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How many domains sit on parking nameservers?
October 2026 census edition
As of October 12, 2026, 23,442,886 domains (7.18% of the 326.4 million domains with nameservers in the Defaults.Exposed census) sit on dedicated parking nameservers (Afternic and Sedo), registered but pointed at a for-sale page rather than a real service.
Counts only the two dominant dedicated parking NS constellations; domains parked at general-purpose registrar nameservers are not included, so this is a floor.
Domains on parking NS: how it is measured
It comes from the delegation pass, which reads each domain’s nameserver records and attributes the delegation to the DNS (Domain Name System) operator that runs them. Every domain in the census is measured directly and counted once.
Parking nameservers belong to domain marketplaces, so this figure isolates names registered to be sold rather than used. They resolve, so they can be measured, but they would distort any average that included them, so they are counted separately.
The figure is an absolute count of domains rather than a sample scaled up. A domain the census could not decide on is left out rather than estimated.
It moves when operators sign zones, publish issuance restrictions, or change delegation. A large DNS provider can shift a percentage point on its own by changing one default for every customer at once. The number is recomputed from the raw evidence at every edition. What it cannot tell you is where one particular domain stands: for that, see fix your DNS records.
the full grading methodology · the underlying dataset, published open with the counts behind every percentage. If a figure here disagrees with one elsewhere on the site, the dataset is canonical and we would like to know.
Domains on parking NS: how to cite it
Please cite Defaults.Exposed and link this page. The citation below carries the date.
Defaults.Exposed, "How many domains sit on parking nameservers?" (as of October 12, 2026). https://defaults.exposed/stats/how-many-domains-sit-on-parking-nameservers
Permalink: https://defaults.exposed/stats/how-many-domains-sit-on-parking-nameservers · Machine-readable: /stats/s/parked-domains.json · Licence: open data
Methodology: how we grade the internet · Source data: census data and downloads. Updated with each census edition.