Domain name registries list: who runs every TLD

Registry, registrar and registrant

ICANN's glossary defines a registry as follows: "An authoritative master database of the domain names registered in a top-level domain (TLD)." Its entry for registry operator reads: "The organization that maintains the master database (registry) of all domain names registered in a particular top-level domain (TLD)." ICANN adds that "ROs receive requests from registrars to add, delete, or modify domain names, and they make the requested changes in the registry. An RO also operates the TLD's authoritative name servers and generates the zone file."

A registrar sits between you and the registry. ICANN's entry reads: "An organization through which individuals and entities (registrants) register domain names." During registration the registrar checks the registry's requirements and "submits the name to the appropriate registry operator." So when you buy a .com name, your registrar sends it to the registry that IANA lists for .com: VeriSign Global Registry Services.

IANA keeps the record of who manages each TLD. Its Root Zone Database "is the authoritative record of top-level domains, including the organization that manages the domains, technical details and contact information." The name IANA shows is the organization on record, which can differ from the brand behind an extension. .app and .dev are managed by Charleston Road Registry Inc., and IANA lists Google Inc (written with and without a final period) as the technical contact for all 46 of that company's TLDs.

The largest registries by number of TLDs

Binky Moon, LLC manages 196 TLDs, more than any other organization, and IANA lists Identity Digital Limited as the technical contact for all 196 of them. Next come Amazon Registry Services, Inc. (51), Dog Beach, LLC (48), Charleston Road Registry Inc. (46), Registry Services, LLC (36, including .us and .biz) and XYZ.COM LLC (35). Together the ten largest hold 474 of the 1,438 TLDs, while 376 generic TLDs have a manager of their own that runs nothing else.

The technical contacts behind the names

Every IANA delegation record also names a technical contact, and those names are far more concentrated than the managers: 316 organization names appear across the 1,438 TLDs. Counting every technical contact name that starts with Identity Digital, the company is listed for 400 TLDs. GoDaddy Registry follows with 169 and CentralNic with 89.

Country-code registries

The 309 country codes have 245 different managers. ICANN's glossary notes: "Because ccTLDs are managed locally, the rules and policies for registering domain names vary across ccTLDs." A few managers hold several codes: National Internet Exchange of India manages 16 (.in and its IDN versions), Association Française pour le Nommage Internet en Coopération (A.F.N.I.C.) 6, and China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) and EURid vzw 3 each.

IANA also lists 157 more TLDs as "Not assigned". They are not in the root zone: 139 generic, 11 test and 7 country-code. 137 of them have an IANA revocation report, for example .abarth on June 5, 2023.

Sources and method

• IANA Root Zone Database (TLD Manager column) and the delegation record of every TLD (technical contact), fetched September 25, 2026 between 19:35 and 19:55 UTC.
• IANA Root Zone Management (role of the Root Zone Database).
• ICANN glossary: registry, registry operator, registrar, country code top-level domain.
• Method: TLDs are grouped by the manager name IANA publishes. Names that differ only by case, punctuation or a trailing bracketed abbreviation are counted as one organization (7 pairs). No ownership links between companies are assumed beyond what the IANA records show.