Q4 2024 domain industry numbers: who made the top 10?

The domain industry is always shifting, with some TLDs gaining traction while others slow down.

In Q4 2024, total domain name registrations across all TLDs reached 364.3 million 0 up 0.5% from the previous quarter and 1.2% year over year. But what do these numbers really mean?

The latest Domain Name Industry Brief (DNIB) provides a high-level look at market trends, but in this article, we’ll go a step further. We’ll break down the DNIB data and compare it with Openprovider’s numbers to see how industry-wide trends align with what we’re seeing on our platform. 

Are our resellers following the same patterns? Which TLDs are growing the fastest? And where are the biggest differences? Let’s take a closer look.

Overall domain growth

According to the latest DNIB, the combined .com and .net TLDs made up 169.0 million registrations, showing a slight quarterly decline of 0.3% and a 2.1% drop year over year. The preliminary renewal rate for these domains stood at 73.9%.

Where legacy TLDs shrink, other domains are there to fill the gap. Country-code TLDs (ccTLDs) reached 140.8 million registrations, reflecting a 0.6% increase from Q3 and a 1.8% rise compared to last year. 

New generic TLDs (ngTLDs) saw even stronger growth, climbing 4.0% in Q4 to 36.8 million registrations – an impressive 15.9% jump year over year.

The DNIB also shows interesting statistics about domain renewal. Out of the most popular domains, .fr, (83.4%), .eu (83%), and .org (77.6%) show the highest renewal rates, while .shop (22.1%), .site (19.5%), and .top (11.9%) show the lowest. However, as not all registries currently track renewal rates, this information is not available for all TLDs.

Top TLDs in Q4 2024

The top 10 TLDs by number of registrations at the end of 2024 were:

If we look just at gTLDs, the top 10 changes to:

Meanwhile, the top 10 ccTLDs rank as follows:

Domain popularity: worldwide vs. at Openprovider

So, how do those trends stack up against the top domains at Openprovider? On December 31, 2024, the top 10 domains at Openprovider looked like this:

1. .com
2. .nl
3. .be
4. .eu
5. .es
6. .fr
7. .de
8. .net
9. .org
10. .pl

Our top 10 looks relatively similar to the data from DNIB, with three exceptions: .be, .es, .fr, and .pl replace .cn, .ru, .br, and .au.

The DNIB doesn’t go beyond the ten most popular TLDs, but at Openprovider, we can see some interesting movements right below it. 

Some domains that have seen significant growth at Openprovider in the past years include:

• ccTLDs, particularly those outside of Europe, like .in, .mx, .cl, and .ca.
• .com alternatives like .co, .nu, .io, .ai, and .cc.
• New gTLDs and repurposed gTLDs like .me, .app, .dev, .tv, .info (a legacy gTLD exception), .academy, .agency, and .art.
• geoTLDs like .cat, .africa, .asia, and .amsterdam.

The top 100 most popular domains at Openprovider are mostly high-quality extensions, including ccTLDs, geoTLDs, and new gTLDs with a clear niche. A clear trend among resellers’ end customers is the preference for neutral, location- or niche-specific domains that aren’t linked to spam. As for .com and .net continue to shrink, we predict that many of these extensions will take their place.

Take your domain offer to the next level

With more businesses and individuals looking beyond traditional TLDs, having access to the right domains is more important than ever.

With 1,900+ TLDs available at cost price, Openprovider gives you the flexibility to offer the best options to your customers – whether they need a trusted ccTLD, a niche-specific gTLD, or an alternative to legacy extensions. From .agency to .za, we’ve got them all!

Stay ahead of the market shifts and make sure your customers always have the domain choices they need.