Who answers for a nation: authoritative DNS dependency by ccTLD
In the September 2026 census, 86,790,071 graded domains under 303 country-code top-level domains (ccTLDs) had nameservers on record. For 98.9% of them, every nameserver belongs to a single operator. Six large US operators run at least one nameserver for 29.0% of the domains: Cloudflare, AWS Route 53, GoDaddy, Google Cloud DNS (Domain Name System), Akamai and NS1. In 35 of the 60 largest ccTLDs, the operator that alone answers for the most domains is one of those six. In 11, it’s a group headquartered in the ccTLD’s own country, and in 12 more it’s a European hosting group based in another country.
“Operator” on this page means the company named in a domain’s nameserver host names. The census records those names and the nameservers’ IPv4 addresses. It doesn’t record where the machines are, and Cloudflare, Google and the other large operators answer from data centres in many countries over anycast. So this page is about corporate control: which companies run the DNS service behind each ccTLD’s domains. Where the answers physically come from is a question the census can’t answer. A ccTLD isn’t its registrants’ country either. Endings such as .io, .co, .ai, .me, .cc and .tv are sold worldwide, and many businesses register under .com instead, which this page doesn’t cover.
Figure 1. The six US operators and the largest domestic group, in the 20 largest ccTLDs. Each bar is the share of the ccTLD’s graded domains with at least one nameserver at either.
If one operator stopped answering
A domain whose nameservers all belong to one operator depends on that operator alone. If every one of its nameservers stopped answering, the domain would stop resolving once the answers that resolvers had cached expired. The census can’t see how often that happens. It can count how much of each ccTLD is exposed that way.
For each ccTLD, the table below names the operator with the most domains to itself. Among the 60 largest, the highest is .cc, where Cloudflare is the only operator for 58.2% of domains. Cloudflare holds the top spot in 26 of the 60 and GoDaddy in 9. A group based in the country holds it in 11, among them OVHcloud in France (32.0%), Aruba in Italy (33.3%) and REG.RU in Russia (27.9%). In 12 it belongs to a European hosting group based outside the country. Loopia leads in Sweden (33.3%) and Websupport in Slovakia (39.8%), both owned by Belgium-based team.blue. Several of these leaders changed hands recently. Zone, the leader in Estonia (44.8%), joined the Netherlands-based Your.Online in August 2026. Domeneshop, the leader in Norway (36.1%), has belonged to Sweden-based Miss Group since August 2024.
Figure 2. The share of each ccTLD’s domains whose every nameserver is one operator’s, for the operator with the most such domains.
The six US operators
Across all ccTLDs, Cloudflare runs at least one nameserver for 14.8% of domains and GoDaddy for 11.5%. The other four reach far fewer: Google Cloud DNS 1.1%, AWS Route 53 1.0%, NS1 0.5% and Akamai 0.1%. GoDaddy’s count includes the nameservers it runs for parked domains and domains listed for sale.
Among the 60 largest ccTLDs, the six run nameservers for more than half of the domains in 11. Most of those are endings marketed worldwide. The highest share is in .us (72.1%), where the six are domestic companies. Outside those worldwide endings and .us, the share is highest in Canada (59.5%), India (51.9%) and the United Kingdom (51.1%). It’s lowest in .рф, Russia’s Cyrillic-script ccTLD, at 4.9%, and under 15% in Germany (11.6%), France (13.0%) and Italy (13.4%).
Figure 3. The six US operators across every ccTLD the census graded.
Behind another company’s name
A nameserver’s name doesn’t always say whose network answers it. For 6,049,072 ccTLD domains, every nameserver carries another company’s name, yet every nameserver IPv4 address sits in Cloudflare’s published address ranges. Hostinger accounts for 2,758,949 of them. In the same way, 1,603,878 domains have nameservers under other names on Google Cloud DNS addresses, 1,488,869 of them Wix’s. For AWS Route 53 the count is 70,034.
The census can’t tell whether those queries are answered by the operator’s own DNS service or passed through its network to another company’s servers. Either way, they reach that operator’s network. Counting them, 37.9% of ccTLD domains have a nameserver named for one of the six or every nameserver on Cloudflare, Google Cloud DNS or Route 53 addresses, against 29.0% by name alone.
Figure 4. Domains reaching each operator by nameserver name, and by nameserver address under another company’s name. IPv4 addresses only.
The domestic operator
A group counts as domestic here when its headquarters is in the ccTLD’s country, following ownership through hosting groups to the operating parent. Investment funds above that aren’t followed. For .eu, any group headquartered in the EU counts.
Many national brands belong to groups based somewhere else, and they count under their group. World4You, the leader in Austria (11.6%), belongs to Germany-based United Internet, which also owns IONOS and Strato. WEDOS, the leader in Czechia (18.4%), names WEDOS Group SA in Luxembourg as its headquarters. one.com, the leader in Denmark (24.7%), belongs to group.one, which is headquartered in Sweden, and so do Hostnet in the Netherlands and Zoner in Finland. Loopia in Sweden belongs to team.blue in Belgium. Heart Internet in the UK, which GoDaddy owned until April 2024, now belongs to Your.Online in the Netherlands.
For 6 of the 60 largest ccTLDs (.cc, .ai, .io, .me, .tv and .nu), no group identified as based in the territory appears among the operators. That doesn’t mean there are none. Operators here are identified from their nameserver names, and a small local host may be among the many this page leaves unidentified. Where a domestic group is found, it reaches more domains than the six US operators together in 15 of the 60.
The 60 largest ccTLDs
Ranked by the largest single dependency: the share of the ccTLD’s domains whose every nameserver belongs to its leading operator. Every share is of the ccTLD’s graded domains with nameservers.
| # | ccTLD | Domains with nameservers | One operator | Six US operators | Largest single dependency | Largest domestic group |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | .cc Cocos (Keeling) Islands | 1,868,501 | 99.9% | 63.5% | Cloudflare 58.2% | none identified |
| 2 | .id Indonesia | 764,061 | 99.3% | 50.9% | Cloudflare 49.2% | Rumahweb 7.0% |
| 3 | .ee Estonia | 158,852 | 99.4% | 10.0% | Zone 44.8% | Radicenter 2.9% |
| 4 | .ca Canada | 2,659,493 | 98.5% | 59.5% | GoDaddy 40.0% | Web Hosting Canada 2.8% |
| 5 | .sk Slovakia | 401,486 | 99.1% | 7.7% | Websupport 39.8% | WebHouse 5.0% |
| 6 | .us United States | 1,251,770 | 99.4% | 72.1% | GoDaddy 38.6% | GoDaddy 53.0% |
| 7 | .in India | 2,601,346 | 99.5% | 51.9% | GoDaddy 38.2% | IndiaMART 0.9% |
| 8 | .ai Anguilla | 1,065,519 | 99.8% | 68.5% | GoDaddy 36.2% | none identified |
| 9 | .no Norway | 544,381 | 99.4% | 8.8% | Domeneshop 36.1% | Sircon 0.7% |
| 10 | .it Italy | 2,548,562 | 99.5% | 13.4% | Aruba 33.3% | Aruba 33.4% |
| 11 | .se Sweden | 1,266,819 | 99.3% | 10.7% | Loopia 33.3% | group.one (one.com) 18.6% |
| 12 | .co Colombia | 2,484,903 | 98.7% | 69.3% | GoDaddy 33.2% | MI.COM.CO 0.3% |
| 13 | .cn China | 4,690,360 | 99.9% | 34.2% | Cloudflare 33.2% | Alibaba Cloud 14.8% |
| 14 | .lt Lithuania | 175,943 | 97.8% | 15.3% | Interneto vizija (Serveriai.lt) 32.7% | Hostinger 27.2% |
| 15 | .kz Kazakhstan | 126,417 | 99.5% | 15.1% | PS Internet Company 32.7% | PS Internet Company 33.0% |
| 16 | .рф Russia | 431,670 | 99.8% | 4.9% | REG.RU 32.1% | REG.RU 32.1% |
| 17 | .fr France | 3,183,000 | 99.2% | 13.0% | OVHcloud 32.0% | OVHcloud 32.2% |
| 18 | .my Malaysia | 328,925 | 99.6% | 34.1% | Cloudflare 32.0% | ServerFreak 1.8% |
| 19 | .nu Niue | 130,606 | 99.4% | 9.5% | Loopia 31.6% | none identified |
| 20 | .pk Pakistan | 121,968 | 99.4% | 33.2% | Cloudflare 31.1% | HosterPK 2.2% |
| 21 | .il Israel | 200,661 | 99.0% | 35.7% | Cloudflare 31.1% | Wix 6.5% |
| 22 | .uk United Kingdom | 7,169,655 | 98.8% | 51.1% | GoDaddy 29.3% | 20i 2.7% |
| 23 | .io British Indian Ocean Territory | 1,053,073 | 99.4% | 64.6% | Cloudflare 28.7% | none identified |
| 24 | .tr Türkiye | 528,349 | 99.4% | 29.6% | Cloudflare 28.4% | Hosting.com.tr 2.5% |
| 25 | .tv Tuvalu | 244,750 | 99.4% | 53.9% | GoDaddy 28.3% | none identified |
| 26 | .au Australia | 2,637,349 | 99.0% | 48.3% | GoDaddy 27.9% | VentraIP / Synergy Wholesale 8.9% |
| 27 | .ru Russia | 4,423,785 | 99.5% | 9.7% | REG.RU 27.9% | REG.RU 27.9% |
| 28 | .kr South Korea | 527,778 | 99.4% | 18.7% | Cafe24 27.1% | Cafe24 27.1% |
| 29 | .me Montenegro | 841,104 | 98.1% | 57.3% | Cloudflare 26.7% | none identified |
| 30 | .mx Mexico | 755,688 | 99.3% | 43.6% | GoDaddy 25.0% | Neubox 4.9% |
| 31 | .dk Denmark | 975,830 | 99.6% | 11.3% | one.com 24.7% | Nordicway 1.8% |
| 32 | .ua Ukraine | 339,777 | 96.2% | 21.6% | inhostedns (unidentified) 23.5% | Internet Invest (Imena.ua, MiroHost) 10.7% |
| 33 | .ie Ireland | 210,485 | 99.2% | 20.7% | Blacknight 23.0% | Irish Domains 1.7% |
| 34 | .tw Taiwan | 257,934 | 99.4% | 36.9% | Cloudflare 22.9% | HiNet 10.9% |
| 35 | .gr Greece | 406,256 | 98.9% | 23.6% | Cloudflare 22.2% | CretaForce 2.7% |
| 36 | .za South Africa | 1,077,956 | 99.3% | 20.9% | Xneelo 22.0% | Xneelo 22.0% |
| 37 | .ng Nigeria | 135,798 | 99.4% | 24.8% | Cloudflare 22.0% | QServers 5.0% |
| 38 | .vn Vietnam | 375,636 | 99.1% | 21.8% | Cloudflare 21.1% | Mat Bao 13.9% |
| 39 | .cl Chile | 483,338 | 98.9% | 28.6% | Cloudflare 21.1% | BlueHosting 5.4% |
| 40 | .nz New Zealand | 488,190 | 99.4% | 39.1% | Cloudflare 20.7% | 1st Domains 12.3% |
| 41 | .ar Argentina | 442,422 | 99.3% | 32.1% | Cloudflare 20.6% | DonWeb 13.5% |
| 42 | .br Brazil | 3,685,719 | 99.6% | 24.8% | Cloudflare 18.7% | Registro.br 17.6% |
| 43 | .cz Czechia | 1,098,770 | 99.1% | 8.7% | WEDOS 18.4% | regZone 3.5% |
| 44 | .si Slovenia | 132,433 | 98.7% | 15.3% | NEOSERV 17.7% | NEOSERV 17.8% |
| 45 | .ro Romania | 486,206 | 98.5% | 19.8% | Cloudflare 17.7% | ROMARG 11.7% |
| 46 | .jp Japan | 1,356,790 | 98.4% | 12.2% | Xserver 17.6% | GMO Internet Group (GMO Pepabo, GMO Internet and others) 19.2% |
| 47 | .ae United Arab Emirates | 151,009 | 99.2% | 20.8% | Cloudflare 16.9% | Etisalat 9.3% |
| 48 | .pt Portugal | 307,643 | 99.2% | 18.3% | Cloudflare 15.9% | PTServidor 2.2% |
| 49 | .rs Serbia | 125,668 | 99.1% | 14.3% | Loopia 15.1% | Unlimited.rs 7.6% |
| 50 | .de Germany | 11,352,739 | 97.1% | 11.6% | IONOS 14.8% | United Internet (IONOS, Strato and others) 35.6% |
| 51 | .ch Switzerland | 1,682,183 | 98.9% | 9.7% | Infomaniak 14.5% | Infomaniak 14.5% |
| 52 | .ir Iran | 601,320 | 99.4% | 14.3% | Cloudflare 14.2% | Netafraz 12.1% |
| 53 | .es Spain | 1,339,033 | 99.0% | 21.8% | Cloudflare 13.2% | DonDominio 3.0% |
| 54 | .pl Poland | 1,901,867 | 99.3% | 15.1% | Cloudflare 13.0% | cyber_Folks 8.4% |
| 55 | .hu Hungary | 667,366 | 97.9% | 8.4% | dns24.hu (unidentified) 12.6% | Mediacenter 4.4% |
| 56 | .at Austria | 906,284 | 98.4% | 14.1% | World4You 11.6% | Domaintechnik 1.6% |
| 57 | .fi Finland | 414,835 | 97.1% | 16.1% | Cloudflare 11.2% | Louhi 4.5% |
| 58 | .eu European Union | 2,166,572 | 98.8% | 18.0% | Cloudflare 10.7% | United Internet (IONOS, Sedo and others) 18.9% |
| 59 | .nl Netherlands | 3,745,630 | 99.2% | 14.0% | Cloudflare 10.1% | Mijndomein 5.0% |
| 60 | .be Belgium | 1,088,103 | 99.1% | 13.3% | OVHcloud 9.4% | team.blue (Combell, Vimexx and others) 19.7% |
| All 303 ccTLDs | 86,790,071 | 98.9% | 29.0% |
For .us, the six US operators are domestic, so its largest domestic group is one of them.
How the count was taken
The population is every domain the census graded under a two-letter TLD or an internationalised TLD that IANA (Internet Assigned Numbers Authority) lists as a country code, 87,421,191 domains under 303 ccTLDs. The base for every share is the 86,790,071 of them whose NS records the census captured. The census reads NS records only for domains it grades, so dead domains aren’t in it. Each ccTLD’s graded count matches the site’s published TLD table, apart from a difference of 5 domains in .us.
Each nameserver host name is reduced to its registered domain, such as cloudflare.com for ada.ns.cloudflare.com. Many operators publish their nameservers under several domains, so a map ties each operator’s domains together, for example IONOS’s four ui-dns domains or Aruba’s technorail.com and arubadns.net. Domains the map doesn’t name are grouped automatically when they share a name, such as inwx.de and inwx.eu, or almost always appear together. A domain has one operator when every nameserver it lists falls under the same one.
The map records the group that controls each operator and where that group is headquartered, from the companies’ own pages and published acquisitions as they stood in October 2026. The six US operators were fixed before the count. Microsoft’s Azure DNS, Namecheap and other US companies aren’t among them, so the six’s share is a floor for US-based operators as a whole: all identified US-based groups together run a nameserver for 33.9% of ccTLD domains.
The address figures use the nameserver IPv4 addresses the census captured. A domain counts for an operator when every one of those addresses falls in the ranges that operator publishes for its nameservers. IPv6 addresses aren’t checked.
What the census can’t see
- Where any nameserver is. Anycast puts the same address in many countries, so the operator’s name says nothing about where a query is answered.
- Whether the registrant is in the ccTLD’s country. Many aren’t, and many businesses in each country use other endings.
- Nameservers outside the NS records the census read, such as hidden primary servers that feed an operator’s public ones.
- Which company answers behind a white-label name on networks other than the three whose ranges it checks.
- Changes in ownership after the operator map was checked in October 2026.
See your own
The free scan includes a nameserver diversity check in a domain’s grade. The DNS guide covers what to look for in a nameserver set.
Figures as of 5 September 2026, from the September 2026 edition of the defaults.exposed census. Operator ownership was checked in October 2026. Census numbers move every month; the current values are on the data page.