How Many Domains Are There in 2026?

As of the second quarter of 2026, there were 401.6 million domain name registrations across all top-level domains worldwide, according to DNIB.com’s Q2 2026 Domain Name Industry Brief. That’s a year-over-year increase of 29.9 million registrations, or 8.1%. The .com and .net extensions alone account for 179.1 million of those registrations.

The domain name industry doesn’t sit still. Every quarter, millions of new names are registered while others expire or change hands, which means the total count of domains online is always shifting. Still, snapshots like DNIB’s quarterly report give a reliable picture of where the internet’s naming landscape stands right now, and how it’s changed.

Pulling from authoritative resources like Verisign’s Domain Name Industry Brief and TLD-list, this article breaks down the current domain registration numbers by category: generic top-level domains (gTLDs), new top-level domains (nTLDs), country-code top-level domains (ccTLDs), and the countries with the most registered domains. Understanding how these categories compare can help you make a more informed choice the next time you register a domain name.

How many domains are registered worldwide?

At the end of the second quarter of 2026, global domain registrations reached 401.6 million, an increase of 9.1 million registrations, or 2.3%, compared to the first quarter of 2026. Here’s how that total breaks down by category:

• .com and .net combined: 179.1 million total registrations (+8.6 million / +5.1% YoY)
• ccTLDs: 148.6 million total registrations (+5.2 million / +3.6% YoY)
• New gTLDs (nTLDs): 52.9 million total registrations (+13.4 million / +34.0% YoY)
• Other legacy gTLDs: 21.0 million total registrations (+2.7 million / +14.9% YoY)

(Source: DNIB.com, 2026)

New gTLDs posted the fastest growth of any category, climbing 34.0% year over year, even though they still represent a smaller share of the total than legacy extensions like .com.

What is a gTLD, and how many are registered?

A generic top-level domain, or gTLD, is the part of a domain name that comes after the final dot and isn’t tied to a specific country. Legacy gTLDs such as .com, .net, and .org date back to the 1980s and still dominate registration volume today.

According to DNIB.com, the three largest gTLDs by registration volume as of June 30, 2026 were:

• .xyz: 7.5 million total registrations
• .top: 5.8 million total registrations
• .shop: 4.3 million total registrations
• .online: 3.7 million total registrations
• .store: 2.4 million total registrations

(Sources: DNIB.com, 2026; tld-list.com, 2026)

No other extension comes close to .com’s share of the market. It has held the top spot for decades and remains the default choice for businesses establishing an online presence.

What is a new TLD (nTLD), and how many are registered?

ICANN’s New gTLD Program launched in 2012 and expanded the pool of available domain extensions from roughly 20 to more than 1,500, adding options like .xyz, .shop, and .online alongside the legacy classics. These newer extensions, often referred to as nTLDs, now account for 13.2% of all TLD registrations worldwide (DNIB.com, 2026).

Based on available registry data, the largest new TLDs by registration volume include:

(Source: tld-list.com, 2026)

DNIB.com’s own top-ten gTLD ranking for Q2 2026 also includes .vip among the fastest-growing new extensions, rounding out a list where new gTLDs collectively grew 34.0% year over year, far outpacing legacy and country-code extensions.

If you’re choosing between a legacy gTLD and a newer one, consider your goal: choose a legacy extension like .com if broad recognition matters most, or a descriptive nTLD like .shop or .tech if you want the extension itself to communicate what your business does.

What is a ccTLD, and how many are registered?

A country-code top-level domain, or ccTLD, is a two-letter extension assigned to a specific country or territory, based on the ISO 3166-1 standard. Examples include .de for Germany, .us for the United States, and .ca for Canada. Some ccTLDs, like .io and .co, have been adopted globally and now function more like gTLDs in practice.

As of June 30, 2026, there were 316 ccTLD extensions delegated in the root zone, and the ten largest accounted for 57.2% of all ccTLD registrations. According to DNIB.com, the top ten ccTLDs by registration volume were .cn, .de, .uk, .ru, .nl, .br, .fr, .au, .in, and .eu.

Registration counts for several of these extensions, based on registry-level data, include:

• .cn: 8.7 million total registrations
• .uk: 8.2 million total registrations
• .ru: 4.6 million total registrations
• .br: 4.1 million total registrations
• .fr: 3.9 million total registrations
• .in: 3.1 million total registrations

(Source: tld-list.com, 2026)

ccTLDs tend to carry strong domestic trust. In many European markets, a local country-code extension holds more credibility than .com, which helps explain why ccTLDs renew at high rates even as newer extensions attract more first-time registrations.

How many domains are registered by country?

Domain registration data can also be sorted by the country associated with the registrant or registrar. Based on registry-level data, the ten countries with the most registered domains are:

• United States: 37.5 million total registrations
• Iceland: 24.0 million total registrations
• China: 19.7 million total registrations
• Canada: 8.8 million total registrations
• Japan: 7.7 million total registrations
• Germany: 7.6 million total registrations
• France: 6.4 million total registrations
• India: 4.5 million total registrations
• Italy: 4.4 million total registrations
• Netherlands: 3.1 million total registrations

(Source: tld-list.com, 2026)

The United States leads by a wide margin, which partly reflects the size of its economy and partly reflects the global reach of .com. Anyone, anywhere, can register a .com domain through a US-based registrar, and those registrations often get counted in US totals.

Choosing the right domain for your business

The number of registered domains keeps climbing every quarter, and competition for short, memorable names in legacy extensions like .com keeps growing right along with it. That doesn’t mean you’re out of options. New gTLDs and ccTLDs have expanded the naming landscape considerably, giving businesses more creative ways to build a brandable, available domain name.

Rather than fixating on a single “perfect” name, approach your domain search with some flexibility. Consider how an extension signals intent to your visitors before they even click, whether that’s the global credibility of .com or the local trust of a ccTLD. Ready to find your next domain? Search available domain names with name.com and compare your options in one place.