, and the value posts cover them in detail. As a reference point, the GGRG Liquid Market Report for Q3 2026 puts the median public sale at $31,750 for a 3-letter .com and $252 for a 4-letter .com.
How to buy a domain that is taken covers finding the owner, and how to make an offer on a domain covers the first number. Before you offer, run the name through the Domain Age Checker. It gives the registration date and true age for up to 20 domains, with a flag for names that were dropped and re-registered, which matters if the seller’s pitch rests on the name’s age.
Short names on SERPHeroes
To be plain about it: the SERPHeroes marketplace is not a short-name specialist. It is a small, reviewed marketplace of aged and expired-style domains bought by SEOs, smaller than GoDaddy Auctions or Sedo. Each listing shows the registry age, a scan of the Internet Archive’s record for spam, and whether the seller proved they control the domain. Where a listing has an Ahrefs traffic estimate, the page shows it; treat it as an estimate and check the rest yourself.
You buy at the asking price or make an offer, the team puts it to the seller, and you check out through Escrow.com or pay SERPHeroes directly. Either way, the seller is paid only after the transfer is confirmed. Buyers pay no SERPHeroes fee.
Frequently asked questions
Are there any 4-letter .com domains still available to register?
No. Findadomain.name’s 23 October 2026 snapshot found 456,973 of 456,976 registered and the other 3 held. A 4-letter .com is a purchase from its owner.
What is the shortest .com I can still register?
Five letters. On 23 October 2026, 59,765 pronounceable 5-letter .coms had no registration, but most free 5-letter strings are hard to say.
Where can I find 4 letter domains still available?
In other extensions. On 25 October 2026, 17,004 pronounceable four-letter names across nine extensions, including .io, .dev, .app and .me, still sold at the normal price.
Do premium short names cost more to renew?
They can. ICANN’s Base Registry Agreement allows a higher renewal price for a premium name if it was clearly disclosed when you registered.
The takeaway A short .com is a purchase, not a registration. If you want to buy rather than register, browse aged domains on the SERPHeroes marketplace, where every listing shows its registry age and the seller is paid only after the transfer is confirmed.
