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.

217.28Mreported Jan 2021

Share of gTLD domains by backend
Verisign16 TLDs	169.73M	78.12%
Identity Digital458 TLDs	20.94M	9.64%
CentralNic (Team Internet)84 TLDs	8.04M	3.7%
Tucows48 TLDs	6.23M	2.87%
GoDaddy Registry208 TLDs	5.87M	2.7%
KNET22 TLDs	2.61M	1.2%
Google Registry46 TLDs	1.59M	0.73%
GMO Registry46 TLDs	1.05M	0.48%
Knipp / TANGO Registry29 TLDs	305.86k	0.14%
fury.ca5 TLDs	216.89k	0.1%
Other13 more backends	693.45k	0.32%

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

180.22M

Identity Digital 458 TLDs

26.94M

CentralNic (Team Internet) 87 TLDs

18.37M

Tucows 54 TLDs

11.66M

GoDaddy Registry 208 TLDs

6.70M

KNET 22 TLDs

6.52M

GMO Registry 46 TLDs

4.39M

Google Registry 46 TLDs

2.68M

fury.ca 5 TLDs

389.60k

Knipp / TANGO Registry 29 TLDs

294.54k

Nominet 79 TLDs

152.85k

AFNIC 12 TLDs

118.93k

Teleinfo 10 TLDs

68,613

dnsnode.net 2 TLDs

61,692

RyCE 4 TLDs

43,192

All backends

#	Backend	TLDs	Domains	Source
1	Verisign	17	180,223,646	curated
2	Identity Digital	458	26,938,327	curated
3	CentralNic (Team Internet)	87	18,373,139	curated
4	Tucows	54	11,661,668	curated
5	GoDaddy Registry	208	6,700,407	curated
6	KNET	22	6,524,608	curated
7	GMO Registry	46	4,390,583	curated
8	Google Registry	46	2,683,293	curated
9	fury.ca inferred	5	389,599	rdap_host shared by 5 TLDs
10	Knipp / TANGO Registry	29	294,537	curated
11	Nominet	79	152,849	curated
12	AFNIC	12	118,932	curated
13	Teleinfo	10	68,613	curated
14	dnsnode.net inferred	2	61,692	ns_suffix shared by 16 TLDs
15	RyCE	4	43,192	curated
16	CNNIC	9	35,366	curated
17	FlexiReg	2	28,301	curated
18	anycastdns.cz inferred	1	16,917	ns_suffix shared by 25 TLDs
19	dns.net.za inferred	3	7,294	ns_suffix shared by 7 TLDs
20	ripn.net inferred	2	2,249	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 16 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.