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.

1,090 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 ‹ › Jul 2019 latest
GoDaddy Registry — 5.80M (21.87%)Tucows — 5.12M (19.3%)Identity Digital — 4.88M (18.39%)CentralNic (Team Internet) — 4.23M (15.94%)ZDNS — 3.97M (14.97%)GMO Registry — 877.92k (3.31%)Google Registry — 662.65k (2.5%)fury.ca — 228.05k (0.86%)dnsnode.net — 150.54k (0.57%)Knipp / TANGO Registry — 128.62k (0.48%)Other — 480.57k (1.81%)
26.54Mreported Jul 2019
Share of new-gTLD domains by backend
GoDaddy Registry204 TLDs5.80M21.87%
Tucows47 TLDs5.12M19.3%
Identity Digital439 TLDs4.88M18.39%
CentralNic (Team Internet)84 TLDs4.23M15.94%
ZDNS32 TLDs3.97M14.97%
GMO Registry46 TLDs877.92k3.31%
Google Registry46 TLDs662.65k2.5%
fury.ca5 TLDs228.05k0.86%
dnsnode.net2 TLDs150.54k0.57%
Knipp / TANGO Registry27 TLDs128.62k0.48%
Other13 more backends480.57k1.81%

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
11.57M
7.34M
ZDNS 32 TLDs
6.56M
5.30M
GMO Registry 46 TLDs
4.43M
2.60M
fury.ca 5 TLDs
386.97k
Nominet 78 TLDs
141.06k
140.53k
AFNIC 11 TLDs
118.46k
61,127
RyCE 4 TLDs
43,214
KNET 9 TLDs
35,576

All backends

#BackendTLDsDomainsSource
1 CentralNic (Team Internet) 87 17,612,989 curated
2 Tucows 53 11,570,831 curated
3 Identity Digital 441 7,340,005 curated
4 ZDNS 32 6,561,681 curated
5 GoDaddy Registry 206 5,301,805 curated
6 GMO Registry 46 4,426,609 curated
7 Google Registry 46 2,595,246 curated
8 fury.ca inferred 5 386,974 rdap_host shared by 5 TLDs
9 Nominet 78 141,062 curated
10 Knipp / TANGO Registry 27 140,527 curated
11 AFNIC 11 118,460 curated
12 dnsnode.net inferred 2 61,127 ns_suffix shared by 16 TLDs
13 Public Interest Registry 10 49,590 curated
14 RyCE 4 43,214 curated
15 KNET 9 35,576 curated
16 FlexiReg 2 28,618 curated
17 anycastdns.cz inferred 1 16,829 ns_suffix shared by 25 TLDs
18 dns.net.za inferred 3 7,277 ns_suffix shared by 7 TLDs
19 Verisign 14 6,635 curated
20 ripn.net inferred 2 2,223 ns_suffix shared by 25 TLDs
21 NIC.br 5 903 curated
22 pch.net inferred 1 75 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 May 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.