Domain Name Industry for 2025: Global Growth, Renewal Trends, and What It Means for UAE Businesses

The domain name industry finished Q3 2025 with 378.5 million domain registrations across all top-level domains (TLDs). That is a quarterly increase of 6.8 million (+1.8%), and a year-over-year increase of 16.2 million (+4.5%).

At AEserver, we love these reports because they do more than confirm “growth.” They show where growth is coming from, and what renewal behavior says about real-world adoption. If you are a business in the UAE (or building for a UAE audience), these insights can help you pick domains smarter, protect your brand better, and avoid long-term headaches.

1) The world’s domain base is growing steadily

Here are the headline numbers from Q3 2025:

• All TLDs: 378.5M total registrations (+6.8M QoQ)
• .com + .net: 171.9M combined (+1.4M QoQ)
• ccTLDs (country-code domains): 144.8M (+1.4M QoQ)
• New gTLDs (ngTLDs): 42.9M (+3.4M QoQ)
• Other legacy gTLDs (excluding .com/.net): 18.9M (+0.7M QoQ)
• .ae domains reached 350,000 at the end of 2025.

2) .com and .net remain the anchor of the internet

As of September 30, 2025, the .com base reached 159.4M and .net reached 12.5M. Together, .com and .net make up 171.9M registrations.

New registrations were also strong: 10.6M new .com/.net registrations in Q3 2025 vs 9.3M in Q3 2024.

But one of the most meaningful signals in the report is renewal behavior: the preliminary combined renewal percentage for .com and .net was 75.3% in Q3 2025.

What this means in plain language: .com/.net still represent the most “stable” part of the domain market – names that are bought to be kept, renewed, and built on.

3) ccTLDs keep rising (and that matters for local trust)

Country-code domains (ccTLDs) reached 144.8M registrations in Q3 2025, up 1.0% quarter-over-quarter and 3.4% year-over-year.

For businesses in the UAE, this reinforces a long-standing reality: local domains improve local trust. A .ae domain immediately signals regional presence, intent, and credibility to customers in the UAE. Over 8,000 new .ae domains are added each month in 2025 showing an increasing demand for great & trendy names available for registration.

4) New gTLDs are growing fast, but renewals are the warning sign

New gTLDs (think endings like .shop, .online, .store, .site, .top, etc.) jumped to 42.9M registrations, growing 8.5% quarter-over-quarter and 21.0% year-over-year.

That growth is impressive, but there is a key detail many people miss:

• The report’s most recent combined renewal estimate for new gTLDs is 32.2%.

AEserver’s practical take:
New gTLDs can be excellent marketing domains (campaigns, product launches, short links), but you should be strategic. Many new gTLDs are driven by promos and short-term usage – so plan your renewals, pricing, and brand protection accordingly.

5) The biggest TLDs (and what renewal rates suggest)

The report lists the top 10 largest TLDs by total registrations as of Sept 30, 2025:

.com (159.4M), .cn (21.0M), .de (17.6M), .net (12.5M), .org (11.3M), .uk (10.2M), .ru (6.8M), .nl (6.1M), .xyz (5.9M), .br (5.5M).

Where renewal estimates are available, you see a big spread – .org at 86.2% on the high end, and .xyz at 19.5% on the low end.

What UAE businesses should do next

If you are registering domains for a UAE brand, here is a simple playbook that matches these trends:

1) Get the “core” domains right first

• Secure your primary brand in .ae (local trust) and .com (global recognition).
• Consider common variations (hyphens, plurals, key product names).

2) Use new gTLDs strategically, not emotionally

New endings like .shop or .online can work well for campaigns, but renewals across many new gTLDs are historically lower. Don’t build your entire brand identity on a domain you are not committed to renewing long-term.

3) Protect your brand early (and avoid disputes)

Before you register:

• Do a quick trademark/brand check (especially if the name is close to a known brand).
• Avoid registering names that could be interpreted as impersonation, brand-riding, or infringement.

4) Treat renewals like business continuity

• Turn on auto-renewal
• Keep billing info up to date
• Use domain lock and account security controls

A domain is not just a name – it is your email, your website, your customer trust, and often your revenue.

How AEserver can help

AEserver helps individuals and businesses in the UAE register and manage domains with a long-term mindset:

• Domain registration in the UAE (including .ae) and worldwide extensions
• Consultation for domain strategy (brand protection, naming, defensive registrations)
• Hosting, DNS, SSL and email services to launch quickly and run securely
• Support that understands the local market, policies, and practical realities of running online services in the region

If you are unsure which domain path to take (or you are planning a rebrand), reach out to AEserver and we will help you build a domain strategy you can confidently renew and grow for years.

Source / Attribution

This article summarizes key metrics from the Domain Name Industry Brief – Quarterly Report (Q3 2025) (DNIB.com, sponsored by Verisign).