2025’s Most Compelling Domain Registration Statistics

I’m writing my first novel, and I’m treating it like a brand. It has its own website and a strong social media presence. But before I wrote a single page, I registered the domain through GoDaddy. After all, I don’t want to be a victim of a website flipper (the Jio Hotstar domain debacle comes to mind).¹

Choosing GoDaddy for domain registration was a no-brainer — with more than 84 million registered domains, it’s the world’s top domain registrar.²

I purchased a three-year plan with premium security and email marketing features. And guess what? It cost me less than $100! Of course, I have to buy a web hosting plan separately, but that’s a discussion for another day.

Now, whether you’re in the market to buy a domain name or you’re just curious about the topic, I’ve compiled a list of 20 stellar domain registration stats. A domain name is often the first impression people have of your website, so choose wisely!

To be precise, there are 762,401,476 registered domains at the time of writing.⁵ If you want to establish a global presence for your business, you’re better off choosing a generic TLD (gTLD) like, .com, .net, or .org.

These aren’t tied to a specific country, unlike country code TLDs (ccTLDs) such as .us, .uk, or .ca, which are associated with specific nations.

Only consider a ccTLD if you want to firmly establish a strong local presence in a particular country — it could help boost your SEO in that region, too. So, choose wisely!

gTLDs are available for registration by anyone. You can select one when registering a domain and keep your details private by opting for domain privacy protection.

Here’s a domain registration stat that’ll make any American proud (is that you?) — the USA has the highest number of registered domains, at just over 141 million.

I can bet $10 you won’t guess who’s second on the list — and you’re not allowed to search for the answer on the internet! If you miraculously guessed Iceland, well done!

ccTLDs like .us, .cn, and .ca usually come with restrictions. For example, you can only register a .us domain if you have valid ties to the United States. Iceland’s .is extension, on the other hand, is open for registration to anyone worldwide.

Creatives fancy this TLD, as it adds appeal to their brand — thebakery.is has a nice ring to it!

Iceland has approximately 23 million registered domains, which puts into perspective just how far ahead the U.S. is in this metric. China (~17 million), Canada (~9 million), and France (~7 million) are among the top five ccTLDs.⁵

More than 33,000 new domains are registered daily — that’s roughly one every 2.6 seconds!⁶ For perspective, most people blink every two to four seconds.

That said, there’s no need to rush. Take your time choosing a domain name that truly reflects your brand identity, and register it once you’re confident in your decision.

And hey, if your preferred TLD isn’t up for grabs, consider opting for a different one. It’s not the end of the world! There are literally thousands of options.

According to GoDaddy’s official website, it has more than 84 million domain registrations to its name.² Phew. In my eyes, it’s the most reputable domain registrar.

With a market share of more than 11%, it is trusted by around 22 million customers. From .com to .xyz, you can choose virtually any available TLD for your domain with GoDaddy.

Mind you, I’m not biased toward the registrar. It’s simply the best! However, you have alternative options like NameCheap (~23 million domains), Tucows Domains (~13 million domains), Squarespace Domains (~9 million domains), and Dynadot (~8 million domains) that might meet your fancy.⁵

After GoDaddy, IONOS has registered the most domain names among dedicated web hosting providers, with more than 6.5 million domains. Hostinger is quickly catching up, with around 5.3 million registered websites.⁵

I can understand the IONOS craze: it combines a fantastic domain registration service with some of the cheapest shared hosting plans in the industry.

And I mean it when I say these plans are favorably priced — you can buy one for as little as $1 per month! That’s about how much a packet of chips costs these days (Lay’s Sour Cream & Onion is my favorite).

I still have some interesting stats up my sleeve. You may be curious about the first-ever registered domain. It’s called symbolics.com, and was registered way back in 1985.⁸ While doing my research, I visited the website, and I kid you not, I felt overwhelmed with emotion.

It’s a piece of history, and unlike the dinosaurs, it’s still active! While it may not be the prettiest site, I’m sure you’ll appreciate its symbolism.

Many people hoard rare or keyword-rich domains, as they see them as valuable digital assets. If your favored domain name has already been purchased by someone, you could approach them to buy it.

But be aware: if it has been associated with illicit activities, your marketing and search engine optimization efforts may be undermined.

By exploring the WHOIS database, which contains more than 13.7 billion records, you can uncover domain information such as its owner, registration and expiration dates, and registrar.⁹ Stay safe.

When it comes to TLD options, you have 1,601 to choose from. If you want to add a unique touch to your domain name, you can step away from legacy gTLDs like .com, .net, and .org, and choose a new gTLD (ngTLD) such as .info, .xyz, .site, or .shop.

To give you a better idea, there are (just) eight gTLDs, 1,252 ngTLDs, and 341 ccTLDs.

Speaking of ngTLDs, the .xyz extension is particularly exciting, with more than 5.5 million registered domains. I recommend the .shop extension if you’re planning to launch an eCommerce venture. Another interesting one is .top, with around 14.3 million registrations.⁵

I mean, thebakery.top exudes more confidence than thebakery.com — don’t you think?

The .com top-level domain (TLD) is by far the most sought-after — approximately 38.16% of all registered domains have a .com extension.

You’re probably thinking the .net, .org, and .info TLDs must feature next. Well, you’re not entirely wrong — they’re among the most popular options. They have a market share of around 3.17%, 2.61%, and 1.37%, respectively.

The second-most registered TLD is .cn (4.57%), followed by .tk (3.61%).⁵

It’s obvious why .cn is widely used — the Chinese government promotes it for local businesses and organizations.

I spent almost $100 to register a domain for three years. If you want to experiment with a free domain, you should visit a registrar such as Freenom and register one with a .tk extension.

Mind you, they aren’t the most credible and could be limited in functionality (hence the word “experiment”) — .tk websites are often used for spam and phishing.

Don’t trust everything on the internet. According to multiple sources, the world’s longest domain name is llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch.co.uk. It has a mind-boggling 64 characters and is extremely difficult to memorize.

However, back in December 2015, Porkbun LLC shattered the 2002 Guinness World Record by 13 characters, registering theofficialabsolutelongestdomainnameregisteredontheworldwideweb.international.³ As the name suggests, the website was created just to snatch the record. And hey, it isn’t HTTPS-protected, so I wouldn’t recommend visiting it!

To be honest, I’d totally brag if I registered something like that — probably earn a high five and a few laughs. If you’re tempted, you can break the record yourself. The maximum character limit for a domain name is 253!

While I could go to any length to help you choose the best domain name for your brand, I promise this is the last stat about domain lengths!

The .com extension is, without a shadow of a doubt, the most credible. So if you’re planning to purchase a domain with the .com extension (and I hope your choice is available), please keep it as short as possible.

The average length of a domain with a .com extension is 13.5 characters, but I know you can do better than that.⁶ You’re way smarter than the average website owner!

Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should — while you can create a domain name with up to 253 characters (including the TLD, of course), I advise you to aim for a length of between six and 14 characters.

Try to make it memorable, and don’t forget to add a hint of personality to it. To put it into perspective, here are the top ten most visited websites and their character counts.⁴

If we do the math, the average length of these domain names is 10.3. Generally, fewer characters are better, as they reduce the risk of typos. Considering ChatGPT was launched in 2022, are you surprised it is in the top ten already?

Let’s explore some “fun” domain registration stats. If you’re a surfer, you might want to look away: domains with the .surf extension are making waves, but not for the right reasons.

More than 72% of websites with the .surf extension are associated with questionable practices (like spam or malicious content), so please stay away from them.⁶ This is weird, considering the extension seems harmless.

On the flip side, if your business is related to aquatic activities, the .surf extension could be ideal. Just promise you’ll help contribute to lowering the number of spammy sites!

I’m not being paradoxical, but if you truly want to stand out, you might consider using an ngTLD with an industry-specific keyword to enhance your brand. Calculated risk and reward walk hand in hand.

For instance, if you run a construction or real estate business, the .build extension is worth considering, even though it tends to be expensive.

As shown in the screenshot, the domain housingfinder.build costs $99 for initial registration. On the other hand, domains with the .net and .org extensions (gTLDs) cost far less.

Other expensive ngTLDs include .luxury (for high-end services), .club (for community-centric experiences), .app (for mobile and web apps), and .health (for healthcare providers).

Can you guess how much housingfinder.luxury costs to register? A mammoth $649.99!

The number of registered websites was roughly 779 million in late 2024. Where did ~17 million websites go? Did they vanish into thin air? Well, not quite.

Each TLD is managed by a registry operator. For example, .com, .net, and .org are managed by Verisign. When a website owner doesn’t renew their domain, it’s deleted from the registry and made available for public registration within 30 to 45 days after expiration (grace period).

There are approximately 40 million upcoming deletions — be careful, my friend!⁵

Elon Musk is always making headlines. Known for his willingness to spend, he paid around $11 million for the domain name tesla.com in 2016.⁶

Most Expensive Domain Names

And this isn’t even close to the most expensive domain sale. In 2014, the domain cars.com sold for an astonishing $872 million!¹¹ Money sure does talk. I’d consider purchasing some inexpensive domains as a long-term investment.

There’s no clear-cut reason why millions of websites were registered on September 21, 2021, but I’ll give it a shot.⁵ The Epik data breach in mid-September was, well… epic.

It exposed the data of about 15 million website owners, including names, email addresses, physical addresses, phone numbers, and even purchase histories.¹⁰

This might’ve pushed “some” people to register new domains. Other possible reasons? The post-pandemic digital shift and some classic domain name catching.

Consider this my final attempt at helping you choose a TLD for your domain name! Currently, 43% of domain names use gTLDs, meaning 57% are either ngTLDs or ccTLDs.⁶

Unless you strictly want to sell to local consumers, I suggest avoiding a ccTLD. I believe opting for a gTLD is generally a safer choice.

It can also make sense to take a calculated risk on an ngTLD, especially if it’s trendy among your competitors.

One thing is for sure: avoid the .flsmidth and .doosan extensions at any cost, as they have zero registered domains!⁶

While I’m tempted to create a website for each just for fun, I’ll resist that urge — and you should too. I wonder why these ngTLDs were introduced in the first place. Doosan Group, if you’re reading this, doosan.doosan would make for a pretty funny domain name!

Unless you’re opting for an exotic TLD (such as .builder or .health), registering a domain shouldn’t break the bank. The average price of a brand-new domain name ranges from $10 to $20, but can be more or less expensive depending on the registrar and any discounts you get.⁶

GoDaddy’s Domain Name Pricing

If you have a decent budget and plan to stick around, I recommend you purchase a long-term contract, as it’ll cost less and provide you with peace of mind.

What would you do if you were the owner of Google.com? If I were in Sanmay Ved’s shoes, I’d demand a ransom of at least $1 million (just kidding)!

Former Google employee Sanmay Ved bought the domain through Google Domains and was its owner for a few minutes — that’s when Google realized the gravity of the situation and quickly canceled the transaction.

It must have felt like a lifetime to him. He had access to Google’s webmaster tools and, well, could have wreaked havoc. Fortunately, he was a good Samaritan.

The company rewarded him with around $12,000, which he coolly donated to charity — I probably would’ve invested in Ethereum (ETH).¹² Now, that’s a story to tell your friends over a couple of beers (or cans of Coca-Cola)!

I have a hard time remembering number sequences (I do excel in mathematics, though). It took me ages to memorize the phone numbers of my close ones (my immediate family and girlfriend) and my banking details.

I can only imagine the lengths I’d have to go to absorb numerical IP addresses if domain names didn’t exist (I’m pretty sure we’re in the same boat)!

Without domains, the internet wouldn’t be where it is today. If the internet used only IP addresses, the number of websites on it would be way lower. Since it would be far less accessible and practical for you and me to use, businesses would shy away from it.

I’m convinced IP address memorization techniques would have been introduced into the school curriculum!

And yes, standout IP addresses would be incredibly expensive (such as 123.45.67.89), as those businesses that dared to venture into the online space would need to develop creative ways to make their IPs memorable.

We have to thank Paul Mockapetris, who developed the concept of domain names in the early 1980s, for saving us from these troubles! Your dream website is a step away from becoming a reality — go register a domain name for it.

1. https://www.business-standard.com/india-news/jio-hotstar-domain-website-acquired-by-new-owners-it-s-not-reliance-124102800604_1.html/
2. https://www.godaddy.com/
3. http://theofficialabsolutelongestdomainnameregisteredontheworldwideweb.international/
4. https://www.semrush.com/website/top/
5. https://domainnamestat.com/statistics/
6. https://domainwheel.com/domain-name-statistics/
7. https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/newgtlds-history-2023-04-05-en/
8. https://www.domainmarkia.com/blog/technology/first-ever-registered-domain-name/
9. https://domainnamestat.com/whois-database-download/
10. https://www.twingate.com/blog/tips/epik-data-breach/
11. https://businessnamegenerator.com/learning-hub/most-expensive-domain-names/
12. https://www.ndtv.com/offbeat/google-domain-was-once-sold-for-just-12-to-an-indian-man-heres-what-happened-next-8135496/