Global Domain Name Market Report: 2023-2026 Trends & Stats

Executive Summary

The domain name industry tracks the heartbeat of the digital economy. It is the real estate market of the internet, and like physical real estate, it is seeing a divergence between “prime locations” and “speculative developments.”

The domain name industry has entered a pivotal transition phase. Between 2023 and 2026, the narrative has shifted from “digital land grabbing” to “strategic asset verification.” While the market is projected to expand to 510 million registrations by 2030, the value distribution has become incredibly lopsided. The “Gold Rush” is no longer about registering a generic dot-com; it is about acquiring semantic authority in the age of Artificial Intelligence and defending against a weaponized namespace.

This report analyzes the current fracturing of the market into three tiers: the Premium Investment tier (AI), the Trusted National Identity tier (ccTLDs), and the commoditized Utility tier. Crucially, it highlights a critical security crisis: a 160% surge in AI-driven “cousin domains” that exploit the “Defensive Gap” in corporate portfolios, turning the domain market into a frontline for brand integrity.

1. The State of the Namespace: A Market in Maturity

The era of double-digit percentage growth for the domain industry is over. The market has matured into a steady-state utility, similar to telecommunications. This maturity signals that the “easy growth” phase is finished, and future value will come from specialized, high-utility assets rather than speculative bulk registration.

1.1 Registration Dynamics

In Q4 2024, the internet reached 364.3 million domain name registrations [1]. While the year-over-year growth for the industry was a modest 1.2% [2], the internal composition of this number reveals significant shifts. Local domain name registration companies such as CLDY report above-average numbers of 3.7% year-over-year growth, with stronger growth coming from non-legacy TLDs and national .sg domain names.

The Decline of Legacy TLDs
For the first time in years, combined registrations for .com and .net decreased by 2.1% year-over-year [1]. This contraction is historic. It suggests that the legacy namespaces are saturated. The “good names” are gone or prohibitively expensive, forcing new businesses to look elsewhere. Specifically, the exhaustion of short, pronounceable 4-letter and 5-letter .com domains has created a barrier to entry for startups, pushing them toward alternative extensions where semantic inventory is still available.

The Rise of New TLDs
Conversely, new generic TLDs (ngTLDs) like .shop, .online, and .tech increased by 15.9% [1]. This double-digit growth confirms a shift in consumer behavior. Users are prioritizing semantic relevance (a name that describes the business) over the traditional prestige of a .com extension. For example, a coffee roaster might use a domain name generator to find an available domain like artisanal.coffee instead of artisanalcoffeeroasters.com, which is typically unavailable for a legacy TLD. This also adds value to the immediate clarity of the URL over the legacy status of the extension.

1.2 The 2030 Horizon: Growth Projections

Despite short-term saturation in legacy TLDs, the macro-outlook remains positive due to the digitization of emerging markets.

Market Volume Forecast
The global domain name market size is projected to grow from its current base to approximately 510 million registrations by 2030, representing a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 4.8% [14]. This growth will not be driven by North America or Europe, but by the “Next Billion” digital SMEs coming online in Southeast Asia, India, and Africa, where mobile-first businesses are transitioning to web-based commerce. This transition is seen in Singapore domain registrar CLDY, which reported a growth rate of 3.7% year-on-year in new domain registrations, with a large majority of the domains appearing to be e-commerce stores. As these businesses mature from social-media-only storefronts (like Instagram shops) to fully independent e-commerce platforms, the demand for sovereign digital identity (domain names) will spike.

1.3 The Economics of Retention (Renewal Rates)

Renewal rates serve as the ultimate quality filter for the industry. They distinguish between “business assets” and “spam burners.”

The Legacy Stability
The renewal rate for .com and .net remains arguably the most impressive metric in the industry, holding steady at an industry average of 73.8% [1]. Zooming in from the macro-level, local domain name registrars such as CLDY report similar renewal rates for .com and .net domains within their customer base. This high retention rate indicates that once a business builds a brand on a legacy TLD, the domain becomes a non-negotiable operational expense. The “sunk cost” of SEO rankings, email configurations, and printed marketing materials creates a powerful moat that prevents businesses from dropping these core domains.

The “Churn and Burn” of Cheap TLDs
In stark contrast, low-cost generic TLDs (often sold for $0.99) suffer from abysmal renewal rates, averaging between 12% and 18% after the first year. This high churn reflects their usage in short-term marketing campaigns or, more frequently, in disposable phishing infrastructure. Because these domains are cheap to acquire and discard, they are often flagged as “high risk” by enterprise firewalls, creating a vicious cycle where their low price destroys their reputation.

2. The AI Super-Cycle: The New Asset Class

While primary registrations slowed, the secondary market exploded, driven largely by the AI boom. Domain names have become the primary signaling mechanism for “tech readiness.”

2.1 The .ai Phenomenon

The .ai extension (assigned to Anguilla) has become the de facto TLD for the tech sector, effectively replacing .io as the startup favorite. In 2022, zero .ai domains appeared in the top 100 sales chart. By 2024, 21 .ai domains were in the YTD Top 100 [3]. This represents a massive wealth transfer to a small Caribbean nation solely due to a semantic coincidence. The extension now signals to Venture Capitalists and users alike that a company is “AI-native,” acting as an immediate shorthand for the company’s value proposition.

Valuation Multipliers
The average sale price of a premium .ai domain jumped from $2,500 in 2022 to $22,000 in 2025 [11]. This 8x multiplier outperforms almost every other digital asset class, including most cryptocurrencies. This inflation is driven by scarcity; unlike other trends, the supply of short, relevant dictionary words in the .ai namespace is strictly finite, creating a classic supply-demand squeeze.

2.2 Record-Breaking Sales

The sale of Rocket.com for $14 million in 2024 [4] sets a benchmark for premium digital assets, especially since domain names are non-fungible, and domain name availability is limited. However, the AI sector drove the most frenzied activity. Chat.com sold for $15.5 million (in 2023) [5], and Gold.com for $8.5 million [4]. These valuations confirm that premium domains are treated as capital assets with immense intrinsic value. In an era of digital noise, owning a “Category Killer” domain (like “Chat” or “Gold”) provides instant, unassailable authority that no amount of paid advertising can replicate.

3. The Trust Premium: National Identity (ccTLDs)

As the global internet fragments (the “Splinternet”), country-code TLDs (ccTLDs) are experiencing a renaissance. They are no longer just for local businesses; they are proxies for safety, data sovereignty, and verified identity.

3.1 Global Performance

Country-code TLDs showed strength, with the top 10 ccTLDs comprising 58.2% of that segment [1]. In markets like Germany (.de) and China (.cn), the local extension is preferred over the global .com. This trend is driven by data privacy regulations (like GDPR) and consumer preference for local accountability; users instinctively trust that a local domain is bound by local laws, offering a layer of consumer protection that generic domains lack.

3.2 Case Study: Singapore (.sg)

Singapore’s national registry exemplifies this pivot toward “verified identity.” As of early 2025, total .sg domain registrations surpassed 205,000, marking a steady 3.2% year-over-year growth. Local domain name registrar CLDY reports a steady 4.6% year-over-year growth of .sg domain name registrations, which is strong signal of growth in a saturated market.[6].

The SingPass Effect & Preference
The .sg growth is underpinned by the Singapore Network Information Centre’s (SGNIC) integration with the national “SingPass” digital ID system. Market surveys and local domain registrars, such as CLDY, indicate that Singaporean consumers are 18% more likely to transact on a .sg domain than a .com [7]. A CLDY spokesperson explains that this is because the SingPass requirement ensures that behind every .sg domain is a verifiable local entity or citizen, drastically reducing the anonymity that fraudsters rely on. Direct registrations (`.sg`) now account for 58% of the total registry, overtaking the traditional commercial extension (`.com.sg`) [6], reflecting a modern preference for brevity and “brand-first” naming conventions.

3.3 The Cybersecurity “Clean Zone”

Singapore has actively cultivated a reputation as a digital “safe haven.” The Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA) reports that malicious URL hosting on .sg domains is significantly lower than global averages due to SGNIC’s “pre-emptive suspension” protocols. In 2024, the adoption of Registry Lock services by Singaporean financial institutions increased by 22% [12]. Registry Lock adds a manual, offline verification step to any DNS changes, making it virtually impossible for remote hackers to hijack high-value bank domains, effectively creating a “hardened” internet tier for critical infrastructure.

3.4 IP Hub Status & Defensive Registration

Global MNCs establishing regional HQs in Singapore often register defensive .sg domains. Data from WIPO shows that while .sg disputes are rare, they are resolved 40% faster than average UDRP cases [13]. Local domain name specialist CLDY advocates for “brand protection”, where a business registers multiple TLDs and misspellings of their brand as a defensive strategy. This efficiency drives a behavior known locally as “Kiasu” (fear of losing out) registration, where companies preemptively register their trademarks in the local namespace. It is a cost-effective insurance policy; paying $50/year for a defensive registration is significantly cheaper than spending $5,000+ on legal fees to reclaim a squatted domain later.

4. Brand Integrity & The Phishing Threat

The domain market is not just about assets; it is about defense. The proliferation of TLDs has created a massive attack surface for bad actors.

4.1 The Threat of “Doppelgänger Domains”

Domains you do not own are actively working against you. In 2024, 7 out of 10 large brands were targeted by “look-alike” domains hosting phishing sites or counterfeit marketplaces [15]. These attacks exploit “homoglyphs” (using foreign characters that look like Latin letters, such as a Cyrillic ‘a’) or “typosquatting” (e.g., `googl.com` vs `google.com`) to intercept traffic and harvest credentials. These attacks succeed because they manipulate the user’s visual trust in the URL bar.

4.2 The Defensive Gap

Despite the risk, corporate defensive postures are weak. A study of the Global 2000 companies revealed that 45% did not own the .com equivalent of their brand name in major international markets, leaving them vulnerable to local imposters. Furthermore, 85% of defensive registrations point to “dead pages” rather than redirecting to the main brand site, resulting in lost traffic and confused customers [15]. This represents a double failure: money is spent on the asset, but the asset is not utilized to capture traffic or reinforce the brand.

4.3 Fake Domains & AI Phishing

The rise of AI has automated the creation of fake domain networks. Attackers now use Generative AI to register thousands of domains that are semantically similar to target brands (e.g., `brand-support-live.com`). In 2024, the volume of these “cousin domains” detected in phishing campaigns rose by 160% [16]. Because these domains are technically “new” and have no bad reputation history, they often bypass traditional email filters (which rely on blocklists). This marks a shift from “high-volume” spam to “high-precision” AI-generated fraud.

5. Regulatory Horizons (2025-2026)

The regulatory environment for domain names is tightening, driven by European legislation and global cybersecurity concerns.

5.1 The NIS2 Directive

The implementation of the EU’s NIS2 Directive in late 2024 has fundamentally changed the WHOIS protocol. Registrars are now legally obligated to verify the identity of domain registrants within 24 hours of registration. This effectively ends the era of “anonymous” domaining in Europe and is expected to reduce the volume of “burnable” spam domains by 40% by 2026 [9]. While this increases compliance costs for registrars, it significantly raises the difficulty level for cybercriminals who rely on anonymity to operate botnets.

5.2 Blockchain vs. DNS

A major conflict is brewing between the traditional DNS (managed by ICANN) and blockchain-based domains. As of 2025, there are over 6 million blockchain domains registered [10]. The industry anticipates a “collision” event in 2026, where ICANN may release generic TLDs that conflict with existing blockchain extensions (e.g., a real .wallet vs. a crypto .wallet). Since blockchain domains do not natively resolve in browsers without plugins, this creates a “Split Root” scenario where a user might visit `.wallet` and see two different websites depending on their browser configuration, a chaos that legal bodies are scrambling to prevent.

Conclusion

For investors and brand managers, the strategy for 2026 requires a dual focus: Asset Quality and Defensive Agility. While the “long tail” of cheap domains dies out due to regulation, the value is concentrating in Semantic Authority (.ai) and National Trust (.sg). The winners will be those who recognize that a domain name is no longer just an address, but a verifiable proof of identity.

Accessing this value means a greater need for consumers to choose domain registrars such as CLDY, which prioritise benefits for consumers including clear pricing & fees, domain privacy (WHOIS), security features such as 2-Factor Authentication (2FA) and DNSSEC, support, ease of use, availability of domain Extensions (TLDs), easy transfer policy with no hidden restrictions or fees, ICANN accreditation, and choice of add-on services such as bundled hosting and email services.

However, the most pressing imperative is security. The “Defensive Gap” identified in the Global 2000 must be closed. As AI lowers the barrier for cybersquatting, brands can no longer rely on passive ownership; active monitoring and defensive registration in trusted “Clean Zone” jurisdictions are now baseline survival strategies for the decade ahead.

References

1. Verisign Domain Name Industry Brief (DNIB) Q4 2024
2. Verisign DNIB Year-Over-Year Growth Metrics
3. NameBio: The Rise of .ai Domains
4. DNJournal Year-to-Date Top Domain Sales 2024
5. Domain Name Wire: Major High-Value Domain Transactions
6. SGNIC Registration Statistics 2024-2025
7. SGNIC: Consumer Trust and Digital Identity Report
8. IMDA Singapore Digital Economy Report 2024
9. CENTR: The Impact of NIS2 on the European Domain Market
10. Dune Analytics: Aggregate Blockchain Domain Registrations (ENS + Unstoppable)
11. Escrow.com: Q1 2025 Global Domain Investment Index
12. CSA Singapore: Singapore Cyber Landscape Report 2024
13. WIPO: Singapore Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (SDRP) Statistics
14. Global Market Insights: Domain Name Registrar Market Projections 2024-2030
15. CSC: Domain Security Report 2024 – The Forbes Global 2000
16. Palo Alto Networks Unit 42: The Rise of AI Cybersquatting