Industry statistics: All-time record total of NZ domains
Have you ever considered how many .nz domains there are? The Domain Name Commission (DNC) releases monthly reports with the exact answer to that question.
In the last 12-months the total of registered .nz domains has been slowly climbing towards an all-time high. Our latest data confirms that the previous record has been surpassed.
How many .nz domains are there? #
The latest data shows .nz domains got off to a very strong start in 2026. On the back of steady growth throughout 2025, January had almost 2,000 new .nz domains created, taking us past the previous all-time-high of 758,495 registered domains.
As of March 2026 there are 764,987 .nz domains registered, a new record for concurrent .nz domain registrations.
February 2026 was the biggest month for .nz domains #
Month-on-month the total of .nz domains usually grows or shrinks by about 1,000 domains. In February 2026, domains grew by nearly 4,500.
The last time the .nz namespace grew this much in a single month was way back in March 2017 (which had an increase of 8,485). That noteworthy increase was attributable to the release of second level domain names which had previously been blocked for years.
What is the growth rate of .nz domains? #
Growth rate statistics show the percentage increase in domains from the year prior. March had 1.9% growth year-on-year, a big upturn from 0.5% growth in March 2025. If the current momentum continues we could be looking at growth rates above 2%, a rate unmatched since mid-2023.
How many .nz domains were created and deleted? #
The Domain Name Commission’s data shows domain creations have been trailing behind deletions since January 2023.
The raw amount of domains creations and deletions in any given month, without any 6-month averaging, shows there were significantly more new domains created in February and a big drop in deletes, followed by another big rise of creates again in March.
The data shows creations are currently outpacing deletions, with new creations increasingly likely to surpass the deletions tally once the Commission’s 6-month-rolling average catches up. The 6-month average is a lagging indicator, because it’s still "remembering" the high deletion months from late 2025.
Direct .nz domains growing the most #
A ~12,000 year-on-year increase in the namespace is significant. InternetNZ’s stats give us a better idea of where those new domains are coming from by highlighting the second-level domains (2LDs) driving the growth.
The most notable contributor to the growth is the .nz direct domain. The .nzdirect 2LD grew by 6,000 year-on-year (February 2026 to February 2025). That’s just over 50% of the total domain growth in that time. It’s a considerable amount for a 2LD that makes up around 22% of the .nz domain namespace (165,756 according to the latest data) .
A large chunk of the rest of the domain growth comes from .co.nz, with 6230 more domains than a year ago. Other big 2LDs like .net.nz (2.22% shrinkage) and .org.nz (0.62% growth) were somewhat stagnant.
Renewal rate stays steady #
Every month thousands of .nz domains reach their renewal date. The renewal ratio measures how many of the domains available for renewal in that time period are actually renewed. The renewal ratio of `.nz' domains is currently 85.4%.
For comparison, .au domains are currently only renewed at a 75% rate. In the UK, .uk domains are renewed 78-80% of the time.
The latest reported .nz price data #
The Domain Name Commission also provides the current median price for .nz domains, which we display on our home page. It’s a good reminder to compare prices from different retailers before you register a new domain.
Photo by Jason Dent on Unsplash