Example Domains

Example Domains

A number of domains, including example.com, example.net, example.org, and the top-level domain example, are maintained for documentation purposes. These names are reserved for use in illustrative examples and may not be registered as ordinary domains. Identifiers such as .test, .example, .invalid, and .localhost are likewise reserved so that documentation, samples, and test fixtures can reference a stable, well-known hostname.

Key facts

  • Not registrable. Reserved names cannot be registered as ordinary domains; registration attempts will fail.
  • Not for production. Example domains must not be used to name live services, hosts, or certificates in operational systems.
  • Best-effort only. Resolution of example names is provided on a best-effort basis and carries no availability guarantee.

Reserved names

The following names are reserved by RFC 2606 and RFC 6761. Each entry is guaranteed never to be registered as a real domain or top-level domain.

Name Type Status RFC
example.com Second-level domain Reserved — not registrable RFC 2606
example.net Second-level domain Reserved — not registrable RFC 2606
example.org Second-level domain Reserved — not registrable RFC 2606
example Top-level domain Reserved — not registrable RFC 6761
.test Special-use TLD Reserved — not registrable RFC 6761
.example Special-use TLD Reserved — not registrable RFC 6761
.invalid Special-use TLD Reserved — not registrable RFC 6761
.localhost Special-use TLD Reserved — not registrable RFC 6761

Using example domains

Reserved names are safe to copy into documentation, hosts files, and test fixtures. The snippets below show typical usage; each can be copied directly.

Hosts-file entry
127.0.0.1   dev.example.com
Test-fixture hostname
fixture.host = "api.example.test"
URL placeholder
https://www.example.org/docs/getting-started

Further Reading

Cite this page: https://www.iana.org/help/example-domains Last revised 2026-09-29