2025 was a foundational year for Atom, where much of the execution we had been focused on finally came together.

Atom’s revenue grew by nearly 70% year over year in 2025, building on strong growth the year before. Over the past two years, the business has grown to more than 3X its earlier scale.

What makes that growth meaningful is the context in which it happened.

The broader economy was uneven throughout the year, and demand across the domain industry was mixed. Buyers were more deliberate, budgets were scrutinized more closely, and decision cycles stretched out, especially for higher-value purchases.

That showed up in our data as well. After rising steadily for several years, the average selling price for premium listings dipped slightly in 2025, reflecting a softer appetite for closing very large transactions. Fewer buyers were willing to stretch to the very top of the market.

At the same time, overall revenue still climbed sharply.

The difference was volume. We completed significantly more transactions than in prior years, even in a cautious market. Better targeting brought in more serious buyers, and improvements in search, discovery, and UX helped them find names they felt confident choosing.

Our growth didn’t come from a rising tide. It came from doing a few things better: being more precise with marketing, making it easier for buyers to find the right names, and removing friction where it mattered most.

Revenue Mix: A Notable Shift

One shift that stood out in 2025 was the changing revenue mix.

.com remained the largest contributor, but its share declined this year. At the same time, non-.com extensions grew to nearly a third of total revenue, with much of that increase coming from .ai. This wasn’t just a volume story: we saw multiple six-figure .ai transactions, including even a three-word domain that sold for over $300K.

The takeaway wasn’t that .com is losing relevance, but that the market is broadening. Buyers are increasingly choosing names based on use case and fit, not just tradition.

That new reality led us to launch the Sapphire Marketplace in 2025.

Making Discovery Work at Scale

For years, I’ve believed that most good names are discovered, not searched for. Naming usually starts with an idea or direction, not the exact words.

Rebranding to Atom.com in 2024 was part of committing to that belief. In 2025, advances in AI finally gave us the ability to build for it in a real way.

Buyer behavior reflected this shift. More founders arrived without a specific domain in mind. Instead of typing keywords, they browsed and explored ideas. We saw this even at the high end of the market, including multiple six-figure Ultra Premium Marketplace transactions where buyers started with intent, not a name, and chose options they hadn’t considered at the outset.

What changed in 2025 was execution. We rebuilt discovery around intent rather than keywords. Our AI agents interpret searches and behavior to surface names that fit what someone is actually trying to build, evaluating brand fit as a buyer would.

Discovery is no longer one-size-fits-all. Each buyer now sees a personalized experience shaped by context and behavior.

The result was better outcomes. Domains that had previously been buried surfaced in front of the right buyers because we got better at matching intent.

ICANN Accreditation & Registrar Automation

Discovery reaches its full potential when what follows is reliable and predictable.

Across much of the domain industry, transactions are still slower and more opaque than they should be. Transfers that take days or weeks are treated as normal. Status updates are unclear. Payouts remain inconsistent. Too much of the process depends on manual steps and external handoffs.

For a long time, Atom had built most of the stack around naming, discovery, and transactions, but one critical layer remained outside our control: the registrar. That limited how predictable and efficient the experience could be.

In 2025, that changed. We received ICANN accreditation and began rolling out Atom’s own registrar infrastructure. This wasn’t just about speed. It was about completing the stack so discovery, transactions, and ownership could function as a single system.

Speed is an important outcome, but accountability matters just as much. Alongside the rollout, we began publishing the time taken at each step of the transfer process. That visibility helps us identify friction, measure progress, and hold ourselves to clear standards.

The result is a system that is becoming more predictable, transparent, and increasingly automated. Transfers that once felt opaque are moving toward something routine and dependable.

Looking ahead, the registrar layer also unlocks meaningful benefits for sellers. In 2026, we plan to introduce incentives for domains held with Atom, including reduced commissions, revenue sharing on expired domains, and other programs designed to reward sellers who choose to manage more of their domains with Atom.

Our long-term goal is simple: by the end of 2026, over 90% of transactions should move from purchase to payout in one hour or less.

Tools Built for Sellers

If discovery is the engine, sellers are the fuel.

In 2025, we invested deeply in seller tooling with a clear goal: give sellers more control, more visibility, and better outcomes, without adding complexity.

Rather than shipping isolated features, we focused on strengthening a few core areas.

We improved positioning and context, recognizing that some domains need the right environment to be understood and valued. Curated destinations like Sapphire Marketplace gave strong one-word domains in alternative extensions a focused, premium setting, driving better visibility and stronger sell-through.

We also invested in presentation and conversion. Cleaner, more customizable and minimal landing pages and richer storytelling through audio and visuals helped bring domains to life and improve conversion.

On the commercial side, we focused on pricing, negotiation, and transactions. Sellers gained clearer pricing signals, the ability to self-negotiate with full buyer context, and more flexibility in structuring deals. AtomPay continued to evolve into a flexible transaction layer, supporting commission splitting and transactions even for domains not listed on Atom, with commissions starting as low as 1.35%, while keeping transfers and payouts predictable.

Finally, we strengthened visibility and control at scale. Better discovery insights, deeper engagement analytics, and improved bulk management tools helped sellers understand portfolio performance and act with confidence.

Taken together, these changes were about transparency and trust. Sellers should be able to see how the marketplace works, understand why outcomes happen, and make informed decisions without guesswork.

Extending Atom Beyond the Marketplace

In 2025, we also focused on making Atom useful outside of atom.com itself.

Discovery doesn’t happen in one place. Sellers and partners work across tools, workflows, and platforms, so we built ways for Atom’s capabilities to travel with them.

We launched a Chrome extension that lets sellers access Atom appraisals while browsing domains anywhere on the web, bringing pricing signal closer to real decision-making moments.

At the same time, we expanded our APIs so partners can embed Atom directly into their products. This includes Semantic Search for discovery, Domain Appraisal APIs for pricing intelligence, Trademark search and monitoring, and inventory feeds that surface Atom domains where founders are already working.

These weren’t one-off integrations. They were designed as plug-and-play building blocks that partners can adopt without heavy lifting, and that scale as their own ecosystems grow.

Taken together, this reflects a broader shift. Atom isn’t just a destination. It’s becoming the foundation for discovery wherever naming decisions happen.

Marketing That Learns

In 2025, we continued to scale our marketing while becoming more deliberate about where and how we invested.

Over the past few years, we ran extensive tests across prospecting and retargeting, experimenting with audiences, creatives, formats, and timing across channels like Google, LinkedIn, and X. The goal wasn’t just reach. It was to understand where real buying intent shows up and how to engage it effectively.

As those learnings compounded, our marketing became more focused. We reduced wasted spend, tightened targeting, and aligned campaigns more closely with how buyers actually discover and evaluate names. Instead of optimizing for traffic alone, we prioritized bringing in higher-quality buyers who were ready to explore and decide.

That shift paid off. Over the last three years, our return on ad spend improved by nearly 3x, even as overall marketing investment increased. Better targeting, stronger creative alignment, and a product built for discovery turned more marketing dollars into real outcomes.

Marketing and product also became more connected. As search, discovery, and UX improved, paid traffic performed better because buyers landed in an environment designed to help them explore options and move forward with confidence.

Looking ahead to 2026, we plan to keep scaling. We’re preparing to launch new ad formats, test additional channels, and expand distribution beyond traditional performance marketing, with the same goal as always: reach the right founders earlier and drive high-quality demand into the marketplace.

Partnerships and Distribution

In 2025, we made a deliberate decision to invest in distribution, not as an afterthought.

Even the best discovery experience only matters if it shows up where founders already are. Many buyers don’t begin on a domain marketplace. They’re launching a company, setting up tools, or testing an idea, with naming just one decision along the way.

With that in mind, we focused on building a broader distribution network by partnering with companies both within the domain ecosystem and beyond it. The goal was straightforward: surface Atom’s inventory at moments when founders are actively making early-stage decisions.

Throughout the year, we onboarded several new partners who now present Atom domains directly inside their own workflows. This expanded reach without sacrificing relevance, bringing higher-intent buyers into the marketplace earlier in their journey.

We also spent much of 2025 laying the groundwork for larger distribution partnerships, several of which we expect to announce in 2026. These will meaningfully expand how and where Atom inventory is discovered, while staying true to a discovery-first approach.

Industry Recognition

In 2025, we were honored to receive the first-ever Trailblazer Award from the Internet Commerce Association at the ICA Member Meeting in Las Vegas. What made this especially meaningful is that the award was voted on by ICA members across the domain industry.

The recognition was a reminder that the work we’re doing around discovery, tooling, and infrastructure is resonating beyond our own platform. I’m grateful to the ICA community for the trust and encouragement.

The Team Behind the Work

None of this happens without people who care deeply about the work.

We’ve intentionally kept Atom a small, nimble team, and that has been a real advantage. It allowed us to test ideas quickly, iterate without friction, and stay close to both the product and our customers. Speed and ownership mattered this year, and the team delivered on both.

At the same time, 2025 was about preparing for the next phase of growth. We grew the team thoughtfully in areas that will matter most as the business scales, including finance, sales, product, marketing, UX, engineering, and operations. These additions weren’t about adding layers. They were about strengthening the foundation and making sure we can keep moving fast without breaking things.

Some of our best ideas came from people who were new to the domain industry and weren’t constrained by how things had always been done. That mix of fresh perspective and deep execution has been a real strength.

I’m grateful for the team we’ve built. Their care for the details, willingness to challenge assumptions, and ability to move quickly made 2025 the year it was.

Looking Ahead

As we move into 2026, the direction is clear.

We’re preparing to relaunch the Atom naming stack, bringing together everything we’ve built into a more connected experience. Naming, discovery, marketplace, registrar, testing, and trademarks will work together more seamlessly, with AI at the core rather than layered on top.

We’ll continue to expand distribution in a focused way, building deeper partnerships and reaching founders earlier in their journey. Marketing will keep scaling as well, with new formats, new channels, and a continued emphasis on bringing high-quality buyers into the ecosystem.

The product will keep evolving. Discovery will improve. Friction will continue to come out. Sellers will gain more visibility and control. Buyers will get clearer paths to confident decisions.

We won’t get everything right. Some ideas will work better than others. But we’ll keep listening, iterating, and fixing what doesn’t.

Atom was never meant to be just a marketplace. It was meant to support one of the most important decisions a founder makes.

To everyone who trusted us this year as a buyer, seller, partner, or teammate, thank you. The foundation is in place, and the next phase is about earning that trust every day.

We’re just getting started.