Global domain registrations rise in Q3 2025 as DNIB publishes latest quarterly report

The Domain Name Industry Brief for the third quarter of 2025 shows that the global domain name market continues to grow at a measured but consistent pace. Total registrations reached 378.5 million across all top-level domains, an increase of 6.8 million compared with the previous quarter and 16.2 million year over year. The report provides a detailed view of how activity is distributed across legacy generic TLDs, country-code domains, and the expanding new gTLD space.

Legacy domains remain the backbone of the DNS. The .com and .net top-level domains closed Q3 with a combined 171.9 million registrations. This represents a quarterly increase of 1.4 million and a year-over-year rise of 2.4 million. New .com and .net registrations reached 10.6 million during the quarter, outpacing the same period in 2024. The preliminary renewal rate for these domains stands at 75.3 percent.

Country-code TLDs (ccTLDs) also saw steady growth, ending the quarter with 144.8 million registrations – up 1.4 million since Q2. Year over year, ccTLDs added 4.8 million names. The top ccTLDs remain dominated by larger markets, with .cn, .de, .uk, .ru and .nl leading the list. Combined, the ten largest ccTLDs account for over half of all ccTLD registrations worldwide.

New generic TLDs continued to expand at a faster pace than other categories. Registrations reached 42.9 million, up 3.4 million from Q2 and 7.4 million year over year. Despite this growth, renewal rates for new gTLDs remain comparatively low, with the most recent estimate at 32.2 percent – reflecting higher turnover typical of this segment. By contrast, other legacy gTLDs outside .com and .net reached 18.9 million registrations, supported by a significantly higher renewal rate of 82.5 percent.

Across all categories, the top ten TLDs by volume continue to shape the market landscape. .com remains the largest by a wide margin, followed by major ccTLDs such as .cn and .de. In the gTLD category, .org, .xyz, .top, .info and .shop remain among the most significant operators, though renewal rates vary widely.

The Domain Name Industry Brief is published by DNIB.com and draws on data from ZookNIC, Verisign, and the Centralized Zone Data Service. The report forms part of DNIB’s broader suite of quarterly analyses and monthly dashboards covering performance trends, security issues, and policy developments shaping the global DNS.