Breaking Down the Q3 2025 Domain Name Industry Brief: What the Latest Data Means

RESTON, VA – Every quarter, Verisign releases its Domain Name Industry Brief (DNIB) – a data-packed snapshot of the global domain landscape. The Q3 2025 report just dropped, revealing how domain registrations, renewals, and growth trends are shifting across .com, .net, country-code extensions, and hundreds of new generic TLDs.

For professionals running digital projects from startups and online stores to marketers, web developers, and SEO specialists, these numbers are more than trivial. They reflect how the internet itself is evolving: which extensions people trust, where demand is growing, and how much digital “real estate” is being created each quarter.

In this article, we’re unpacking the most interesting takeaways from the latest DNIB – in plain English. Below, you’ll find a simplified breakdown of the stats, what they mean for your digital strategy, and why industry experts are paying attention.

Key Highlights & What They Mean

1. Overall domain registration growth
   • Total registrations across all TLDs reached 378.5 million in Q3 2025 – up 1.8 % vs Q2, and up 4.5 % year-over-year.
   • This is a useful barometer of global domain-market health. For web business owners rising registrations signal a broadening addressable base of potential new domains, new sites, and therefore potential competition.
   • For registrars: growth means demand remains, and they may consider how to differentiate services or promote upgrades/renewals accordingly.
2. .com and .net performance
   • The combined base of .com + .net is 171.9 million registrations at end Q3. Up 0.8 % vs Q2, and 1.4 % year-over-year.
   • New .com/.net registrations in Q3 were 10.6 million, compared to 9.3 million a year ago.
   • Renewal rate for .com/.net preliminarily ~75.3 % in Q3.
     While .com/.net are still the “blue chip” TLDs, slower growth here means either saturation or that growth is shifting to other TLDs. A 75% renewal rate though shows reasonably good retention. For domainers: if you’re considering domain acquisitions, upgrades, or brand strategy around .com/.net, this suggests stability but not explosive growth.
3. ccTLDs (country-code domains)
   • ccTLD base at 144.8 million at end Q3. Up ~1% vs Q2, up 3.4% year-over-year.3
     Local/regional domains are still growing, albeit more slowly. For U.S. web properties owners, this suggests global domains may not be moving as fast as generic TLDs. But if you ever expand into local markets or non-U.S., this trend is relevant.
4. New generic TLDs (ngTLDs)
   • Registrations of ngTLDs reached 42.9 million by end Q3, up 8.5% vs Q2 and up 21.0% year-over-year.
   • Renewal rate estimate: ~32.2% for ngTLDs.
     While 21.0% year-over-year indicates strong growth in new generics (e.g., .shop, .online, .site etc), the low renewal rate (~32%) is a red flag: many registrations may be speculative or non-long-term. For domainers, if you’re considering registering or investing in ngTLDs, it suggests potential opportunity but also higher churn/risk.
5. Other legacy generic TLDs (excluding .com/.net)
   • Base of 18.9 million, up ~3.6% vs Q2, up ~9.3% year-over‐year. Renewal estimate ~82.5%.
     Older gTLDs (like .info, .biz etc) are smaller but show respectable retention. Could be niches still worth monitoring.
6. Top TLDs and renewal variation
   • The Top 10 largest TLDs combined account for major share. For example, among gTLDs: top 10 included .com, .net, .org, .xyz, .top, .info, .shop, .online, .store, .site.
   • But renewal rates vary wildly: For example among gTLDs, renewal ranged from ~86.2% (.org) down to ~12.2% (.shop).3
     This underscores that not all domain extensions are equal. High churn ones (low renewal) may be speculative/spam/dumping zones. If you’re managing a portfolio (or advising others), focusing on extension quality and renewal behavior is critical.
7. Geographic/regional distribution (ccTLDs top 10)
   • Top 10 ccTLDs (as of Sept 30) include .cn, .de, .uk, .ru, .nl, .br, .au, .fr, .in, .eu. And they represent ~57.6% of all ccTLD registrations.
   • Renewal rates among them vary: from 82.6% (.fr) to 72.3% (.ru).
     If you’re doing international domain strategy, localization, or targeting non-US markets, this shows where scale is and where renewal health is.

Strategic Implications

Here are some take-aways:

• If you’re acquiring domains or investing in domains: The growth in ngTLDs suggests opportunity, but the low renewal rates mean higher risk of non-viable domains or speculative behavior. You might lean toward extensions with stronger renewal/uptake.
• For brand strategy or URLs: The dominance of .com/.net remains; if your user audience is presumably U.S./English-speaking, maintaining a strong .com identity is still smart.
• For expansions/internationalization: ccTLDs show moderate growth; for future expansion you might evaluate ccTLD usage or strategy (e.g., local country sites).
• For renewals and retention: Since renewal behavior varies so much by TLD, when you hold domains for brand protection or SEO, you’ll want to factor in renewal dynamics (churn risk, cost, opportunity cost).
• For market messaging: The fact that domain registration continues to grow suggests that websites are still being built at scale, hence demand for web infrastructure, web marketing, and domain-based services remains favorable.
• For competitive intelligence: Knowing which TLDs are growing fastest (ngTLDs up 21% year-over-year) can help you monitor where new entrants are launching, where digital real estate is being created, and where domain valuation may shift.

What Is Most Interesting

• The strong year-over‐year growth in ngTLDs (21%) – that’s substantial momentum.
• The relatively modest growth in .com/.net (just 1.4% year-over-year) – indicates potential saturation or slower growth in the “core” domain space.
• The wide spread of renewal rates especially very low renewal (~12%) for certain gTLDs like .shop raises questions about quality, speculation, and sustainability in those zones.
• The renewal rate of ~75% for .com/.net shows good retention, but still means ~25% of domains are not renewed each quarter.
• The geographic breakdown of ccTLD dominance and renewal variances shows where the domain markets are maturing vs emerging.
• For portfolio strategy: The combination of growth + renewal behavior gives signals about which TLD buckets are “healthy” vs “risky”.

John Colascione

About The Author: John Colascione is Chief Executive Officer of SEARCHEN NETWORKS®. He specializes in Website Monetization, is a Google AdWords Certified Professional, authored a how-to book called ”Mastering Your Website‘, and is a key player in several online businesses.