Registry

A registry (also called a registry operator) is the organization that operates the authoritative database for a TLD — recording every domain registered under that extension, maintaining the zone file that maps those names to nameservers, and publishing the data that makes queries across the DNS work. Registries sit at the top of the domain-name supply chain, above registrars and registrants.

What a registry does

A registry's core function is to maintain the authoritative database — often called the registry database or shared registration system — for every domain under its TLD. When a domain is created, renewed, transferred, or deleted, the registry records the change. The registry also publishes the TLD zone file: the set of nameserver delegations that tell the global DNS where to send queries for names under that TLD.

In addition to database management, most registries operate or contract for the authoritative nameservers for their TLD (often called the TLD nameservers). These servers answer queries from resolvers asking, for example, "which nameservers are authoritative for example.com?" and return the answer from the registry's zone file.

Beyond technical duties, registries:

• Set wholesale pricing — the price registrars pay per domain, per year.
• Draft and enforce registration policies — eligibility requirements, acceptable-use rules, and sunrise/trademark-protection periods for new extensions.
• Operate WHOIS / RDAP lookup services exposing registration data to the public.
• Coordinate with ICANN under a registry agreement that defines obligations and performance standards (ICANN Registry Agreements).

Registry vs. registrar vs. registrant

The domain-name industry is organized around a three-tier model established by ICANN:

Registries and registrars are both accredited by ICANN, but they serve distinct roles. A registry may not also act as a retail registrar for its own TLDs under ICANN's vertical-separation rules (with limited exceptions). This separation is intentional: it prevents a registry from giving itself preferential pricing or preferential access to desirable names ahead of the public.

How the registry–registrar model works

The technical bridge between registry and registrar is the Extensible Provisioning Protocol (EPP), an XML-based protocol defined in RFC 5730. Registrars connect to the registry's EPP server to perform domain lifecycle operations: check (is a name available?), create, renew, transfer, update, and delete.

Under this model:

1. A registrar concludes a Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA) with ICANN and a separate registry–registrar agreement with each registry whose TLDs it wants to sell.
2. The registry charges the registrar a wholesale fee (for example, Verisign charges accredited registrars roughly $10.26/year for a .com as of 2024).
3. The registrar adds its margin and sells at a retail price to the registrant.
4. The registrar submits EPP commands to the registry, which updates the authoritative database and zone file — making the domain live across the DNS within minutes.

This architecture, sometimes called the shared registry system (SRS), means a single registry can support hundreds of competing registrars simultaneously, all writing to the same authoritative database via standardized EPP transactions. Competition at the registrar tier keeps retail prices down without giving any single reseller a monopoly on access to the TLD.

Examples

Generic TLD registries

• Verisign operates .com and .net, the two largest gTLDs by registration volume. Its registry agreement with ICANN is publicly available and widely cited as the reference model (IANA root database entry for .com).
• Public Interest Registry (PIR) operates .org, originally established as a non-profit registry to serve non-commercial organizations.
• Identity Digital (formerly Donuts and Afilias) is one of the largest operators of delegated new gTLDs, running hundreds of extensions such as .blog, .online, .store, and .news.

Country-code TLD registries

ccTLD registries operate under national or territorial authority rather than ICANN gTLD agreements, though many still interact with registrars via EPP:

• Nominet (.uk) — the registry for the United Kingdom, a non-profit organization founded in 1996.
• DENIC (.de) — the cooperative registry for Germany, run by a member organization of registrars.
• AFNIC (.fr) — the registry for France, operated under a delegation from the French government.
• VeriSign / CNNIC (.cn) — China's country-code registry, operated by the China Internet Network Information Center.

ccTLD registries are listed in the IANA root database at iana.org/domains/root/db, which is the authoritative inventory of all TLD delegations worldwide.

New gTLD registries

Before 2012, the set of generic TLDs was small and stable — .com, .net, .org, .info, .biz, and a handful of others. ICANN's New gTLD Program, launched in 2012, opened applications for almost any string as a new gTLD. Over 1,200 new extensions were ultimately delegated.

New gTLD registries operate under a Registry Agreement with ICANN that imposes technical requirements (EPP support, DNSSEC, RDAP), performance standards (system availability, query response times), and policy obligations (abuse mitigation, trademark-protection mechanisms such as the Trademark Clearinghouse sunrise period and the Uniform Rapid Suspension system).

ICANN maintains the full list of registry agreements for new gTLDs at icann.org/en/registry-agreements.

Registries and tokenized domains

A small number of alternative domain namespaces — notably Unstoppable Domains and ENS (Ethereum Name Service) — issue domain-like names anchored on public blockchains rather than in an ICANN-coordinated DNS zone. In these systems, ownership is recorded in a smart contract rather than in a registry database, and resolution requires a browser extension or a compatible resolver rather than the standard DNS lookup path.

These blockchain-based namespaces are not delegated in the IANA root and are not visible to ordinary DNS resolvers by default. They operate independently of the ICANN registry system described above.