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.

196.93Mreported Apr 2018

Share of gTLD domains by backend
Verisign16 TLDs	152.40M	77.39%
Identity Digital455 TLDs	23.35M	11.85%
GoDaddy Registry206 TLDs	10.57M	5.37%
KNET22 TLDs	3.30M	1.67%
Tucows48 TLDs	2.93M	1.49%
CentralNic (Team Internet)83 TLDs	2.48M	1.26%
GMO Registry46 TLDs	675.37k	0.34%
Knipp / TANGO Registry29 TLDs	306.82k	0.16%
fury.ca5 TLDs	181.86k	0.09%
dnsnode.net2 TLDs	144.06k	0.07%
Other13 more backends	606.03k	0.31%

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

179.65M

Identity Digital 458 TLDs

26.87M

CentralNic (Team Internet) 87 TLDs

17.59M

Tucows 54 TLDs

11.59M

GoDaddy Registry 208 TLDs

6.67M

KNET 22 TLDs

6.51M

GMO Registry 46 TLDs

4.42M

Google Registry 46 TLDs

2.62M

fury.ca 5 TLDs

387.74k

Knipp / TANGO Registry 29 TLDs

293.91k

Nominet 79 TLDs

152.09k

AFNIC 12 TLDs

119.69k

Teleinfo 10 TLDs

68,601

dnsnode.net 2 TLDs

61,320

RyCE 4 TLDs

43,220

All backends

#	Backend	TLDs	Domains	Source
1	Verisign	17	179,646,368	curated
2	Identity Digital	458	26,873,192	curated
3	CentralNic (Team Internet)	87	17,590,335	curated
4	Tucows	54	11,591,490	curated
5	GoDaddy Registry	208	6,667,719	curated
6	KNET	22	6,507,092	curated
7	GMO Registry	46	4,421,814	curated
8	Google Registry	46	2,615,329	curated
9	fury.ca inferred	5	387,737	rdap_host shared by 5 TLDs
10	Knipp / TANGO Registry	29	293,906	curated
11	Nominet	79	152,093	curated
12	AFNIC	12	119,692	curated
13	Teleinfo	10	68,601	curated
14	dnsnode.net inferred	2	61,320	ns_suffix shared by 16 TLDs
15	RyCE	4	43,220	curated
16	CNNIC	9	35,405	curated
17	FlexiReg	2	28,301	curated
18	anycastdns.cz inferred	1	16,847	ns_suffix shared by 25 TLDs
19	dns.net.za inferred	3	7,276	ns_suffix shared by 7 TLDs
20	ripn.net inferred	2	2,222	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 3 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.