Registry backends

Which technical registry service provider actually serves each gTLD's DNS. ICANN publishes no TLD-to-backend mapping, so this is inferred from three signals: the root-zone nameserver hostnames, the RDAP endpoint from IANA's bootstrap file, and — for TLDs running vanity hostnames — the reverse DNS of those nameservers' addresses.

These are the companies running the infrastructure, not the ones selling the domains. Most registry operators outsource their backend and so appear nowhere on this page — Radix's ten TLDs all run on Tucows' platform, for instance. For the operators themselves, see registry operators.

New gTLDs Legacy gTLDs All gTLDs

1,107 TLDs attributed across 26 platforms. 24 remain unattributed — brand TLDs whose vanity nameservers and RDAP endpoints reveal nothing about who operates them. They are counted here rather than quietly dropped. How the inference works.

Backend concentration

Source: ICANN monthly registry reports

A handful of platforms serve the DNS for most of the gTLD namespace. Share of all gTLD domains by technical backend, from ICANN's monthly registry reports. Each TLD is attributed to the platform serving it today — nothing records who ran a TLD's DNS in 2016 — so this is volume on today's platforms over time, not who served it at the time.

162.09Mreported May 2015

Share of gTLD domains by backend
Verisign3 TLDs	136.75M	84.37%
Identity Digital284 TLDs	18.65M	11.5%
GoDaddy Registry83 TLDs	3.60M	2.22%
CentralNic (Team Internet)47 TLDs	1.21M	0.75%
KNET17 TLDs	504.81k	0.31%
Tucows18 TLDs	409.30k	0.25%
Knipp / TANGO Registry23 TLDs	285.10k	0.18%
Nominet12 TLDs	168.00k	0.1%
Teleinfo6 TLDs	120.95k	0.07%
CNNIC6 TLDs	114.72k	0.07%
Other12 more backends	271.87k	0.17%

By domains served

Source: Daily zone files and ICANN monthly registry reports

Bar length is domains; the TLD count is shown alongside because the two rank very differently.

Verisign 17 TLDs

179.93M

Identity Digital 458 TLDs

26.90M

CentralNic (Team Internet) 87 TLDs

17.95M

Tucows 54 TLDs

11.62M

GoDaddy Registry 208 TLDs

6.68M

KNET 22 TLDs

6.52M

GMO Registry 46 TLDs

4.41M

Google Registry 46 TLDs

2.65M

fury.ca 5 TLDs

388.48k

Knipp / TANGO Registry 29 TLDs

294.38k

Nominet 79 TLDs

152.51k

AFNIC 12 TLDs

119.14k

Teleinfo 10 TLDs

68,618

dnsnode.net 2 TLDs

61,524

RyCE 4 TLDs

43,203

All backends

#	Backend	TLDs	Domains	Source
1	Verisign	17	179,931,178	curated
2	Identity Digital	458	26,899,634	curated
3	CentralNic (Team Internet)	87	17,949,371	curated
4	Tucows	54	11,619,633	curated
5	GoDaddy Registry	208	6,675,042	curated
6	KNET	22	6,518,974	curated
7	GMO Registry	46	4,406,087	curated
8	Google Registry	46	2,645,268	curated
9	fury.ca inferred	5	388,482	rdap_host shared by 5 TLDs
10	Knipp / TANGO Registry	29	294,375	curated
11	Nominet	79	152,508	curated
12	AFNIC	12	119,141	curated
13	Teleinfo	10	68,618	curated
14	dnsnode.net inferred	2	61,524	ns_suffix shared by 16 TLDs
15	RyCE	4	43,203	curated
16	CNNIC	9	35,375	curated
17	FlexiReg	2	28,301	curated
18	anycastdns.cz inferred	1	16,889	ns_suffix shared by 25 TLDs
19	dns.net.za inferred	3	7,291	ns_suffix shared by 7 TLDs
20	ripn.net inferred	2	2,226	ns_suffix shared by 25 TLDs
21	NIC.br	5	903	curated
22	pch.net inferred	1	76	ns_suffix shared by 17 TLDs
23	aka-ns.net inferred	2	4	ns_suffix shared by 12 TLDs
24	ns.il inferred	1	–	ns_suffix shared by 6 TLDs
25	ntc.org.pk inferred	1	–	ns_suffix shared by 3 TLDs
26	monic.mo inferred	1	–	ns_suffix shared by 5 TLDs

Data currency. Domain counts on this page are from zone files dated 10 October 2026 and refresh daily. Registrar figures are from ICANN's monthly registry reports for June 2026, which ICANN publishes about three months in arrears; zone files contain no registrar information, so no fresher source exists. Full detail on methodology and live pipeline status.