Domains and WHOIS

What is a TLD (top-level domain)?

Everything after the final dot is a TLD, and it decides who runs the registry, which rules apply to the name and, to a large degree, what the renewal will cost.

A TLD, or top-level domain, is the last segment of a domain name: the .com in example.com, or the .in in example.co.in. It is the highest level of the domain name system below the root, and each TLD is operated by a registry that keeps the authoritative list of every name registered under it. The IANA root zone lists well over a thousand of them, in three broad families: generic TLDs such as .com, .org and .app, country-code TLDs such as .in, .uk and .de, and sponsored TLDs restricted to a community, such as .gov and .edu.

Worked out 2026-10-16 (IST) · the IANA root zone as managed under ICANN, which lists well over 1,000 top-level domains

The three families

Types of top-level domain
Type	Examples	Who can register	Notes
Generic (gTLD)	.com, .net, .org, .app, .shop, .online	Usually anyone	.com is the largest by a wide margin
Country-code (ccTLD)	.in, .uk, .de, .au, .jp	Varies: open to anyone, or only local presence	Two letters; each country sets its own policy
Sponsored (sTLD)	.gov, .edu, .mil, .museum	Only the eligible community	Verification is required
Internationalised	India’s .भारत, .рф, .中国	Varies	Written in non-Latin scripts and stored in DNS as xn-- codes

How a name is resolved through the levels

A domain name reads right to left. A resolver first asks a root server who runs "com", then asks that registry who runs "example.com", then asks that domain’s name server for the actual address. The TLD level is where your domain’s name server delegation is stored, which is why changing name servers at your registrar updates records at the registry rather than on your own server.

What a TLD changes in practice

Practical differences
Question	How the TLD affects it
Who holds the record of ownership	The registry for that TLD, via your registrar. For .com that is Verisign, for .in it is NIXI
Whether personal details show up in WHOIS	Policies differ; see is WHOIS information public and why WHOIS says redacted
How a transfer works	Generic TLDs follow ICANN’s policy; country codes use their own, as noted in the auth code guide
Dispute rules	UDRP for most generic TLDs; .in has its own INDRP
Renewal price	Set by the registry and the registrar; check the renewal rate first

Choosing between .com and .in

For a business selling mainly in India, .in is a sound choice and often cheaper at the start. For a brand with ambitions beyond India, or one that people will type from memory, .com is safer, and the usual advice is to register both and send one to the other. Whichever you pick, set the registrar lock on and note the expiry date; what happens when a domain expires explains how quickly a lapsed name can be taken by someone else.

Subdomains are not new TLDs

Anything to the left of the registered name, such as blog.example.com, is a subdomain you control freely and can create without cost; see what is a subdomain. Only the rightmost label is the TLD.

Sources: IANA Root Zone Database (the authoritative list of top-level domains and their sponsoring organisations), IETF RFC 1591 (domain name system structure and delegation) and RFC 5890-5894 (internationalised domain names).

Check your own numbers

Look up the registry, registrar and dates for any domain, whatever its TLD.

WHOIS LookupRegistrar, dates, name servers and status codes for any domain.

Frequently asked

Is .com better than .in for SEO?

No ranking system treats .com as inherently better. Google has said that country-code TLDs such as .in are a signal that a site targets that country, which can help for local search in India and is neutral to mildly useful elsewhere. A .com is easier to remember and is what most people try first, so brand and typing habits are the real reasons to prefer it. Newer generic TLDs such as .xyz or .online carry no ranking penalty, though some are heavily used for spam and are filtered by mail systems more aggressively.

What is the difference between a TLD and a second-level domain?

The TLD is the rightmost label. The second-level domain is the label directly to its left, the part you actually buy: in example.com, "com" is the TLD and "example" is the second-level domain. In names like example.co.in, ".co.in" works as a registered suffix, although technically .in is the TLD and .co is a second-level label the registry has created.

Who decides which TLDs exist?

ICANN oversees the root zone, and IANA, its functions operator, maintains the list. New generic TLDs are added through application rounds; the 2012 round delivered most of the hundreds that now exist, such as .app, .shop and .online. Country-code TLDs follow the two-letter ISO 3166 country list and are delegated to a national operator; for .in that is the National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI).

Why do some TLDs cost far more than others?

Price has three parts: the registry’s wholesale fee, the registrar’s margin, and ICANN’s small per-name fee. Legacy TLDs like .com have a regulated wholesale ceiling. Some new TLDs are priced as premium by the registry, and some are sold at a loss in the first year to attract registrations, which is why renewal can be many times the first-year price. Always read the renewal price before buying.

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