A naive count says 5% of new domain names are about AI because they contain “ai”. We sorted 139,357 matches from the week ending 21 October 2026 into explicit, likely, ambiguous and false: 0.41% of all new names are explicit AI references, 0.50% over the month. With extension densities, the AI vocabulary after cleaning, our method and a suggested citation.
Domain Extensions List: How Many TLDs Exist, Every Type, and Which Ones You Can Register
Written by Steven White ·
As of 22 October 2026 there are 1,437 domain extensions (top-level domains, or TLDs) in the internet’s root zone, according to IANA: 1,127 generic ones such as .com or .shop, 309 country codes such as .uk or .de (61 of them in non-Latin scripts) and one infrastructure domain, .arpa. Not all of them are for sale: 366 are closed “brand” TLDs used only by the company that owns them, and a few are reserved for governments, universities or treaty organisations. Register.Domains sells 1,186 extensions, 778 top-level domains plus 408 second-level ones such as .co.uk, and you can search all of them at once.
Verified on 22 October 2026 against IANA’s official TLD list (version 2026102200), the IANA Root Zone Database and ICANN’s gTLD registry data. The count changes a few times a year, so every figure below carries its source.
How many domain extensions are there?
IANA, the body that maintains the root of the Domain Name System, publishes the authoritative list. On 22 October 2026 it held 1,437 delegated TLDs. This is how they split by type:
| Type | How many | Examples | Who can register |
|---|---|---|---|
| Generic TLDs (gTLDs) under contract with ICANN | 1,123 | .com, .net, .org, .shop, .app | Mostly anyone; some have eligibility rules |
| … of which closed brand TLDs (“.brand”) | 366 | .google, .bmw, .amazon | Usually only the brand owner |
| … of which in non-Latin scripts (IDN gTLDs) | 90 | .com in Devanagari, .online in Cyrillic | Varies |
| US-government and treaty gTLDs (no ICANN contract) | 4 | .gov, .mil, .edu, .int | Only eligible institutions |
| Country-code TLDs (ccTLDs), two letters | 248 | .uk, .de, .ai, .io | Depends on each country’s registry |
| Country-code TLDs in other scripts (IDN ccTLDs) | 61 | .рф (Russia), .中国 (China) | Depends on each registry |
| Infrastructure | 1 | .arpa | Nobody (technical use) |
| Total in the root zone | 1,437 |
Sources: IANA tlds-alpha-by-domain.txt and Root Zone Database (generic 1,127 = 1,123 + 4; country code 309; special use 1); ICANN gTLD registry data, updated 22 October 2026, for the brand and IDN counts.
At the end of June 2026 all TLDs together held 401.6 million registered domain names, 179.1 million of them in .com and .net, according to Verisign’s Domain Name Industry Brief for the second quarter of 2026.
Why other lists say 1,500 or more
If you have seen “over 1,500 TLDs” or “1,593 TLDs”, the number is not invented, it just counts something else. IANA’s database lists 1,603 entries, but only 1,437 are live. The rest are:
- 153 retired TLDs: 138 generic extensions that were delegated and later removed, 11 internationalised test domains, and 4 old country codes (.an, .tp, .yu and .zr).
- 8 reserved names that will never be sold (see the section on extensions nobody can register).
- 5 country codes that are eligible but not assigned: .bl, .bq, .eh, .mf and .um.
The number of generic TLDs has also gone down. ICANN’s data shows the root peaked at 1,239 contracted gTLDs on 10 July 2017; since then removals have outpaced additions, to 1,123 today. In total, 138 of the gTLDs delegated since 2013 have been withdrawn, many of them company names. In 2026 alone .goo (February), .wolterskluwer (February) and .juniper (30 September) left the root, while .web, run by Verisign, was added on 23 July 2026.
| End of year | gTLDs under ICANN contract in the root |
|---|---|
| 2014 | 497 |
| 2015 | 889 |
| 2016 | 1,229 |
| 2017 (peak of 1,239 in July) | 1,233 |
| 2019 | 1,204 |
| 2021 | 1,174 |
| 2023 | 1,140 |
| 2025 | 1,124 |
| 22 October 2026 | 1,123 |
For perspective: when Jon Postel wrote RFC 1591 in March 1994, the generic TLDs were .edu, .com, .net, .org, .gov, .mil and .int, and he added: “It is extremely unlikely that any other TLDs will be created.”
Every type of domain extension, explained
- Legacy generic TLDs. The original extensions plus the ones ICANN added between 2000 and 2012 (.info, .biz, .mobi, .xxx and others). Full list in the next section, or browse our generic domains.
- New generic TLDs. The 1,105 extensions still delegated from ICANN’s 2012 programme, which received 1,930 applications: words like .shop, .app, .online, .xyz or .blog. Apart from the brand TLDs below, most are open to anyone. See new domain extensions.
- Brand TLDs. 366 gTLDs carry ICANN’s “Specification 13” brand status, such as .google or .bmw. Most are closed, but a few operate openly: we sell .sbs and .monster, among others. Our business and brand domains page groups the open business extensions.
- Geographic gTLDs. Generic extensions for a city or region, such as .nyc or .berlin. Check each one’s rules before registering. Browse geographic domains.
- Country-code TLDs (ccTLDs). Two letters taken from the ISO 3166 country list: .de, .uk, .br. Some are marketed worldwide as if they were generic, like .ai (Anguilla), .io or .co.
- Internationalised extensions (IDNs). 90 generic and 61 country-code TLDs written in Arabic, Chinese, Cyrillic, Devanagari and other scripts. See IDN domains and our analysis of .ai names in 57 languages.
- Second-level extensions. Not TLDs, but sold as if they were: .co.uk, .com.br or .com.au under a country code, and commercial ones like .us.com or .uk.com under .com. They make up 408 of the 1,186 extensions we sell.
- Infrastructure and reserved names. .arpa, used for technical lookups such as reverse DNS, and eight special-use names that can never be registered.
The original and legacy gTLDs: the full list
Twenty-two generic extensions were created before or outside ICANN’s 2012 programme. Dates come from ICANN’s registry data (RFC 1591 for the four without an ICANN contract); eligibility comes from each registry and from the requirements on our own extension pages.
| Extension | In the root since | Who can register | At Register.Domains |
|---|---|---|---|
| .com | 1985 | Anyone | Yes |
| .net | 1985 | Anyone | Yes |
| .org | 1985 | Anyone | Yes |
| .edu | before 1994 | US postsecondary institutions with recognised accreditation (EDUCAUSE) | Yes, if eligible |
| .gov | before 1994 | US government organisations only (CISA); free | No |
| .mil | before 1994 | US military | No |
| .int | before 1994 | Organisations created by a treaty between governments, one per organisation (IANA) | Yes, if eligible |
| .info | 2001 | Anyone | Yes |
| .biz | 2001 | No special requirements | Yes |
| .museum | 2001 | People and organisations in the museum field | Yes |
| .coop | 2001 | Cooperatives and organisations that serve or follow cooperative principles | Yes |
| .name | 2002 | Anyone | Yes |
| .aero | 2002 | Aviation businesses, with an ENS number from SITA | Yes |
| .pro | 2004 | Anyone | Yes |
| .travel | 2005 | Businesses or content connected to travel; no documents | Yes |
| .jobs | 2005 | Companies, under a name they are known by, for recruiting | Yes |
| .mobi | 2005 | Anyone | Yes |
| .cat | 2005 | The Catalan language and cultural community | Yes |
| .tel | 2007 | No special requirements | Yes |
| .asia | 2007 | Anyone | Yes |
| .xxx | 2011 | The adult entertainment industry, with proof | Yes |
| .post | 2012 | Run by the Universal Postal Union | No |
For the adult extensions that came later (.sex, .porn, .adult and others), see our adult domain extensions guide.
Country-code extensions: 248 codes, and who decides them
Country codes are not chosen by IANA. RFC 1591 says “the IANA is not in the business of deciding what is and what is not a country” and uses the ISO 3166 list instead. That is why a territory gets a ccTLD only when ISO gives it a code, and why some codes exist without a domain: IANA lists .bl (Saint Barthélemy), .bq (Caribbean Netherlands), .eh (Western Sahara), .mf (Saint Martin) and .um (US Minor Outlying Islands) as eligible but not assigned.
Codes can also disappear when a country does: .yu (Yugoslavia), .zr (Zaire), .tp (East Timor, now .tl) and .an (Netherlands Antilles) are retired.
For buyers, the important difference is the rules. Many country registries only accept local residents or companies. That is where a local presence (trustee) service helps: we offer it for 84 extensions, and our table of ccTLD local presence requirements explains which countries need it. Registration times also vary a lot by country; see how long registration takes by extension.
Of the 248 two-letter country codes, you can register 228 with us, at the top level or at a second level like .com.xx. The 20 we do not offer are .bt, .bv, .cd, .cu, .er, .gb, .gn, .gu, .ir, .kh, .km, .kp, .mh, .pg, .ru, .sj, .su, .sy, .sz and .va. Browse by region: Europe, Asia, Africa, Middle East, North America, South America and Oceania, or the European Union’s own .eu.
Extensions that exist but nobody can register
- Reserved special-use names, listed by IANA and never delegated: .test, .example, .invalid and .localhost (testing, documentation and loopback), .local (local network discovery), .onion (Tor), .alt (naming systems outside the DNS) and .internal (“used within private networks not intended for the global Internet”). If you use one of these on a private network, nobody can register it out from under you.
- .arpa, managed by the Internet Architecture Board for technical lookups.
- Closed brand TLDs: most of the 366 .brand extensions only hold the owner’s own sites.
- Government and treaty extensions: .gov, .mil, and .int and .edu for those who do not meet their rules.
What you can register with Register.Domains
| Our catalogue | Count |
|---|---|
| Active extensions | 1,186 |
| Top-level domains | 778 (555 generic, 223 country code) |
| Second-level extensions (.co.uk, .com.br, .us.com…) | 408 |
| Two-letter country codes available at some level | 228 of 248 |
| Extensions with a local presence (trustee) service | 84 |
| Extensions with private registration (WHOIS privacy) | 569 |
Source: Register.Domains extension catalogue, 7 October 2026, matched against IANA’s root zone on 22 October 2026.
WHOIS privacy is not available for every extension; our guide to domain privacy and WHOIS protection covers which ones and why. Prices change often and many extensions have a promotional first year, so we do not list them here: the live, sortable lists are our generic domain prices and country domain prices, which update on their own.
New extensions on the way: the 2026 round
The next wave has started. ICANN’s 2026 application round closed in August, and on 7 October 2026 ICANN reported 1,615 applications, including 333 brand applications and 16 community-based ones. The final list of applied-for strings is due on String Confirmation Day, 17 November 2026; ICANN has not announced when the first new extensions will reach the root. We track every applied-for string in our list of 2026 new gTLD applications.
Where to find the complete A-Z list
- Everything that exists: IANA’s plain-text file at data.iana.org/TLD/tlds-alpha-by-domain.txt, updated whenever the root changes, and the IANA Root Zone Database for the manager of each one.
- Everything you can buy: our live gTLD and ccTLD lists, or the international domains overview.
- Help choosing: the most popular TLDs, the best extension by industry, and the types of domain names.
A quick way to narrow 1,437 options down to one:
- Start with the market: a country code if you sell in one country, a generic if you sell everywhere.
- Check the rules before you fall for a name: local presence, documents, or industry proof.
- Look at the renewal price, not only the first year.
- Check whether WHOIS privacy is available if you register as an individual.
- Register the matching .com or country code too if your brand depends on it.
Ready to pick yours? Search a name across all 1,186 extensions and see which ones are free.
