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 ‹ › May 2022 latest
CentralNic (Team Internet) — 7.84M (25.49%)Tucows — 6.81M (22.12%)Identity Digital — 5.61M (18.23%)GoDaddy Registry — 3.60M (11.7%)ZDNS — 2.31M (7.49%)Google Registry — 2.13M (6.91%)GMO Registry — 1.55M (5.04%)fury.ca — 223.16k (0.73%)dnsnode.net — 160.46k (0.52%)Knipp / TANGO Registry — 144.63k (0.47%)Other — 396.52k (1.29%)
30.77Mreported May 2022
Share of new-gTLD domains by backend
CentralNic (Team Internet)85 TLDs7.84M25.49%
Tucows47 TLDs6.81M22.12%
Identity Digital441 TLDs5.61M18.23%
GoDaddy Registry206 TLDs3.60M11.7%
ZDNS32 TLDs2.31M7.49%
Google Registry46 TLDs2.13M6.91%
GMO Registry46 TLDs1.55M5.04%
fury.ca5 TLDs223.16k0.73%
dnsnode.net2 TLDs160.46k0.52%
Knipp / TANGO Registry27 TLDs144.63k0.47%
Other12 more backends396.52k1.29%

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
11.55M
7.33M
ZDNS 32 TLDs
6.54M
5.28M
GMO Registry 46 TLDs
4.43M
2.58M
fury.ca 5 TLDs
386.68k
Nominet 78 TLDs
141.00k
140.56k
AFNIC 11 TLDs
118.54k
61,070
RyCE 4 TLDs
43,237
KNET 9 TLDs
35,622

All backends

#BackendTLDsDomainsSource
1 CentralNic (Team Internet) 87 17,613,491 curated
2 Tucows 53 11,547,312 curated
3 Identity Digital 441 7,334,316 curated
4 ZDNS 32 6,543,733 curated
5 GoDaddy Registry 206 5,276,825 curated
6 GMO Registry 46 4,432,371 curated
7 Google Registry 46 2,584,049 curated
8 fury.ca inferred 5 386,683 rdap_host shared by 5 TLDs
9 Nominet 78 141,004 curated
10 Knipp / TANGO Registry 27 140,555 curated
11 AFNIC 11 118,538 curated
12 dnsnode.net inferred 2 61,070 ns_suffix shared by 16 TLDs
13 Public Interest Registry 10 49,562 curated
14 RyCE 4 43,237 curated
15 KNET 9 35,622 curated
16 FlexiReg 2 28,618 curated
17 anycastdns.cz inferred 1 16,800 ns_suffix shared by 25 TLDs
18 dns.net.za inferred 3 7,281 ns_suffix shared by 7 TLDs
19 Verisign 14 6,637 curated
20 ripn.net inferred 2 2,222 ns_suffix shared by 25 TLDs
21 NIC.br 5 907 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.