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.

163.22Mreported Jul 2015

Share of gTLD domains by backend
Verisign14 TLDs	137.10M	84%
Identity Digital315 TLDs	18.70M	11.46%
GoDaddy Registry93 TLDs	3.79M	2.32%
CentralNic (Team Internet)53 TLDs	1.39M	0.85%
KNET17 TLDs	669.90k	0.41%
Tucows22 TLDs	599.91k	0.37%
Knipp / TANGO Registry26 TLDs	284.17k	0.17%
Nominet23 TLDs	174.27k	0.11%
Teleinfo6 TLDs	121.44k	0.07%
CNNIC6 TLDs	116.93k	0.07%
Other12 more backends	279.27k	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

179.90M

Identity Digital 458 TLDs

26.89M

CentralNic (Team Internet) 87 TLDs

17.87M

Tucows 54 TLDs

11.61M

GoDaddy Registry 208 TLDs

6.68M

KNET 22 TLDs

6.53M

GMO Registry 46 TLDs

4.41M

Google Registry 46 TLDs

2.65M

fury.ca 5 TLDs

388.41k

Knipp / TANGO Registry 29 TLDs

294.29k

Nominet 79 TLDs

152.43k

AFNIC 12 TLDs

119.18k

Teleinfo 10 TLDs

68,620

dnsnode.net 2 TLDs

61,492

RyCE 4 TLDs

43,210

All backends

#	Backend	TLDs	Domains	Source
1	Verisign	17	179,896,659	curated
2	Identity Digital	458	26,894,064	curated
3	CentralNic (Team Internet)	87	17,869,090	curated
4	Tucows	54	11,613,429	curated
5	GoDaddy Registry	208	6,679,020	curated
6	KNET	22	6,527,114	curated
7	GMO Registry	46	4,406,486	curated
8	Google Registry	46	2,645,248	curated
9	fury.ca inferred	5	388,405	rdap_host shared by 5 TLDs
10	Knipp / TANGO Registry	29	294,286	curated
11	Nominet	79	152,431	curated
12	AFNIC	12	119,175	curated
13	Teleinfo	10	68,620	curated
14	dnsnode.net inferred	2	61,492	ns_suffix shared by 16 TLDs
15	RyCE	4	43,210	curated
16	CNNIC	9	35,381	curated
17	FlexiReg	2	28,301	curated
18	anycastdns.cz inferred	1	16,869	ns_suffix shared by 25 TLDs
19	dns.net.za inferred	3	7,281	ns_suffix shared by 7 TLDs
20	ripn.net inferred	2	2,226	ns_suffix shared by 25 TLDs
21	NIC.br	5	905	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 9 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.