While ‘agent’ has been a highly-sought domain term for many years, with artificial intelligence enabled smart agents, the term has taken on a whole new significance.
Several related terms have taken on new interpretations, none more than ‘agentic’. As we will see below, that term has sold a number of times during the last few months.
This article takes a look at what those terms, and others, mean, as well as cover the recent development of AI agents, and look towards the future.
What Is An Agent?
The term ‘agent’ has five distinctive meanings according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, including the traditional “one who is authorized to act for or in place of another.” Real estate, literary, etc. agents follow this definition.
Two of the dictionary definitions apply specifically to the era of AI agents:
Registrations, Business Use, and Sales of Agent
The exact term ’agent’ is registered in 507 extensions, and a total domain count of almost 285,000 according to dotDB.
The search volume is about 368,000 according to dotDB, with CPC values from about $0.50 to just over $5.00. Surprisingly, the ad competition is low.
With so many different types of agents, the term ’agent’ is used in 17,750 active companies and organizations according to OpenCorporates.
I used NameBio to look at sales of the exact term ‘agent’: 13. Somewhat surprisingly, only 5 of these sales are in 4-figure range, and none above that. Here is a NameBio link that will update with any sales following the time this article goes to print.
Agent.ai
There is little doubt that the most active voice in the field of AI-powered agents is Dharmesh Shah. He co-founded HubSpot in 2006, and served as Chief Technology Officer.
He runs Agent.ai, that bills itself as “The #1 Professional Network for AI Agents.” It goes on to describe itself as a place to “Discover, connect with and hire AI agents to do useful things.” Anyone can join Agent.ai free, with a small cost (with credits system) to use the various agents.
Agent.ai launched in September 2024, and in February 2025 achieved 500,000 users. As well as employ and build agents, users can join something called the Builder Network.
I should point out that AI agents date to the 1960’s at least, but those early rules-based systems bear little resemblance to agents that use current artificial intelligence.
Dharmesh Shah also owns the agent.com domain name that is redirected to agent.ai.
What About ‘Agency’?
The term agency is closely associated with agent, although it carries certain connotations as well. There are more than 260,000 active OpenCorporates listings for ‘agency’.
If we look at all time, there are 914 sales recorded on NameBio that contain the term ‘agency’, with the top sales, all in 5-figures, being names like CollectionAgency.com, AdvertisingAgency.com and TravelAgency.com.
According to dotDB, the exact term ‘agency’ is registered in 344 extensions, and is part of more than 315,000 total names.
There is also a new domain extension .agency. There are currently about 310,000 names registered according to nTLDStats. NameBio only records 91 sales total in the extension, the largest being a $9999 sale of travel.agency back in 2016.
What Is Agentic? Term Not In Main Dictionaries, Yet
There is a lot of interest around the term ‘agentic.’ What exactly does the term mean? First of all, I should point out that the term ’agentic’ is not yet in the main Merriam-Webster or Collins dictionaries. I suspect that may change before long, as they regular add trending words.
The Merriam-Webster dictionary has a section for slang or trending terms, and there is an entry for agentic there:
So the key idea of agentic is that it is capable of operating autonomously. As an example from the domain world, an agent could be assigned to do certain tasks, such as write domain descriptions or compose outgoing emails. An agentic domain system would go further, making decisions on acquisitions, pricing, promotion, offers, and so on – it would largely run your domain name operation.
At least as of time of writing, Atom does not recognize ‘agentic’ as a word, a requirement for listing in the Atom Sapphire marketplace.
Recent Agentic Sales
During just the past 3 months, NameBio has 17 sales recorded that contain the term agentic, the highest-value being agentics.io that sold for low 5-figures in January, 2025.
Two-word combinations, with ‘agentic’ as the leading word, have sold multiple times in low 4-figures, including AgenticNetworks.com, AgenticLayer.com, AgenticTesting.com, and AgenticMarkets.com.
According to dotDB, the exact term ‘agentic’ is registered in 404 extensions, as well as appearing in more than 9000 longer domain names.
The search volume is growing, but still modest, but the cost-per-click ranges from $2.81 to $53.77.
According to OpenCorporates the number of businesses with ‘agentic’ in their name is only 97, but that is significantly higher than 5 months ago.
Dharmesh Shah has commented that it is best to view autonomous agents as a continuum, rather than a simple autonomous or not.
NamePros Member Develops Agents
NamePros member @winst has developed an AI-based domain value estimator, but really it is part of a broader set of agents to perform various tasks. You can check out the site at EZTC.com, and offer feedback here on NamePros at Domain Name Value Estimator.
NamePros Discussion Agent and Agentic
There is a very active NamePros discussion thread, started by @infosec3 in January 2025, to Showcase Agentic, Agent and Agents Domain Names.
Other Words Containing Agent
You can use The Word Finder to find other words that contain ‘agent’.
There is a lengthy list, but the following seemed potentially worthy of consideration: agential, agentive, and superagent, a single word according to the dictionary. OpenCorporates only indicates 2 businesses using ‘agential’, however, 6 for ‘agentive’, and 9 for ‘superagent’.
Of these terms, ‘agentive’ and ‘superagent’ are more registered than ‘agential’, according to dotDB, with 97 exact match and 337 domain count for ‘agentive’, and 94 exact, 600 total for ‘superagent’.
The domain name agentive.com had a major sale, $65,000 by @Braden Pollock of Legal Brand Marketing in 2022, although the domain name does not currently seem in use.
Atom Sapphire marketplace does recognize ‘agentive’ as a word for inclusion in the marketplace.
Agentware
The idea of using multiple agents in a network is growing, and the term ‘agentware’, although not currently in the main dictionaries, has been proposed to have an analogous meaning to software, hardware, firmware, etc.
The site Agentware.AI bills itself as “Pioneering Agentic AI for Next-Generation Enterprise Solutions.”
Alan Wunsche published a book in 2024 AGENTWARE: Unveiling AI's Future – Humanity's Bold Leap into Tomorrow.
There are two active trademarks on agentware, both from years ago before the recent AI revolution, one specifically for assisting travel agents with flight information, and the other with respect to insurance policy quotes.
The term ‘agentware’ is used in 4 active company names according to OpenCorporates.
Quotes from Dharmesh Shah
As noted earlier, one of the most active and respected voices in agent systems is Dharmesh Shah. Here are a few quotations from the last number of months indicating his view on the world of agents.
In late January 2025 he wrote:
Earlier this month, he said
Agent Whitepaper
There is a good whitepaper on the topic of agents, written by Julia Wiesinger, Patrick Marlow and Vladimir Vuskovic. You can access it at this link from kaggle: Agents Whitepaper
If considering investments in this niche, keep in mind that many companies will seek a distinctive name, rather than one explicitly containing one of the terms. Do your own research.
Agent Directory
There are no doubt multiple independent directories of agents, but one is at AIAgentsDirectory.com. It has just over 1000 agents listed at time of writing, divided into categories, and mainly deals with agents suited to business applications.
Updates:
Feb. 21, 2025 Added the section Agent Directory.
Possible conflict of interest: I do invest in names containing agent, agentic, agentive, and agentware, but none of the names mentioned here are my own.
Thanks to Merriam-Webster dictionary, dotDB, OpenCorporates, NameBio, nTLDStats, and to dharmesh X profile for data and information used in this article.
Several related terms have taken on new interpretations, none more than ‘agentic’. As we will see below, that term has sold a number of times during the last few months.
This article takes a look at what those terms, and others, mean, as well as cover the recent development of AI agents, and look towards the future.
What Is An Agent?
The term ‘agent’ has five distinctive meanings according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, including the traditional “one who is authorized to act for or in place of another.” Real estate, literary, etc. agents follow this definition.
Two of the dictionary definitions apply specifically to the era of AI agents:
- def. (3) “a means or instrument by which a guiding intelligence achieves a result” and
- def. (5) “a computer application designed to automate certain tasks.”
Registrations, Business Use, and Sales of Agent
The exact term ’agent’ is registered in 507 extensions, and a total domain count of almost 285,000 according to dotDB.
The search volume is about 368,000 according to dotDB, with CPC values from about $0.50 to just over $5.00. Surprisingly, the ad competition is low.
With so many different types of agents, the term ’agent’ is used in 17,750 active companies and organizations according to OpenCorporates.
I used NameBio to look at sales of the exact term ‘agent’: 13. Somewhat surprisingly, only 5 of these sales are in 4-figure range, and none above that. Here is a NameBio link that will update with any sales following the time this article goes to print.
Agent.ai
There is little doubt that the most active voice in the field of AI-powered agents is Dharmesh Shah. He co-founded HubSpot in 2006, and served as Chief Technology Officer.
He runs Agent.ai, that bills itself as “The #1 Professional Network for AI Agents.” It goes on to describe itself as a place to “Discover, connect with and hire AI agents to do useful things.” Anyone can join Agent.ai free, with a small cost (with credits system) to use the various agents.
Agent.ai launched in September 2024, and in February 2025 achieved 500,000 users. As well as employ and build agents, users can join something called the Builder Network.
I should point out that AI agents date to the 1960’s at least, but those early rules-based systems bear little resemblance to agents that use current artificial intelligence.
Dharmesh Shah also owns the agent.com domain name that is redirected to agent.ai.
What About ‘Agency’?
The term agency is closely associated with agent, although it carries certain connotations as well. There are more than 260,000 active OpenCorporates listings for ‘agency’.
If we look at all time, there are 914 sales recorded on NameBio that contain the term ‘agency’, with the top sales, all in 5-figures, being names like CollectionAgency.com, AdvertisingAgency.com and TravelAgency.com.
According to dotDB, the exact term ‘agency’ is registered in 344 extensions, and is part of more than 315,000 total names.
There is also a new domain extension .agency. There are currently about 310,000 names registered according to nTLDStats. NameBio only records 91 sales total in the extension, the largest being a $9999 sale of travel.agency back in 2016.
What Is Agentic? Term Not In Main Dictionaries, Yet
There is a lot of interest around the term ‘agentic.’ What exactly does the term mean? First of all, I should point out that the term ’agentic’ is not yet in the main Merriam-Webster or Collins dictionaries. I suspect that may change before long, as they regular add trending words.
The Merriam-Webster dictionary has a section for slang or trending terms, and there is an entry for agentic there:
The term agentic has had meaning in the social sciences, unrelated to AI, for some time.Agentic refers to someone or something capable of achieving outcomes independently… It is especially used with a type of artificial intelligence (AI) designed to execute complex tasks autonomously or with little human involvement.
So the key idea of agentic is that it is capable of operating autonomously. As an example from the domain world, an agent could be assigned to do certain tasks, such as write domain descriptions or compose outgoing emails. An agentic domain system would go further, making decisions on acquisitions, pricing, promotion, offers, and so on – it would largely run your domain name operation.
At least as of time of writing, Atom does not recognize ‘agentic’ as a word, a requirement for listing in the Atom Sapphire marketplace.
Recent Agentic Sales
During just the past 3 months, NameBio has 17 sales recorded that contain the term agentic, the highest-value being agentics.io that sold for low 5-figures in January, 2025.
Two-word combinations, with ‘agentic’ as the leading word, have sold multiple times in low 4-figures, including AgenticNetworks.com, AgenticLayer.com, AgenticTesting.com, and AgenticMarkets.com.
According to dotDB, the exact term ‘agentic’ is registered in 404 extensions, as well as appearing in more than 9000 longer domain names.
The search volume is growing, but still modest, but the cost-per-click ranges from $2.81 to $53.77.
According to OpenCorporates the number of businesses with ‘agentic’ in their name is only 97, but that is significantly higher than 5 months ago.
Dharmesh Shah has commented that it is best to view autonomous agents as a continuum, rather than a simple autonomous or not.
NamePros Member Develops Agents
NamePros member @winst has developed an AI-based domain value estimator, but really it is part of a broader set of agents to perform various tasks. You can check out the site at EZTC.com, and offer feedback here on NamePros at Domain Name Value Estimator.
NamePros Discussion Agent and Agentic
There is a very active NamePros discussion thread, started by @infosec3 in January 2025, to Showcase Agentic, Agent and Agents Domain Names.
Other Words Containing Agent
You can use The Word Finder to find other words that contain ‘agent’.
There is a lengthy list, but the following seemed potentially worthy of consideration: agential, agentive, and superagent, a single word according to the dictionary. OpenCorporates only indicates 2 businesses using ‘agential’, however, 6 for ‘agentive’, and 9 for ‘superagent’.
Of these terms, ‘agentive’ and ‘superagent’ are more registered than ‘agential’, according to dotDB, with 97 exact match and 337 domain count for ‘agentive’, and 94 exact, 600 total for ‘superagent’.
The domain name agentive.com had a major sale, $65,000 by @Braden Pollock of Legal Brand Marketing in 2022, although the domain name does not currently seem in use.
Atom Sapphire marketplace does recognize ‘agentive’ as a word for inclusion in the marketplace.
Agentware
The idea of using multiple agents in a network is growing, and the term ‘agentware’, although not currently in the main dictionaries, has been proposed to have an analogous meaning to software, hardware, firmware, etc.
The site Agentware.AI bills itself as “Pioneering Agentic AI for Next-Generation Enterprise Solutions.”
Alan Wunsche published a book in 2024 AGENTWARE: Unveiling AI's Future – Humanity's Bold Leap into Tomorrow.
There are two active trademarks on agentware, both from years ago before the recent AI revolution, one specifically for assisting travel agents with flight information, and the other with respect to insurance policy quotes.
The term ‘agentware’ is used in 4 active company names according to OpenCorporates.
Quotes from Dharmesh Shah
As noted earlier, one of the most active and respected voices in agent systems is Dharmesh Shah. Here are a few quotations from the last number of months indicating his view on the world of agents.
In late January 2025 he wrote:
2025 is the year of agent networks where agents can collaborate with other agents.
Earlier this month, he said
He has also commented that the hiring division of companies will change from hiring the best people, to hiring the best combination of people and agents.With the power of A.I. agents, and digitally-hybrid teams a 5 person company will be able to do what previously needed a 50-person company to do. A 50 person company will do what used to take 500 or 5,000 people.
Agent Whitepaper
There is a good whitepaper on the topic of agents, written by Julia Wiesinger, Patrick Marlow and Vladimir Vuskovic. You can access it at this link from kaggle: Agents Whitepaper
If considering investments in this niche, keep in mind that many companies will seek a distinctive name, rather than one explicitly containing one of the terms. Do your own research.
Agent Directory
There are no doubt multiple independent directories of agents, but one is at AIAgentsDirectory.com. It has just over 1000 agents listed at time of writing, divided into categories, and mainly deals with agents suited to business applications.
Updates:
Feb. 21, 2025 Added the section Agent Directory.
Possible conflict of interest: I do invest in names containing agent, agentic, agentive, and agentware, but none of the names mentioned here are my own.
Thanks to Merriam-Webster dictionary, dotDB, OpenCorporates, NameBio, nTLDStats, and to dharmesh X profile for data and information used in this article.
Last edited:
