Here are the biggest and fastest-growing domain name registrars for .com domains.
ICANN has published the latest official data from Verisign (NASDAQ: VRSN) about the .com namespace. This registrar-by-registrar report covers March 2023.
It’s interesting to think about how this chart will change later this year with Squarespace’s acquisition of Google Domains. Some current Google registrar clients will move elsewhere, but it’s a guarantee that Squarespace will jump from outside the top 20 registrars to the top 10 after the acquisition.
Here’s how registrars did in terms of new .com registrations in March:
1. GoDaddy.com* (NYSE: GDDY) 860,280 (763,837 in February 2023)
2. Namecheap Inc. 295,680 (267,371)
3. Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) 252,288 (227,693)
4. Newfold Digital+ 218,143 (166,623)
5. Tucows** (NASDAQ: TCX) 161,483 (150,467)
6. Gname.com 128,834 (77,360)
7. Alibaba 123,153
8. CentralNic 111,525 (141,521)
9. GMO 78,311 (77,776)
10. Wix 77,240 (69,824)
10. IONOS 73,967 (67,517)
Here’s the leaderboard of the top registrars in terms of total .com registrations under management as of the end of March.
1. GoDaddy* 56,044,730 (55,940,212 in February 2023)
2. Newfold Digital+ 12,915,496 (12,926,368)
3. Tucows** 11,292,862 (11,300,918)
4. Namecheap 9,072,614 (8,973,624)
5. Google 6,680,045 (6,522,073)
6. TurnCommerce++ 6,137,066 (6,164,131)
7. IONOS# 5,522,128 (5,504,915)
8. Alibaba 4,381,857 (4,404,155)
9. CentralNic## 3,640,287 (3,575,252)
10. GNAME 3,449,704 (3,201,177)
Many domain companies have multiple accreditations, and I’ve tried to capture the largest ones. See the notes below.
* Includes GoDaddy, Wild West Domains, Uniregistry, GoDaddy Corporate Domains, and 123 Reg
** Includes Tucows, Enom, Ascio and EPAG
+ Includes PDR, Domain.com, FastDomain, Bigrock, Network Solutions, Register.com, MarkMonitor, SnapNames registrars, and Crazy Domains/Dreamscape. There are other Newfold registrars, but these are the biggest.
++ Includes NameBright and DropCatch registrars
# Includes 1&1, PSI, Cronon, United-Domains, Arsys, and world4you
## Includes Key-Systems, 1API, Internet.bs, TLD Registrar Solutions, RegistryGate, Moniker, Instra
It’s interesting to see the rankings of the top domain name registrars for .com domains. GoDaddy continues to lead the pack with the highest number of new registrations and total registrations under management. The upcoming acquisition of Google Domains by Squarespace is expected to shake up the rankings, with Squarespace likely to make a significant jump in the top 10. My question is, what factors do you consider when choosing a domain registrar for your .com domain?