Cons of Using .io Domain?

Whether your customers understand it's an actual domain?

Okay, it's way more likely to be understood properly than any of the newer generic domain extensions released recently, and it's probably not an issue at all if you're selling a tool to developers or tech savvy folks, but there's always a percentage of the population who struggles to understand that anything beyond .com/.net/.org and a few country specific extensions exist.

The optics/branding are inversely correlated with awareness of the problematic ownership and management history, which is increasing.

Not to mention the ethical aspect. It's tone-deaf at best to prefer .io in 2024.

https://www.v01.io/posts/2023-io-domain-dilemma/

https://www.thewebmaster.com/archived/io-tld-top-level-domai...

If you are doing something serious then you should really use a .com. If initially you can't buy one then using something else is fine I guess....

OR as PG wrote in 2015, you should think about changing your name.

https://paulgraham.com/name.html

I would only do it if the .com is not being used for something.

I think .io is pretty acceptable for a tech product and .ai is pretty acceptable for an AI product. Just plan to pay for the .com eventually if you're successful.

Example: Intercom used to be intercom.io and is now intercom.com.

Cost compared to .com is the only concern I've ever had with it.