Registry backends

Which technical registry service provider actually serves each new 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.

1,089 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 new-gTLD namespace. Share of all new-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.

Month ‹ › Sep 2017 latest
GoDaddy Registry — 7.84M (33.26%)KNET — 3.94M (16.72%)Identity Digital — 3.80M (16.12%)Tucows — 3.23M (13.7%)CentralNic (Team Internet) — 2.95M (12.53%)GMO Registry — 421.22k (1.79%)fury.ca — 320.80k (1.36%)Teleinfo — 254.97k (1.08%)dnsnode.net — 139.02k (0.59%)Knipp / TANGO Registry — 116.85k (0.5%)Other — 555.27k (2.36%)
23.57Mreported Sep 2017
Share of new-gTLD domains by backend
GoDaddy Registry204 TLDs7.84M33.26%
KNET21 TLDs3.94M16.72%
Identity Digital447 TLDs3.80M16.12%
Tucows50 TLDs3.23M13.7%
CentralNic (Team Internet)85 TLDs2.95M12.53%
GMO Registry46 TLDs421.22k1.79%
fury.ca5 TLDs320.80k1.36%
Teleinfo10 TLDs254.97k1.08%
dnsnode.net2 TLDs139.02k0.59%
Knipp / TANGO Registry26 TLDs116.85k0.5%
Other13 more backends555.27k2.36%

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.

Tucows 53 TLDs
11.58M
7.39M
KNET 22 TLDs
6.51M
5.33M
GMO Registry 46 TLDs
4.41M
2.62M
fury.ca 5 TLDs
387.49k
Nominet 78 TLDs
141.33k
140.65k
AFNIC 11 TLDs
118.60k
Teleinfo 10 TLDs
68,604
61,338
RyCE 4 TLDs
43,214
CNNIC 9 TLDs
35,399

All backends

#BackendTLDsDomainsSource
1 CentralNic (Team Internet) 87 17,692,501 curated
2 Tucows 53 11,575,200 curated
3 Identity Digital 450 7,394,659 curated
4 KNET 22 6,514,310 curated
5 GoDaddy Registry 206 5,332,546 curated
6 GMO Registry 46 4,413,153 curated
7 Google Registry 46 2,615,381 curated
8 fury.ca inferred 5 387,490 rdap_host shared by 5 TLDs
9 Nominet 78 141,326 curated
10 Knipp / TANGO Registry 27 140,648 curated
11 AFNIC 11 118,596 curated
12 Teleinfo 10 68,604 curated
13 dnsnode.net inferred 2 61,338 ns_suffix shared by 16 TLDs
14 RyCE 4 43,214 curated
15 CNNIC 9 35,399 curated
16 FlexiReg 2 28,301 curated
17 anycastdns.cz inferred 1 16,852 ns_suffix shared by 25 TLDs
18 dns.net.za inferred 3 7,278 ns_suffix shared by 7 TLDs
19 Verisign 14 6,614 curated
20 ripn.net inferred 2 2,220 ns_suffix shared by 25 TLDs
21 NIC.br 5 900 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 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.