After a couple of years of stagnation, .com is growing again. Other TLDs are doing well, too.
At this time last year, I was writing about how domain name growth had ground to a halt.
Total domain registrations across all top level domains were anemic in 2024. What a difference a year makes.
According to the Q3 Domain Name Industry Brief, total domains increased by 4.5%, or 16.2 million, by the end of the quarter compared to a year ago. All segments — legacy TLDs, country code TLDs, and new TLDs — showed strong growth.
After reporting declines in the domain base starting in 2023, .com returned to growth in 2025. Rather than continually reducing expectations, .com registry Verisign (NASDAQ: VRSN) increased expectations each quarter.
As of the end of Q3 2025, Verisign had 159.4 million .com domains under management. That’s up from 156.3 million at the beginning of the year.
The trend is continuing in Q4; there are 161.1 million .com domains registered as of today.
What caused the rebound? A lot of factors were at play 2025.
First, I think some of the demand pulled forward by the pandemic is in the rearview mirror. We’re lapping that demand.
Second, Verisign said that domain registrars are now focusing on growth again after prioritizing revenue per user in the previous year.
Third, as it relates to .com, Verisign has better targeted its rebate programs to registrars. In previous years, it focused almost exclusively on how many more registrations registrars could generate compared to the same period the year before. New programs are focusing on different metrics, such as the quality of registrations.
The programs were evident throughout the year, with many registrars offering registrations at a price below the standard wholesale cost of $10.26.
One registrar went further: Unstoppable Domains, which has shifted from its web3 roots to become traditional domain registrar (and soon registry), sold domains below cost at just $5 for much of the year. That helped it generate about 20,000 new registrations per month.
Unstoppable is obviously just a small piece of the puzzle. .Com promotions at many registrars drove demand.
Will growth continue in 2026? It’s likely, although there are certainly some headwinds, including the death of Google AdSense for Domains.
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