By: Damjan Milenkovic | January 18, 2024 | Domains
35+ Must-Know Domain Name Statistics
What are the most popular domain extensions? What is the most common length for a domain name? This guide to domain name statistics will answer these questions and more.
We have collected the latest and most interesting data on domain names. Let’s start.
General Domain Name Statistics
There are 350.5 million registered domain names.
The internet is growing, as proven by the fact that the number of domain names has grown by 13.2 million or 3.9% since last year [1].
There are 33,000 new domain name registrations every day
If you don’t want to do the math, that’s about one new domain every 2.61 seconds [2].
With 76.6 million domains, the most popular domain name registrar is GoDaddy.
The next in line is Namecheap, with 16.5 million [12]. Domain registrars sell new domains to the public. If you have your sights on some already-claimed name, you can go through domain brokers.
The average length of a name with a .com extension is 13.5 characters.
The most common length, however, is 12 characters. If we take a look at the .net domain name stats, we can see that these websites have 12.4 characters on average [3].
The average domain name length of the five most popular websites is six characters.
Shorter domain names, in general, bring in more traffic [4].
| Domain popularity | The average number of characters |
|---|---|
| Top 5 | 6 |
| Top 10 | 6.1 |
| Top 100 | 6.2 |
| Top 500 | 6.8 |
| Top 10,000 | 8 |
| Top 100,000 | 9.1 |
Domain Extensions
There are five types of TLDs [15]
- gTLD – Generic Top-level Domains (.com; .org; .net; .info, etc)
- sTLD – Sponsored Top-level Domains
- ccTLD – Country Code Top-level Domains ((.us; .es; .fr; .it, etc)
- ARPA – Infrastructure Top-Level Domain
- tTLD – Test Top-Level Domains (.example; .invalid; .localhost; .test)
There are 1,602 TLD extensions.
The number of TLDs is growing. From the initial eight generic and well-known names (.com, .net, .org, etc.), the number came to 1,602 due to the increased demand for new domains. Now we have interesting domains like .pizza, .ninja and .photography [5].
43% of all domains have generic extensions (.com, .net, .org, .gov, etc.) [17]
With 37.1% of the global share, the most popular domain extension is .com
There are no surprises here. This extension is the synonym of the internet for most people [5]. However, when functioning and relevant websites are concerned, the percentage of .com extensions goes up to 49.9% [14].
| Extension | Share |
|---|---|
.com | 37.10% |
| .tk | 4.24% |
| .cn | 4.14% |
| .de | 3.68% |
| .net | 3.26% |
| .uk | 3.23% |
| .org | 2.57% |
| .xyz | 1.88% |
| .ru | 1.74% |
| others | 38.16% |
There are 160.9 million domains with a .com extension [20].
.flsmidth and .doosan are the least common domain extensions, with 0 registered domains [17].
The most trusted domain extension is .com
A 1,500-people study conducted by Growth Badger showed that .com is still the most trusted extension, with an average trust rating is 3.5 [6]. The second and third places went to .co and .org, with 3.4 and 3.3, respectively.
When they forget the extension, people are 3.8 times more likely to assume it is .com [6]
The most abused TLD is .surf
Reseach done by Spamhaus shows that 72.3% of domains with .surf extensions are “bad” – spammy, malicious, etc. [22]
Domain names with new TLD extensions are generally pricier to register – while .com is $11.99, .build is $99.99
New TLDs are more brandable because they have industry-specific keywords, and this can affect their prices. For instance, TLDs for high-profit and high-competition industries like .inc, .protection and .security can cost around $2,000 [26]. However, this doesn’t apply to all new TLDs – as domain names with extensions like .club, .online, and .site can cost between $10 and $25.
| Original Top Level Domain | Registration | Renewal | Privacy |
|---|---|---|---|
| .com | $12.99 | $19.99 | $15.00 |
| .net | $14.99 | $19.99 | $15.00 |
| .biz | $9.99 | $21.99 | $15.00 |
| .info | $11.99 | $21.99 | $15.00 |
| .org | $9.99 | $19.99 | $15.00 |
| Generic Top-Level Domain | Registration | Renewal | Privacy |
|---|---|---|---|
| .academy | $39.99 | $42.99 | $15.00 |
| .actor | $49.99 | $52.99 | $15.00 |
| .agency | $24.99 | $27.99 | $15.00 |
| .associates | $39.99 | $42.99 | $15.00 |
| .bar | $99.99 | $99.99 | $15.00 |
| .bargains | $39.99 | $42.99 | $15.00 |
| .bid | $39.99 | $42.99 | $15.00 |
| .bike | $39.99 | $42.99 | $15.00 |
| .blackfriday | $34.99 | $49.99 | $15.00 |
| .blog | $22.99 | $24.99 | $15.00 |
| .blue | $21.99 | $23.99 | $15.00 |
| .boutique | $39.99 | $42.99 | $15.00 |
| .build | $99.99 | $102.99 | $15.00 |
| .builders | $39.99 | $42.99 | $15.00 |
| .buzz | $49.99 | $52.99 | $15.00 |
Domain Name Statistics by Country
40% of all domains have country extensions (.uk, .cn, .de, etc.) [5]
.cn is the thrid most popular extension, with 4.14% of the total TLDs [5]
There are 340 country TLDs
This is strange because there are 195 countries in the world (193 UN members and two observer countries) [23]. That’s because ccTLDs can be given even to specific territories within countries. For instance, French Polynesia, Martinique, and Gaza Strip all have their extensions [5].
There are about 126.9 million domains registered in the US, which accounts for 19.77% of the total global domain number.
The second on the list is China (2.84%), and the third place goes to Canada (2.58%) [5].
The number of ccTLDs fell by 1.3% between second and third quarter of 2022. [21]
The largest percentage of all domains – 59.49% – have undefined registration countries [5].
The revenue in the US domain name sales industry was predicted to reach 8.6 billion in 2023.
This prediction was a 6.1% year-to-year growth, and the market has been showing a steady rise – average yearly growth of 3.9% in the last five years (through 2023) [9].
The fastest-growing country TLD is Gabon’s .ga
Again, we have a small country (2.28 million residents) with a skyrocketing internet population of almost 9.5 million domains [24]. And the reasons are similar to the previous entry – free registration. We wonder if legislators in these countries know or care about what this is doing to their online reputation. This is the tenth most prevalent TLD when it comes to phishing attacks [10, 25].
Tokelau, a tiny New Zeeland territory, has only 1,411 residents, but 4.23% of all global domains have a .tk extension [5]
This interesting and perplexing domain name stat might have you imagining an island where every man, woman, child, pet, and fish in the sea are internet entrepreneurs, but no. While imagining the entire crew of the Little Mermaid and Finding Nemo typing on keyboards might be amusing, the reality is quite grim. Namely, this group of three atolls offers free domain registration, and this made it extremely popular among phishing scammers. In fact, some analyses suggest that this is the third most prevalent TPD when it comes to phishing attacks [25].
If you are bootstrapping your business and looking for ways to save, choosing this extension simply because it offers free registration is a bad choice. For instance, hosting providers like Bluehost offer free registration. It would be a much better decision.
Interesting Domain Name Statistics
Symbolics.com, the first domain ever, was registered on March 15, 1985
However, the first domain name registered was not the first domain name created. Namely, a Scandinavian research collaboration created Nordu.net on January 1, 1985, but registration was not allowed back then. Symbolics.Inc beat them to de punch and registered on March 15 of the same year and became legendary. Symbolics.com is now owned by an entrepreneur who turned it into a sort of museum website [7].
Only around 15,000 domain names were registered by 1992 [7].
Most of the first 100 domains ever registered were brands – Northrop, Xerox, HP, etc. [18]
The average price of a new domain name is around $10-$12 [16]
The price depends a lot on the extension you choose, the registrar company, the length of the contract, etc. This means it can go significantly higher [12].
The highest price ever paid for a domain name was $30 million [11]
voice.com was sold in 2019 for $30 million [12]. The price included the domain name only, not the website or any equity component.
The top 10 of the priciest domain names are:
- voice.com – $30 million
- nfts.com – $15 million
- sex.com – $14 million
- sex.com – $13 million
- connect.com – $10 million
- fund.com – around $10 million
- porn.com – $9.5 million
- porno.com – $8.88 million
- fb.com – $8 million
- healthinsurance.com – $8 million
The interesting fact is that Facebook bought the domain from the American Farm Bureau Federation in 2011.
One of the longest domain names has 64 character, and we dare you to read it.
llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch.co.uk made it to the Guinness Book of Records as the longest domain name. It is a part of a tourist campaign for a village in Wales. The charming name translates to English as “Saint Mary’s Church in the hollow of the white hazel near a rapid whirlpool and the Church of Saint Tysilio of the red cave” [8].
Elon Musk paid $11 million for the tesla.com domain in 2016.
Up until 2016, the company was using teslamotors.com. According to Musk, the transaction took over a decade of negotiations and a lot of effort [19].
Domain registration was free until 1995.
Yes, before 1995, you could’ve even gotten a .com domain for free [13].
The most frequent starting letter for domains is S. It is also the most frequent last letter [3]
In case you were wondering – the least frequent starting letter is Q.
All three-lettered .com domains are already registered. The last one was snatched in 1997. [5]
google.com was accidentally sold for $12 in 2015
The company paid around $12,000 to get it back, and the short-time owner gave the money to charity [21].
Conclusion
The internet is a pretty big and crowded place, and choosing a domain name that would make you stand out can be tricky.
It has to be insightful, witty, descriptive, not lengthy…the list of requirements and recommendations is so long. It is impossible to keep track of all of them. That’s why we suggest letting AI do all the work for you.
With the DomainWheel Name Generator, you can get new ideas and improve your existing ones. Just type in your desired word, and it will give you a list of names, which you can filter by extensions, character count, number of keywords, etc.
Want to make sure you choose the right domain name? Check out our guide on how to choose a domain name!
References
[1] https://blog.verisign.com/domain-names/verisign-q1-2022-the-domain-name-industry-brief/
[2] https://diggitymarketing.com/web-hosting/how-many-domain-names
[3] https://datagenetics.com/blog/march22012/
[4] https://www.gaebler.com/Domain-Length-Research.htm
[5] https://domainnamestat.com/statistics/overview
[6] https://growthbadger.com/top-level-domains/#1-trust-rankings
[7] https://gcn.com/cloud-infrastructure/2011/08/what-was-the-first-registered-domain-name-on-the-internet/316506/
[8] https://www.brandextract.com/Insights/Resources-Presentations/The-Story-Behind-the-Longest-URL-in-the-World/
[9] https://www.ibisworld.com/industry-statistics/market-size/web-domain-name-sales-united-states/
[10] https://www.sidn.nl/en/news-and-blogs/how-big-is-the-global-domain-name-market
[11] https://namebio.com/top-100-domain-name-sales-all-time
[12] https://www.hostingadvice.com/how-to/largest-domain-registrars/
[13] https://www.dynadot.com/community/blog/5-domain-facts.html
[14] https://w3techs.com/technologies/overview/top_level_domain
[15] https://www.wix.com/blog/2020/12/what-is-tld/
[16] https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2022/06/13/how-much-does-it-cost-to-buy-a-domain-name/?sh=674a89ee666d
[17] https://colorlib.com/wp/domain-name-statistics/
[18] https://www.domainholdings.com/recent-sales/100-oldest-domain-names/
[19] https://onlinedomain.com/2018/12/09/domain-name-news/elon-musk-paid-11-million-to-purchase-the-domain-name-tesla-com/
[20] https://www.verisign.com/en_US/domain-names/dnib/index.xhtml?section=executive-summary
[21] https://money.cnn.com/2016/01/29/technology/google-domain-purchase/index.html
[22] https://www.spamhaus.org/statistics/tlds/
[23] https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/how-many-countries-are-there
[24] https://domainnamestat.com/statistics/tldtype/country
[25] https://www.cybercrimeinfocenter.org/phishing-activity-qoq-tld-february-april-2022
[26] https://www.namecheap.com/blog/how-much-does-a-domain-name-cost-dp/
