Global domain registrations rise 1.7% year over year, highlighting steady growth across top-level domains worldwide.
VeriSign a global provider of critical internet infrastructure and domain name registry services, has released new data showing continued growth across the global domain name industry. According to the latest Domain Name Industry Brief (DNIB) Quarterly Report from DNIB.com, the fourth quarter of 2025 closed with a total of 386.9 million domain name registrations across all top-level domains (TLDs), highlighting steady expansion in the global online presence of businesses, organizations, and individuals.
The report indicates that total domain registrations grew by 8.4 million names during the fourth quarter, representing a 2.2% increase compared with the third quarter of 2025. On a year-over-year basis, the growth was even more pronounced, with an additional 22.7 million domain name registrations recorded—an increase of 6.2% compared with the same period in 2024. These figures reflect continued demand for digital identities and online services worldwide, driven by ongoing digital transformation, e-commerce expansion, and increased internet adoption across both developed and emerging markets.
The .com and .net top-level domains, which are operated by VeriSign and remain among the most widely recognized and used domain extensions globally, also showed moderate growth. Together, the two TLDs reached a combined total of 173.5 million domain name registrations by the end of the fourth quarter of 2025. This represented an increase of 1.6 million registrations, or 0.9%, compared with the third quarter of the year.
Year over year, the .com and .net domain base grew by 4.5 million registrations, marking a 2.6% increase. As of Dec. 31, 2025, the .com domain accounted for the vast majority of the combined total, with 161.0 million registrations, while the .net domain base stood at 12.5 million registrations. New registrations across both .com and .net TLDs reached 10.7 million during the fourth quarter of 2025, up from 9.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2024, indicating renewed activity and sustained interest in these core domain extensions.
Country-code top-level domains (ccTLDs), which are associated with specific countries or territories, also recorded growth during the quarter. Total ccTLD registrations reached 145.6 million by the end of the fourth quarter of 2025, representing an increase of 0.8 million registrations, or 0.6%, compared with the third quarter. On a year-over-year basis, ccTLDs expanded by 4.8 million registrations, or 3.4%, demonstrating continued strength in national and regional domain markets.
As of Dec. 31, 2025, the top 10 ccTLDs by registration volume were .cn (China), .de (Germany), .uk (United Kingdom), .ru (Russia), .nl (Netherlands), .br (Brazil), .fr (France), .au (Australia), .in (India), and .eu (European Union). These country-specific domains continue to play a vital role in local digital ecosystems, reflecting strong adoption by businesses and consumers seeking to establish regionally relevant online identities.
Overall, the fourth-quarter results underline steady, global growth in domain name registrations, supported by ongoing digitalization, increasing online commerce, and the expansion of internet services worldwide. The data suggests that demand for domain names remains resilient, with both global TLDs and country-specific extensions contributing to the industry’s continued expansion.
About DNIB.com
DNIB.com, sponsored by Verisign, provides global statistical and analytical research and data on the domain name industry, plus analyses of key policy, security, and technology trends. The latest Domain Name Industry Brief Quarterly Report, previous reports, and interactive dashboards with expanded domain name industry data are all available at DNIB.com.
About Verisign
Verisign (NASDAQ: VRSN), a global provider of critical internet infrastructure and domain name registry services, enables internet navigation for many of the world’s most recognized domain names. Verisign helps enable the security, stability, and resiliency of the Domain Name System and the internet by providing root zone maintainer services, operating two of the 13 global internet root servers, and providing registration services and authoritative resolution for the .com and .net top-level domains, which support the majority of global e-commerce.
