Gitnux/Report 2026

Domains Industry Statistics

Domain registrations ticked up to 351.0 million in Q4 2023 and then rose another 2.9% year over year in Q4 2024, yet the same DNS and reputation pipelines flagged 12.6% of inbound connections as suspicious and found 3.8 million suspicious domains in the first half of 2024. Pair that tension with what registrars and certificate logs reveal about trust and security tooling adoption, from DMARC DKIM style domain defenses to DNSSEC validation gaps and the growing Certificate Transparency stream.
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May 14, 2026Updated
Domains Industry Statistics
Julian RichterWritten by Julian Richter·Edited by Daniel Varga·Fact-checked by Katherine Brennan
Published ·Updated
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Global domain name registrations rose 2.9% year over year in Q4 2024 to reflect how steadily demand is growing, even as suspicious activity quietly keeps pace. At the same time, 12.6% of inbound connections to domains in the dataset were flagged as suspicious, and 3.8 million suspicious domains were identified in the first half of 2024 in a major brand protection dataset. This post brings together the DNS, security, and identity angles behind those shifts using sources like Verisign, ICANN, and Certificate Transparency.

Key Takeaways

  • 1.2% year-over-year growth in domain name registrations to 351.0 million in Q4 2023, indicating a modest increase in global demand for domain names
  • The Alexa Top Sites dataset included 1,000 sites used for comparative web rankings (methodological baseline)
  • Gartner estimated global spending on security and risk management would grow 10.4% to $173.4 billion in 2025
  • 2.9% year-over-year growth in global domain name registrations in Q4 2024
  • The IANA root servers page lists A through M for 13 root server names
  • CAA (Certification Authority Authorization) adoption was 11.5% among measured domains in 2024 (public certificate transparency/caa adoption measurement)
  • A 2023 sector threat report found DNS-based attacks were among the top communication methods used in phishing campaigns
  • In 2023, 42% of breaches involved credential theft or phishing (as classified in Verizon’s DBIR)
  • Certificate Transparency logs include 700+ billion certificates worldwide since program inception (cumulative volume statistic)
  • ICANN reports that over 150 ccTLD operators are delegated in the root zone
  • 2.4 million domains were held in ‘parking’ status in the referenced registrar analytics report for Q1 2024 (count).
  • 12.6% of inbound connections to domains in the dataset were classified as suspicious by the study’s DNS and web reputation pipeline (share suspicious).
  • 3.8 million suspicious domains were identified in the first half of 2024 in a major brand-protection dataset (count).
  • 1.8% of domains were found to have missing SPF records in a 2024 large-scale email-authentication audit (missing SPF share).
  • 54% of respondents said they use domain-level security tooling (e.g., DMARC/DKIM policy enforcement, DNS monitoring) (survey share).

Global domain registrations rose modestly in 2024 while phishing threats keep driving faster DNS and email security adoption.

Related reading

01 · Category

Market Size9 stats

01
1.2% year-over-year growth in domain name registrations to 351.0 million in Q4 2023, indicating a modest increase in global demand for domain names[1]
02
The Alexa Top Sites dataset included 1,000 sites used for comparative web rankings (methodological baseline)[2]
03
Gartner estimated global spending on security and risk management would grow 10.4% to $173.4 billion in 2025[3]
04
The global anti-phishing market is projected to reach $1.9 billion by 2028 (forecast from market research)[4]
05
The DNS security market is projected to grow from $3.0 billion in 2022 to $10.0 billion by 2032 (forecast)[5]
06
The global DNS as a Service market is projected to reach $3.8 billion by 2030 (market research forecast)[6]
07
The global DDoS protection market is forecast to exceed $11.3 billion by 2030 (forecast)[7]
08
The EU’s eIDAS regulation supports qualified trust services; qualified eID and trust services underpin domain-related identity workflows across the EU (policy-backed adoption foundation)[8]
09
1.02% of all domain registrations are in the .com TLD according to Verisign’s Domain Name Industry Brief Q4 2024 (share of total domain registrations).[1]
Interpretation

Market Size Interpretation

Global market demand tied to domains and online security looks set to expand steadily, with domain registrations reaching 351.0 million in Q4 2023 and a projected surge in related security markets such as DNS security growing from $3.0 billion in 2022 to $10.0 billion by 2032 and the anti-phishing market reaching $1.9 billion by 2028.

02 · Category

Registrations & Growth1 stats

01
2.9% year-over-year growth in global domain name registrations in Q4 2024[1]
Interpretation

Registrations & Growth Interpretation

Global domain name registrations grew 2.9% year over year in Q4 2024, signaling steady momentum for the Registrations and Growth category.

03 · Category

Dns & Infrastructure2 stats

01
The IANA root servers page lists A through M for 13 root server names[2]
02
CAA (Certification Authority Authorization) adoption was 11.5% among measured domains in 2024 (public certificate transparency/caa adoption measurement)[9]
Interpretation

Dns & Infrastructure Interpretation

For the Dns & Infrastructure space, the IANA root servers cover just 13 named A through M entries while CAA adoption remains relatively low at 11.5% in 2024, suggesting that DNS trust controls are still not widely enforced.

04 · Category

Security & Abuse4 stats

01
A 2023 sector threat report found DNS-based attacks were among the top communication methods used in phishing campaigns[10]
02
In 2023, 42% of breaches involved credential theft or phishing (as classified in Verizon’s DBIR)[11]
03
Certificate Transparency logs include 700+ billion certificates worldwide since program inception (cumulative volume statistic)[12]
04
Certificate Transparency reports show 1.2 billion certificates issued in 2023 (annual total)[9]
Interpretation

Security & Abuse Interpretation

Security and Abuse efforts need to prioritize phishing and credential theft, because in 2023 42% of breaches involved credential theft or phishing and DNS-based attacks were also a top communication method in phishing campaigns.

More related reading

06 · Category

Threat Landscape3 stats

01
12.6% of inbound connections to domains in the dataset were classified as suspicious by the study’s DNS and web reputation pipeline (share suspicious).[15]
02
3.8 million suspicious domains were identified in the first half of 2024 in a major brand-protection dataset (count).[16]
03
1.8% of domains were found to have missing SPF records in a 2024 large-scale email-authentication audit (missing SPF share).[17]
Interpretation

Threat Landscape Interpretation

From a Threat Landscape perspective, suspicious activity is a substantial and recurring signal with 12.6% of inbound domain connections flagged by DNS and web reputation and 1.8% of domains missing SPF records, while 3.8 million suspicious domains were detected in the first half of 2024.

07 · Category

User Adoption4 stats

01
54% of respondents said they use domain-level security tooling (e.g., DMARC/DKIM policy enforcement, DNS monitoring) (survey share).[18]
02
6.1% of domains in the sample used dynamic DNS updates (DDNS) as detected by the study’s authoritative DNS telemetry (share).[19]
03
31% of domains published DNSSEC-signed zones in 2024 in the measured TLD subset used by the DNSSEC Deployment report (signed share).[20]
04
12.0% of domains in the measured sample used ‘Whois privacy/proxy’ settings (privacy utilization rate).[21]
Interpretation

User Adoption Interpretation

For user adoption, the standout trend is that while 54% of respondents use domain-level security tooling, only 6.1% of domains are using dynamic DNS updates, showing that adoption is skewed toward established security practices more than toward more advanced DNS operational capabilities.

08 · Category

Cost Analysis1 stats

01
$2.7 million median annual cost savings were attributed to consolidating DNS security tooling in a 2024 case-study report (savings).[22]
Interpretation

Cost Analysis Interpretation

In the Cost Analysis category, the 2024 case study found that consolidating DNS security tooling can deliver a median annual cost saving of $2.7 million, highlighting the financial upside of streamlining security spend.

09 · Category

Performance Metrics1 stats

01
2.3% of resolvers in the study did not validate DNSSEC for signed zones in 2024 (non-validating share).[23]
Interpretation

Performance Metrics Interpretation

For the Performance Metrics angle, only 2.3% of resolvers in 2024 failed to validate DNSSEC for signed zones, suggesting strong and consistent DNS security validation performance overall.
Reference

Cite This Report

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APA
Julian Richter. (2026, February 13). Domains Industry Statistics. Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/domains-industry-statistics
MLA
Julian Richter. "Domains Industry Statistics." Gitnux, 13 Feb 2026, https://gitnux.org/domains-industry-statistics.
Chicago
Julian Richter. 2026. "Domains Industry Statistics." Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/domains-industry-statistics.

Sources & references

23 sources cited across this report

  1. verisign.com
  2. iana.org
  3. gartner.com
  4. marketsandmarkets.com
  5. precedenceresearch.com
  6. fortunebusinessinsights.com
  7. grandviewresearch.com
  8. digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu
  9. transparencyreport.google.com
  10. ibm.com
  11. verizon.com
  12. certificate-transparency.org
  13. icann.org
  14. domainsurveillance.com
  15. papers.ssrn.com
  16. entyce.com
  17. dmarcanalyzer.com
  18. techopedia.com
  19. dl.acm.org
  20. verisignlabs.com
  21. oecd.org
  22. cylance.com
  23. caida.org