The New gTLDs: 52.9 Million Growing at Thirty-Four PercentThin moat
VeriSign (VRSN) — moat facet
The only rivals free to price to value, bundle and sell direct, growing 34% a year against .com's 5%.
The new gTLDs are the only competitor taking names from .com, and the growth rates are not close.
At the end of the second quarter of 2026 there were 52.9 million new-gTLD registrations, up 34.0% year over year, against 179.1 million .com and .net names growing 5.1%.1 Roughly a thousand suffixes — .xyz, .shop, .online, .ai, .top and the rest — operated by Identity Digital, Radix, GoDaddy Registry, CentralNic and others, all of them named as competitors in VeriSign's 10-K.2
The structural point is what they are permitted to do that VeriSign is not. A new gTLD operator sets its own price with no cap and no government approval, may bundle, may integrate forward into retail, and may charge a premium for a good name. VeriSign accepted the opposite of all four in exchange for .com. That asymmetry is why the marginal price-sensitive registration goes elsewhere: a first-year .xyz at a dollar against a .com at ten is not a close contest for somebody who has not decided the name matters yet.
What the field has not done in fourteen years of trying is dislodge the default. The 2012 round produced more than a thousand alternatives and .com and .net still hold about 45% of all registrations worldwide. The pattern is that new gTLDs win the experiment and .com wins the business that survives the experiment.
The number that would change the assessment is not new-gTLD growth, which is expected. It is the .com renewal rate falling while the total market grows — evidence that the alternatives are taking upgrades rather than trials.
Thirty-four percent growth against five percent is the clearest competitive deterioration in this company. The field has not dislodged the default in fourteen years, but it takes the marginal price-sensitive registration every quarter and the compounding is not in VeriSign's favour.
52.9 million new-gTLD registrations at the end of the second quarter of 2026 against 179.1 million .com and .net names. The field has not dislodged the default in fourteen years of trying, but it takes the marginal price-sensitive registration every quarter and its operators face none of the price, bundling or vertical-integration constraints VeriSign accepted for .com. This is the only genuine erosion in the picture.
Source: Domain Name Industry Brief, Q2 2026 ↗- ReportedNew generic TLD registrations were 52.9 million at the end of the second quarter of 2026, up 34.0% year over year, against 179.1 million .com and .net names growing 5.1%, out of 401.6 million worldwide.Domain Name Industry Brief Quarterly Report — 401.6 million domain name registrations across all top-level domains at the end of the second quarter of 2026, an increase of 9.1 million or 2.3% on the first quarter and 29.9 million or 8.1% year over year. The .com and .net TLDs had a combined 179.1 million registrations in the domain name base, up 3.0 million or 1.7% on the quarter. Country-code TLD registrations were 148.6 million, up 5.2 million or 3.6% year over year. New generic TLD registrations were 52.9 million, up 3.3 million or 6.7% on the quarter and 13.4 million or 34.0% year over year. — Q2 2026 · publ. 2026-07-23 · source ↗
- ReportedIdentity Digital, Radix, GoDaddy and CentralNic are named as registry competitors, and VeriSign is subject to a price cap, non-discriminatory registrar access, marketing and bundling limits and vertical-integration restrictions that do not apply to them.VeriSign, Inc., Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended 31 December 2025 (SEC, CIK 1014473) — Item 1, Business. VeriSign operates the .com and .net registries under registry agreements with ICANN, and .com additionally under a Cooperative Agreement with the U.S. Department of Commerce (most recently amended by Amendment 35 on 26 October 2018, automatically renewed on the same terms on 30 November 2024 for a successive six-year term, renewing again on 30 November 2030 unless the DOC gives notice). The .com Registry Agreement runs a six-year term that must be renewed or extended by 30 November 2030 and contains a presumptive right of renewal, with ICANN able to terminate or refuse in certain prescribed circumstances; it permits an increase to the Maximum Price of up to 7% over the previous year in each of the final four years of each six-year period, the current period having begun on 26 October 2024. The .net Registry Agreement was renewed on 29 June 2023, runs to 1 July 2029 and permits increases of up to 10% each year. VeriSign remits $0.2575 to ICANN quarterly for each annual .com registration and $0.25 for each .name registration. It also operates .cc under an agreement with the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, operates .name and internationalised gTLDs, provides back-end services for .edu, performs the Root Zone Maintainer function for ICANN and operates two of the thirteen global internet root servers. Retail pricing is established by registrars; VeriSign must provide ICANN-accredited registrars with non-discriminatory access, faces marketing and bundling limits, must submit new Registry Services for ICANN review, and is subject to vertical-integration restrictions that apply solely to .com — obligations it states do not apply to ccTLDs and other gTLDs and may create a competitive disadvantage. Named registry competitors include CentralNic, China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), DENIC eG, GoDaddy, Google, Identity Digital, Nominet, Public Interest Registry, Radix and .xyz. Employee headcount 928 (256 cost of revenues, 240 research and development, 432 selling, general and administrative). — FY2025 · publ. 2026-02-05 · source ↗