20 Largest Domain Registrars in the World (Sep. 2024)

The dictionary defines a domain as “a territory owned or controlled by a ruler or government.” I’m guessing the folks over at Merriam-Webster were referring to physical domains instead of the online ones I’m here to discuss. However, your website essentially is a domain.

It occupies a “territory,” AKA space on a web server, and has a name, which you choose and register through a domain registrar. If your website is a territory, then a domain registrar is the entity responsible for keeping track of all the other territories and their names. As you can imagine, this is a pretty big job.

Some domain registrars keep track of literally millions of domain names — and if you’re curious how they stack up, you are in luck because that’s precisely what I’m going to share with you. I filtered through dozens of reliable sources to bring you 20 of the world’s largest domain registrars.

If you’re short on time or simply don’t feel like reading my article (sad face), you can skim this chart instead:

If you want more information than what’s in the table above, keep reading. I’ve thrown in some additional stats you might like. And as someone who reviews web hosts and domain registrars all the time, I’ve also included my two cents on what each company can offer you. Let’s get this ball rollin’!

GoDaddy is one of the most recognizable names in the industry — and for good reason. It is the world’s largest domain registrar, with more than 20 million customers, 84 million domains, and 8,000 employees across the globe.^1,2 It’s also one of the oldest hosts, founded in 1994 as Jomax Technologies.

GoDaddy’s domain services are wide-ranging, including automated and affordable domain transfers, private registration and protection, and domain value appraisal.

The company even offers an AI-powered business name generator that formulates ideas based on your name, location, and business category, among other keywords.

In addition to the most popular TLDs, GoDaddy includes more than 500 choices in total, including .app, .club, .site, .space, .shop, .store, .online, and many others.³ Though I have to say, .pizza and .dog are my personal favorites.

While GoDaddy is mostly known for its domain services, it’s also a hosting company.

The company’s primary offering is a range of shared hosting services, but it also provides options for virtual and dedicated servers. Many plans offer free domain names and setup, so look for a bundle deal if you want to save some money.

Finally, GoDaddy offers support through a staff of friendly domain experts. If you encounter any roadblocks, you’ll always have someone to call.

Tucows (pronounced like “two cows”) has been pretty busy over the last decade acquiring Enom and Ascio and expanding OpenSRS.⁶ Since these companies all fall under Tucows’ umbrella, their domain registrations are looped in too. However, I’ll break down each one later on.

Unlike many of the other registrars on our list, Tucows Domains is a wholesale provider. For years, buyers have been snapping up multiple domain names, creating a costly secondary market. Tucows has registered 29 million domain names in this capacity.⁷

While Tucows does not sell directly to customers, you can purchase domains through one of the company’s affiliated domain providers, or its in-house provider, Hover.

Hover’s domain management platform is intuitive enough for those setting up their first domain but powerful enough for domain experts with advanced requirements.

If you’re looking for a deal, check in with Hover regularly. Each month the company features three or four domain extensions with discounted pricing.

Other opportunities for savings exist. For instance, agencies and entrepreneurs looking to secure multiple related domains and extensions for brand protection purposes can take advantage of Hover’s bulk pricing structure.

Onamae.com is the leading Japanese domain registrar and is owned by GMO Internet. The company currently oversees 28 million domain registrations, including popular GeoTLDs like .tokyo, .ryukyu, and .okinawa.^13,14

The parent company is an internet services provider made up of 102 brands, including 10 publicly traded companies listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Through these companies, GMO offers everything under the sun in terms of IT, including internet infrastructure, online advertisement, and media services.

It also provides internet finance resources, online banking services, and tools for mining and trading cryptocurrency.

Eight of GMO’s group companies — TenTen.vn, Z.com Thailand, Z.com Philippines, Z.com Mayanmar, Z.com Singapore, and Z.com Vietnam, Value-Domain.com, and GMO Registry — offer domains. Collectively, these groups handle a massive number of domain names.

The company also offers .shop, a new TLD suitable for eCommerce websites and brick-and-mortar stores that is quickly gaining popularity.

Companies that were looking to purchase the .shop domain extension sent in a massive number of applications during the priority registration period exclusively for trademark holders, according to GMO Registry.

IONOS, formerly known as 1&1, is a web hosting company founded in Germany in 1988. It was known as just 1&1 until it merged with the cloud infrastructure specialist ProfitBricks back in 2018.

Today, IONOS serves people and businesses across 13 countries, including the U.K., the U.S., Germany, Poland, and Spain. It has registered 22 million domains and gives you more than 600 domain extensions to choose from.^10,11

In addition to shared, virtual, and dedicated server pages, it provides website-building tools, email services, and, of course, domain registration.

IONOS stands out from the pack in that all new domain contracts come bundled with email, private registration, and a Wildcard SSL certificate. (These certificates allow you to secure multiple subdomain names).

You get a professional email address, such as name@company.com, with two gigabytes of mailbox space with each domain and convenient upgrading opportunities. The company is also unique in that it offers each customer access to a free personal consultant during standard business hours.

You contact your consultant through a direct phone number, chat, or email. Consultants will offer explanations on a range of topics related to building an online presence, from developing the right content for effective marketing emails to becoming more visible on Google Maps.

Coming in next on my list is Namecheap, a budget-friendly, ICANN-accredited domain registrar based in Phoenix, Arizona. The company offers roughly 550 affordable TLDs and has registered 17 million domain names.^4,5 While it’s a far cry from GoDaddy’s 84 million, I’m still impressed.

After .com, Namecheap’s second most frequently used TLD is .xyz, with nearly 298,000 domains registered.⁶ If you’re looking for a generic TLD other than .com, .xyz is a good option, offering a bold yet memorable alternative to the status quo.

Like GoDaddy, Namecheap is known primarily for its cheap domain names and serves as a web hosting provider that offers discounts on domain names.

Namecheap’s shared hosting package, for example, provides discounts of up to 100% off Namecheap domains for the first year (premium domain names are not eligible). After that, the name will renew at a standard rate, so be sure to read the terms and conditions of domain renewal.

Another perk Namecheap offers is access to its advanced DNS hosting service, FreeDNS. Users who purchase a domain from another registry that does not provide DNS can use the service at no cost.

Many site owners opt to use Namecheap’s free domain name service as a backup option for their own DNS server. Such considerations are important when formulating a DNS management strategy.

Being the overachievers they are, the folks at Tucows have a lot of companies (and therefore, domains) under their management, including OpenSRS.

This segment of the business makes up most of its total domain registrations, with a staggering 17 million domain names — the same number as Namecheap.⁸

OpenSRS isn’t just a domain registrar, though; it’s actually a platform for domain name resellers to build their businesses. It has more than 13,000 domain resellers in 130 countries. But domain names aren’t all you can resell: email and SSL certificates are a possibility too.

While I was researching the company’s portfolio, I noticed some familiar faces. SiteGround, Shopify, Wix, YellowPages, and Squarespace are all customers of OpenSRS. Those are some pretty big industry tycoons.

If you’re looking for a traditional domain name registrar where you can buy a domain name for your blog, this registrar may not be for you. However, don’t sweat it, I still have more than a dozen registrars to go.

If you want to talk about up-and-comers, Squarespace is the definition of a rising star in the domain registrar space. The website builder and web host acquired Google Domains in 2023 — and about 8.5 million domains with it.

Before the acquisition, Squarespace had about 1 million domain names under its belt.²² Now, it boasts a portfolio of more than 11 million domain names — that’s quite a glow-up if you ask me.²³

As for other fun facts, Squarespace is the second most popular website builder and made more than a billion dollars in revenue in 2023.

During its first year in business, the company only had 500 sites built. Its latest numbers show that it now has more than 4 million subscriptions. That’s some pretty impressive growth over the last 20 or so years.

If you want my personal opinion on Squarespace, I have to admit it’s a cool platform. I’ve built a few sites with it, and its templates and customization options are pretty sweet.

Network Solutions is the world’s oldest domain registrar and also one of the largest, with 10 million domains and 430 TLDs.⁹

It was founded in 1979, the same year McDonald’s introduced the Happy Meal. How’s that for nostalgia? Over its many years in business, Network Solutions has added a wide range of features and services to its catalog.

The domain registrar offers an online dashboard that makes it easy for you to create subdomains, change IP addresses, and access DNS management tools — whether you have one domain name or 100. However, some critics claim the domain registrar’s interface is a little outdated.

Still, Network Solutions works to ensure your domains are secure, with domain transfer lock services to prevent unauthorized actions, an auto-renew feature, and WHOIS privacy.

The time-tested domain registrar, now approaching 50 years old, is also known for its premium domain names and vast marketplace. The latter can help you secure domain names that others have already taken.

In addition to being one of the largest domain registrars, the company offers cloud-based web hosting. However, free domains are limited to cloud packages with annual terms, so don’t expect a deal unless you’re OK with a long-term commitment.

Key-Systems takes a comprehensive approach to domain name services. Unlike others on this list, this Germany-based company offers products for end users, resellers, corporate domain holders, and even those looking to run a registry.

As a registrar, Key-Systems is accredited for roughly 1,000 top-level domains, including all generic and country-code extensions.

Instead of an automated registration process, the company maintains full control and can even pass along information to the registries through direct personal contacts.

Beyond domain names, Key-Systems also provides the full suite of colocation, cloud hosting, and managed servers.

Key-Systems traces its roots to an academic background at the time of its launch in 1998 and has since grown to oversee nearly 7 million domains worldwide.²³

Whatever your needs in the domain space, Enom, a segment of Tucows, probably has a solution. The company, which has registered 6.5 million domains, helps small businesses, enterprises, domain investors, and domain resellers achieve their business goals.¹⁶

Enom, known for its set of more than 550 available TLDs, boasts services that range from the simple to the complex. The registrar can help small business owners purchase a domain name, set up email addresses, and protect their brand from cybercriminals.

Its trusted platform can help you register, manage, and sell a portfolio of domain names quickly and easily. It can even help you build a domain and internet services business with an API or a custom storefront.

Enom is also focused on securing your digital assets through WHOIS domain privacy. With ID Protect, you can replace the personal information in your WHOIS record with generic contact information from Enom itself.

According to the company, this information is a goldmine for spammers. No matter what provider you choose, it’s a good idea to take domain privacy into serious consideration.

NameBright, the flagship domain registrar of TurnCommerce, helps connect you with the perfect domain name with the help of an easy checkout process, affordable rates, and advanced management tools.

TurnCommerce has been around since 2003, operating HugeDomains.com and DropCatch, which acquire expiring domains as they become available.

The company manages 6.3 million domain names.¹⁹

BrandTrace provides free monitoring for companies that want to protect their keyword authority by discovering who is using particular keywords in registered domains.

The leaders behind NameBright and TurnCommerce began acquiring domains in 2003 and now hold the world’s largest private portfolio.

Alibaba Cloud provides services throughout China and is the largest company of its kind in the country. The company operates data centers worldwide, with three locations in China: China North, China South, and China East.

Founded in 2009, Alibaba Cloud is known for its cloud computing and artificial intelligence offerings. The internet infrastructure provider serves 30 global regions, made up of 89 strategically located zones.¹⁸

In terms of domain services, Alibaba prides itself on providing competitively priced domain names, free presale consultations, domain privacy services, and 24/7 technical support.

It maintains an impressive 6 million registrations.¹⁷ But, compared with some of the other providers on this list, Alibaba’s focus goes far beyond domain registration.

The company provides reliable and secure cloud computing, web hosting, data processing capabilities, security solutions, enterprise application services, and management of the Internet of Things (IoT).

So if you’re looking for a provider that concentrates primarily on the domain extension space, another registrar may be a better fit.

PublicDomainRegistry (also called PDR) is the next largest domain registrar on my list, with a whopping 5.1 million domains and nearly every TLD and ccTLD.¹²

A subsidiary of Newfold Digital, formerly known as Endurance International Group and the famous parent company of Bluehost, HostGator, iPage, and many other hosting brands, PDR provides domain registration solutions through a global network of partners.

PDR’s relationships with domain registries across the globe allow the company to provide partners and clients with a single point of management.

Like Tucows, PDR does not sell services directly to customers. Instead, it offers white-labeled registrar services through a robust API that helps developers integrate domain registration services into their websites.

Users have a choice of programming languages, with downloadable integration kits in ASP.NET, Perl, PHP, and Java.

Its goal is to serve as a one-stop shop, empowering those in the business of selling domains to manage large portfolios. Individuals, entrepreneurs, and business owners looking to secure a domain name and related services should look elsewhere.

Founded in 1999, OVHcloud is a French cloud computing provider known for its sprawling global infrastructure, comprising 43 data centers on four continents.

Among them are some of the largest data centers in the world by surface area. In terms of physical servers, OVHcloud is also the largest hosting provider in Europe and the third-largest on the globe.

The company is a popular registrar, with 5 million domain names registered and more than 100 available extensions.¹⁵ It helps businesses communicate professionally via custom email addresses linked to domain names.

OVHcloud also offers opportunities to optimize security through its DNSSEC service and domain theft protection.

OVHcloud has a WHOIS privacy service that includes an email address to replace your personal address in the WHOIS database. The company can then redirect the email account to the user without disclosing personal details.

OVHcloud makes the resellers’ lives easier with tools for DNS management and access to API management software. In addition, the OVH Cloud Partner Program helps domain resellers expand into new markets, such as hosting, by tapping into OVHcloud’s established infrastructure.

Dynadot is an ICANN-accredited domain name registrar and web host founded in 2002. The company’s headquarters are located in San Mateo, California, with additional offices in Canada and China. The company has registered 5 million domains.²⁰

Dynadot has a unique return policy for its domain names that I’ve never seen before. You can register multiple domains and return the ones you don’t like for a small fee within a specified number of hours.

Dynadot was also one of the first registrars to offer Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs). As of 2020, English was the top language by population (370 million speakers), followed by Mandarin Chinese (921 million speakers) and Hindi (342 million speakers).

As internet usage increases across the globe, demand for international domains will likely rise accordingly.

Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) domains are based on the English alphabet and limited to dashes, the characters A-Z, and the numbers 0-9. Non-ASCII domain names, or IDNs, may contain non-ASCII characters such as Chinese, Arabic, or Russian.

Known for its ultra-popular website builder, Wix lends you more than just a drag-and-drop design interface.

In addition to countless extensions that add functionality to a company’s online presence, including appointment bookings, event tickets, eCommerce stores, and digital downloads, Wix also lands on our list as a reputable and popular domain registrar.

I’ve used Wix a few times, and it’s probably one of the easiest website builders for beginners. Plus, it lets you start for free and launch a website using a Wix subdomain. However, you’ll need to register a domain if you want to use only your branding.

Just a fraction of Wix’s 200 million users register a domain through the site builder, but those who do can enjoy a one-stop shop for all their online services.

In terms of how many domains it has registered, Wix is pretty tight-mouthed on the exact number. However, there are 4.2 million customers with a premium subscription, meaning each of those premium users has a custom domain registered.²⁶

NameSilo is a Phoenix-based internet domain registrar and hosting provider known for affordable domain registration and renewal prices. It has registered 4 million domains, more than twice the population of the city it’s from!¹⁴

The company is able to offer some of the lowest everyday domain prices on the web because it focuses primarily on domains. That includes a promise never to inflate prices to cover nonessentials, such as celebrity spokespersons or Super Bowl advertisements (no shade to GoDaddy).

Plus, while many competitors rely on third-party backend platforms of other registrars, NameSilo takes a different approach.

But don’t take NameSilo’s word for it. The company offers transparent comparison tables that outline differences in pricing and features between NameSilo and its competitors, including NameCheap, GoDaddy, and Network Solutions.

In addition to consistently low prices, NameSilo offers an entire page of promotions that change with the seasons, such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday flash deals.

Features-wise, NameSilo has several advanced security options to help protect domain name assets. The company’s Domain Defender, for example, helps protect customer accounts and domains from unauthorized access and malicious attacks.

REG.RU, established in 2006, is Russia’s largest accredited registrar and one of the country’s top hosting providers. It has 30 offices in Russia and across the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and has registered 3.3 million domains.²¹

The registrar offers domain name registration in more than 220 national and international domain zones. REG.RU also ranks first in terms of the number of registered domains and hosted sites using the .RU and .РФ extensions.

If you’re looking to purchase a domain that someone else has already snatched up, REG.RU’s Domain Broker service can help. Once you pay for the service, REG.RU representatives will contact the domain owner, negotiate a price, and conduct a transaction.

If successful, the company will handle all associated paperwork and reregister the domain. If not, REG.RU will select a similar domain for free or begin negotiations on another one.

You didn’t think I forgot about Tucows’ last subsidiary, did you!? I’d never! Ascio, one of the smaller domain registrars owned and operated by Tucows manages about 2.2 million domain names.²⁷

Sure, this isn’t as impressive as the 17 million managed by OpenSRS, but it’s no meager achievement either.

The company is mainly known for its reseller services, and it has more than 600 TLDs to choose from, including hundreds of fun new TLDs, like .app and .yoga.²⁸

Like some of the other registrars on my list, you can’t buy a domain name directly from Ascio.

But like I said before, there are plenty of other registrars who do sell directly to consumers.

This next domain registrar is a little zany, particularly with respect to its name. However, the marketing folks must have known what they were doing when they branded the company as “crazy” because the Crazy Domains registrar has about 2 million domain names under management.²⁴

The Australian-based company serves more than 1.5 million customers worldwide with its registration, hosting, email, and marketing services.²⁵

Now, I don’t have personal experience with Crazy Domains, but from what I can tell, its quality falls somewhere in the middle among other companies of the same size. What stands out to me is its price-match guarantee — that’s not something I see everywhere.

If you find a less expensive domain name on another registrar’s site, Crazy Domains will match the price. Pretty nifty, huh?

Who could think of a cuter name than Porkbun? It’s the best I’ve heard in a long time. But you’re not here for the cutesy stuff, so let’s get down to business.

Porkbun, a relative newcomer compared to the others on my list, has more than 2 million domain names under management.²⁹

Porkbun was founded in 2015, and it took 7 years to reach the 1-million-domain-name milestone. Within two years of reaching this milestone, the company doubled the number of domains it had under management.

I’d say these numbers indicate the company will be creeping up this list in the coming years. Porkbun was also named the number one domain registrar by USA Today for two years running. I’ve got my eye on you Porkbun!

If you’ve made it this far in my guide, you deserve a pat on the back. You also know that many domain registrars will also provide you with a web hosting service. In this guide, nearly every domain registrar is also a web host.

That’s why, it makes sense that in addition to exploring your options in terms of domain providers, it’s a good idea to vet your hosting providers as well. Many web hosting providers will throw in free domain registration, domain transfer, or SSL certificate services within a larger hosting plan to draw in customers.

But you still need to make sure that the hosting plan that comes with that free domain is right for you.

The best web hosting providers meet enormous challenges across the board, offering shared, virtual, and dedicated hosting with high uptime guarantees, 24/7 support via chat and phone, and affordable price points.

Ultimately, the best hosting package for each customer depends heavily on individual needs. Money-back guarantees, packages optimized for WordPress and WooCommerce, and managed hosting services are the icing on the cake.

Whatever path you choose toward building a web presence, remember: reading the fine print is essential. Happy domain shopping!

1. https://www.godaddy.com/
2. https://leadiq.com/c/godaddy/5a1d946f5400005900785c06
3. https://www.godaddy.com/en-ca/domains/gtld-domain-names
4. https://www.namecheap.com/guru-guides/domain-insights-trends-report-2023/
5. https://tld-list.com/registrars/namecheap/tlds
6. https://www.tucows.com/about-us/history
7. https://tucowsdomains.com/tucows-domain-promise
8. https://opensrs.com/
9. https://www.networksolutions.com/domains/domain-management
10. https://www.ionos.com/digitalguide/domains/domain-administration/domain-registrar/
11. https://www.ionos.com/about?srsltid=AfmBOopiExIVdo-Z6gc-RAKthTWYnjsd0MeivhWS-WVYBANQ5sxSC8Ss
12. https://publicdomainregistry.com/
13. https://unstoppabledomains.com/blog/categories/announcements/article/gmo-internet-announcement
14. https://www.namesilo.com/support/v2/articles/about/about-namesilo
15. https://www.ovhcloud.com/en-in/domains/domain-transfer/
16. https://www.enom.com/
17. https://domainincite.com/29905-alibaba-off-the-naughty-step
18. https://www.alibabacloud.com/en/global-locations?_p_lc=1
19. https://www.namebright.com/
20. https://www.dynadot.com/en/web/blog/article/5-million-domains
21. https://www.aspring.capital/en/news-en/aspring-capital-advised-on-sale-of-reg-ru-1-player-among-russian-registrars-of-domain-names-and-hosting-providers
22. https://domainnamewire.com/2023/06/16/my-thoughts-on-squarespaces-acquisition-of-google-domains
23. https://www.key-systems.net/en/company/about-key-systems
24. https://www.juniper.net/us/en/customers/crazy-domains-case-study.html
25. https://www.crazydomains.com/
26. https://www.digitalgyd.com/wix-statistics/
27. https://www.ascio.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Ascio-Company-Brochure.pdf
28. https://www.ascio.com/domains/tlds-offered/
29. https://porkbun.com/blog/porkbun-two-million-domains-under-management