# TLD Directory — full blog text Publisher: FreeOnlineBox (https://freeonlinebox.com/) Contact: loemmaai@gmail.com Articles: 11 Note on numbers: this site does not publish invented statistics. Price figures are collected from registrars and openly licensed datasets, each with a provenance label and an evidence date. Cite the dataset date, not the date you read the page. --- # Do Domain Extensions Affect SEO? Source: https://freeonlinebox.com/tools/tldlist/blog/do-domain-extensions-affect-seo/ Published: 2026-11-09 Tags: SEO, ccTLD, gTLD Question: Do domain extensions affect SEO? Answer: Choosing a .com over a newer generic TLD does not give you a ranking boost by itself: Google treats any TLD that resolves through the IANA DNS root zone as a generic TLD unless IANA lists it as a country code. The exception is geographic targeting — a ccTLD such as .de or .cn is a strong signal that a site is intended for one country, and Google explicitly says some vanity ccTLDs (.io, .ai, .co, .tv, .me) are treated as generic instead. ## The short answer There is no published Google ranking factor that rewards one generic top-level domain over another. Google Search Central states that, unless ICANN lists a TLD as a country-code TLD, any TLD that resolves through the IANA DNS root zone is treated as a gTLD. That puts .com, .org, .dev, .shop and hundreds of newer extensions in the same bucket for ranking purposes. What does change is how users read the address. A familiar extension can improve click-through and memorability, and those are real business outcomes — but they are not a ranking signal and should not be sold as one. ## The real exception: country targeting Google lists country-code top-level domains as one of the signals it uses to determine a page’s target locale. A .de domain is a strong, explicit hint that the site is intended for Germany. This is useful if you serve one market and a disadvantage if you plan to expand, because a ccTLD can only target a single country. Google also publishes a list of ccTLDs it treats as generic because people use them that way — including .ai, .io, .co, .me, .tv and .cc. Registering one of those for a global product does not quietly geo-target your site. ## What to do instead of chasing an extension If you serve several countries, a generic TLD plus locale-specific URLs and hreflang annotations is more flexible than buying a ccTLD for each market. Google documents all three URL patterns (country-specific domains, subdomains and subdirectories) and notes that geotargeting is not an exact science. - Pick an extension your audience can read, spell and trust — then keep it for years. - Use subdirectories or subdomains plus hreflang for language and region variants. - Do not migrate an established domain purely for an extension change; the short-term disruption is real and the ranking upside is unproven. - Check registry rules before buying a ccTLD: some have local-presence requirements. ## FAQ Q: Does .com rank better than .io or .dev? A: No. Google’s documentation treats every TLD in the IANA root zone that is not a country code as a generic TLD, and explicitly lists .io as a ccTLD it treats as generic. .com may earn more clicks from users, but that is a trust and familiarity effect, not a ranking factor. Q: Is a ccTLD good for local SEO? A: Yes, as a geotargeting signal. Google names country-code TLDs as one of the signals for a page’s target locale. The trade-off is that a ccTLD can only target one country and some registries restrict who may register. Q: Do I need to move my site to a new TLD to rank internationally? A: No. Google recommends locale-specific URLs, hreflang annotations and explicit links for multi-regional sites. A generic TLD with subdirectories such as example.com/de/ is a documented, low-maintenance option. ## Sources - Google Search Central — Managing multi-regional and multilingual sites — https://developers.google.com/search/docs/specialty/international/managing-multi-regional-sites - IANA Root Zone Database — https://www.iana.org/domains/root/db --- # How to Read a Registrar Price Table Without Being Misled Source: https://freeonlinebox.com/tools/tldlist/blog/how-to-read-a-registrar-price-table/ Published: 2026-11-09 Tags: Pricing, Data quality Question: How do you read a registrar price table without being misled? Answer: Read the renewal column, not the first-year promo. A registration price is often discounted for year one, while the renewal price is what you pay every year afterwards; transfer, redemption and privacy add-ons are separate line items. A comparison table should also tell you when each quote was collected and whether it came from a registrar’s own price list or from an older snapshot. ## Four prices that are easy to confuse Registrar price lists mix several different charges. Comparing the wrong two columns is the most common reason a "cheapest registrar" table looks wrong a year later. - Registration (first year): frequently discounted by promo codes or bundles. - Renewal: the recurring yearly fee, usually at standard retail price. - Transfer: moving to another registrar; normally extends the expiry by one year. - Redemption / restore: recovering a domain after expiry, typically far more expensive than renewal. ## Check the evidence date, not just the number A price is a statement about a point in time. On this site each offer carries its own provenance: First-party means it was read from a registrar’s published price list, Snapshot means it comes from a dated open dataset, and Stale means the evidence is more than 30 days old and should be treated as a historical reference rather than a current quote. Offers past their evidence window are marked with a down arrow instead of being quietly shown as current. If a comparison site shows a single "from $X" figure with no date, no currency and no renewal column, you cannot tell what you are buying. ## A five-minute verification routine Use a comparison table to shortlist, then verify the two or three finalists on the registrar’s own site. Prices change, promotions expire, and taxes or local-currency billing can move the effective total. - Open the registrar’s published price list and confirm the renewal price for the exact TLD. - Check whether WHOIS/RDAP privacy is included or billed separately. - Check transfer-out conditions and any minimum-term commitment. - Multiply the renewal price by the number of years you expect to hold the name. - Note the date you checked it — that is your own evidence date. ## FAQ Q: Why is the first year so much cheaper than the renewal? A: Introductory pricing is a customer-acquisition discount. The recurring renewal price is the registrar’s standard retail rate, so a five-year comparison should be built mostly from renewals. Q: What does a "stale" price mean on TLD List? A: The evidence behind that offer is more than 30 days old. It is kept visible as a historical reference and marked with a down arrow, but it is not presented as a current quote. The exact rule is documented on the data sources page. Q: Do you receive commission from registrars? A: No. Rankings on this site are computed from published prices alone, and the site is not affiliated with ICANN, any registry or any registrar. ## Sources - TLD List — Data sources and provenance labels — https://freeonlinebox.com/tools/tldlist/data-sources/ - IANA delegated TLD list (plain text) — https://data.iana.org/TLD/tlds-alpha-by-domain.txt --- # What Is the IANA Root Zone Database? Source: https://freeonlinebox.com/tools/tldlist/blog/what-is-the-iana-root-zone-database/ Published: 2026-11-09 Tags: Reference, IANA Question: What is the IANA Root Zone Database? Answer: The IANA Root Zone Database is the authoritative public record of top-level domains delegated in the DNS root zone, maintained by IANA. It tells you that a TLD exists, who manages it and which name servers serve it — but it does not contain retail prices, registration rules for individual registrars, or domain availability. ## What the database actually records The root zone is the top of the DNS hierarchy. A delegation in it is what makes an extension resolvable worldwide. IANA publishes each delegated TLD with its manager and the technical delegation data, plus a plain-text list of delegated names that machines can consume. TLD List builds its catalogue from that data. Every extension shown here is checked against the synced IANA dataset before it is displayed as verified, and the site shows when the catalogue was last synced. ## What it does not tell you This is where a lot of confusion starts. The root zone database is a technical delegation record, not a shopping catalogue. - No prices: registrars set retail prices independently, and those are collected separately. - No availability: whether a specific second-level name is free is a registry/registrar question. - No eligibility policy detail: some ccTLDs and sponsored TLDs restrict who may register. - No renewal terms, refund rules or transfer conditions. ## How to use it as a buyer Use the root zone database as a reality check before paying for anything unusual. If an extension is not delegated, it is not a normal public TLD. Then use a price comparison for cost and the registrar’s own terms for everything else. ## FAQ Q: Is the IANA Root Zone Database the same as a WHOIS database? A: No. The root zone database lists delegated TLDs and their managers. Registration data for individual domain names is queried separately through RDAP, which replaced the WHOIS protocol for gTLD registration data. Q: Does appearing in the root zone mean I can register that TLD? A: Not necessarily. Delegation is a technical fact; registration eligibility is a policy question set by the registry. Some TLDs are restricted to a community, an organisation type or residents of a country. Q: How often does TLD List sync its catalogue? A: The synced dataset carries its own generation timestamp, shown on the homepage and documented on the data sources page. The date displayed is the dataset date, not the page build date. ## Sources - IANA Root Zone Database — https://www.iana.org/domains/root/db - IANA delegated TLD list (plain text) — https://data.iana.org/TLD/tlds-alpha-by-domain.txt - ICANN Lookup (RDAP) — https://lookup.icann.org/ --- # How Can You Tell Whether a TLD Is Real? Source: https://freeonlinebox.com/tools/tldlist/blog/how-to-verify-a-tld-is-real/ Published: 2026-11-09 Tags: Reference, IANA Question: How can you tell whether a TLD is real? Answer: Check the extension against the IANA delegated TLD list. If the string is not in the public root zone, it is not a normally registrable public TLD — it may be an internal name, a special-use name such as .onion, or a made-up marketing term. For anything that is delegated, also check the registry’s eligibility rules before assuming you can register it. ## Three checks, in order Start with the authoritative list rather than a search result or a registrar’s landing page. Then separate "exists" from "available to you". - Look up the exact string in the IANA delegated list (the plain-text file is easiest to grep). - Check its classification: generic, country-code, internationalized or special-use. - Check the registry’s eligibility rules — delegation does not imply anyone may register. ## Common false positives Special-use names such as .onion are reserved for a specific technical purpose and are not sold as ordinary domains. Internal or made-up suffixes used inside a company network are also not part of the public root zone. Internationalized TLDs add another trap: the Unicode form you see and the punycode (xn--) form used in DNS are the same delegation written two ways. ## Why this matters before you pay A non-delegated suffix cannot be a normal public domain, so any invoice for one deserves scrutiny. Even for a delegated TLD, a very cheap first year can hide a restricted renewal policy or a local-presence requirement. Verify the extension, then verify the terms. ## FAQ Q: Is .onion a real TLD? A: It is a special-use name reserved for a technical purpose, not a public TLD you can register through a normal registrar. It is not part of the ordinary delegated root zone catalogue. Q: Why do some TLDs appear as xn-- names? A: Internationalized domain names are written in Unicode for people and encoded as punycode (an xn-- prefix) for DNS. Both forms refer to the same delegation. Q: Can I trust a registrar that offers an extension I cannot find on IANA? A: Ask for clarification before paying. It may be a subdomain product, a private namespace or a marketing name rather than a delegated TLD. ## Sources - IANA Root Zone Database — https://www.iana.org/domains/root/db - IANA delegated TLD list (plain text) — https://data.iana.org/TLD/tlds-alpha-by-domain.txt - TLD List — Internationalized TLDs — https://freeonlinebox.com/tools/tldlist/category/internationalized/ --- # TLD vs Domain vs Subdomain: What Actually Differs Source: https://freeonlinebox.com/tools/tldlist/blog/tld-vs-domain-vs-subdomain/ Published: 2026-11-09 Tags: Basics, DNS Question: What is the difference between a TLD, a domain and a subdomain? Answer: A TLD is the rightmost label of the DNS hierarchy, such as .com or .de. A domain is a name registered under a TLD, such as example.com. A subdomain is a label you create underneath a domain you already control, such as tools.example.com — it needs no separate registration and does not appear in the IANA root zone. ## Read a name from right to left In tools.example.com, the rightmost label "com" is the top-level domain, "example" is the second-level name that was registered, and "tools" is a subdomain. The dot is the separator, and the hierarchy narrows as you move left. This is why a subdomain is not a TLD and cannot be bought from a registry: it is a record inside a zone you already control. ## Who controls which part The registry operates a TLD and publishes its rules. A registrar sells registrations under it. Once you register a domain, you control its DNS zone and can create subdomains freely. That split is the reason "registry vs registrar" is a separate question from "which extension should I buy". - TLD: delegated in the root zone, managed by a registry, listed by IANA. - Registered domain: the name you pay a registrar to hold for a term. - Subdomain: a record you create in your own zone; free and unlimited in principle. ## Why the distinction matters in practice Price comparisons apply to registered domains, not subdomains. Geotargeting guidance applies mostly to the TLD and your URL structure. And cookies, certificates and search-engine property verification all behave differently depending on which level you set them at. ## FAQ Q: Is "www" a TLD? A: No. It is a conventional subdomain label under a registered domain. It appears in DNS records for that domain, not in the IANA root zone. Q: Can I register a subdomain? A: Not from a domain registrar. You create subdomains in the DNS zone of a domain you already control. Services that "give" you a subdomain are letting you use a name inside their own domain. Q: Is a country-code second-level suffix (like .co.uk) a TLD? A: The delegated TLD is .uk. Suffixes such as .co.uk are registry-defined second-level labels under it, governed by that registry’s rules rather than listed separately in the root zone. ## Sources - IANA Root Zone Database — https://www.iana.org/domains/root/db - TLD List — How DNS and domain names work — https://freeonlinebox.com/tools/tldlist/guides/how-dns-and-domain-names-work/ --- # What Actually Happens When a Domain Expires Source: https://freeonlinebox.com/tools/tldlist/blog/what-happens-when-a-domain-expires/ Published: 2026-11-09 Tags: Lifecycle, Registration Question: What actually happens when a domain expires? Answer: Expiry is a staged process, not an instant deletion: the name normally passes through an auto-renew grace period, a redemption or restore stage, and then a pending-delete stage before it can be registered by someone else. The exact number of days at each stage depends on the registry and your registrar’s terms, so the only reliable source for your own deadline is your registrar’s expiry policy. ## The stages, in plain English A domain is rented for a term. When the term ends, the registry and registrar follow a documented sequence designed to give the holder a chance to recover the name before it is released. - Auto-renew grace: the registration has lapsed but can usually still be renewed at the normal price. - Redemption / restore: the name has been removed from the zone and recovering it requires a paid restore operation. - Pending delete: the name is queued for release and can no longer be recovered by the previous holder. - Drop: the name becomes available for general registration again. ## Why we do not print a universal day count Many articles quote a fixed number of days for each stage. That number is not universal: it is set by the registry and by the registrar’s contract and can differ between TLDs. Publishing one number as if it applied everywhere would be confidently wrong. Read your registrar’s expiry and restore policy, and check the registry’s rules for the specific TLD. ## Practical safeguards The cheapest defence is administrative rather than technical. Keep auto-renew on, keep the payment method current, keep the registrant email address one you actually read, and register important names for multiple years. If you manage a portfolio, keep your own renewal calendar instead of relying on a single provider’s notices. ## FAQ Q: Does a domain disappear immediately on its expiry date? A: No. There is normally a grace period followed by further stages before the name is released. The exact timing depends on the registry and registrar. Q: Can I get my domain back after it expires? A: Usually during the grace or redemption stages, though redemption is normally much more expensive than a normal renewal. Once the name is released and registered by someone else, recovery becomes a dispute rather than a purchase. Q: Is redemption the same as a renewal? A: No. A renewal extends an active registration. A redemption restores a name that has already been removed from the zone and is priced as a separate operation. ## Sources - ICANN — Transfer Policy (registrar transfer and expiry context) — https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/transfer-policy-2016-06-01-en - ICANN Lookup (RDAP) — https://lookup.icann.org/ --- # RDAP vs WHOIS: Where Domain Ownership Lookups Went Source: https://freeonlinebox.com/tools/tldlist/blog/rdap-vs-whois/ Published: 2026-11-09 Tags: Reference, RDAP Question: What replaced WHOIS, and where can you look up a domain owner? Answer: The Registration Data Access Protocol (RDAP) replaced the older WHOIS protocol for generic TLD registration data. It returns structured JSON over HTTPS instead of free-form port-43 text, and ICANN’s Lookup service is a public entry point. Many registrant details are still redacted because of privacy law and registrar policy, so a lookup often confirms dates, status and registrar rather than a person’s name. ## What changed WHOIS answered queries on port 43 with an unstructured text blob whose format varied between servers. RDAP is a web protocol: a client makes an HTTPS request and receives standardised JSON, with defined fields for status codes, events and entities. RFC 7480 describes how RDAP is carried over HTTP. ICANN completed the transition away from requiring WHOIS for gTLD registration data in early 2025, making RDAP the definitive protocol for that data. Country-code TLDs are not governed by ICANN in the same way and their lookup services vary. ## Why the answer is often redacted Public registration data is constrained by privacy law and by ICANN policy, so personal contact details are commonly withheld or replaced with a relay. A normal lookup still tells you useful, verifiable things: the registrar, creation and expiry dates, name servers and EPP status codes such as clientTransferProhibited. ## Reading a lookup like a buyer For a domain you are considering on the aftermarket, the creation date and registrar history matter more than a hidden registrant name. Status codes tell you whether a name is locked against transfer, which is directly relevant to the transfer article in this series. For the authoritative delegation question — whether the TLD itself exists — use the IANA root zone database instead. ## FAQ Q: Is WHOIS completely gone? A: RDAP is the definitive protocol for gTLD registration data under ICANN policy, but some registrars and ccTLD registries still expose WHOIS endpoints. Treat those as legacy interfaces. Q: Why can I not see the owner’s name and address? A: Registrant personal data is commonly redacted to comply with privacy law and registrar policy. RDAP can also apply differentiated access for legitimate requestors, but an anonymous public query will usually see redacted fields. Q: Can RDAP tell me if a domain is available to register? A: It can tell you that a registration currently exists and show its status. Availability and price are registrar and registry questions, not RDAP questions. ## Sources - ICANN Lookup — RDAP-based registration data lookup — https://lookup.icann.org/ - RFC 7480 — HTTP Usage in the Registration Data Access Protocol (RDAP) — https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc7480 - IANA Root Zone Database — https://www.iana.org/domains/root/db --- # Why Can’t I Transfer My Domain? The 60-Day Lock Explained Source: https://freeonlinebox.com/tools/tldlist/blog/domain-transfer-60-day-lock/ Published: 2026-11-09 Tags: Transfers, Policy Question: Why can’t I transfer my domain? Answer: ICANN’s Transfer Policy allows a registrar to deny a transfer requested within 60 days of the domain’s creation date, and a 60-day lock also applies after a registrar transfer and after a change of registrant. Other common blockers are an active transfer lock, an unverified registrant email and an outstanding balance. Unlock the name, obtain the authorisation code and confirm the dates before starting. ## The 60-day rules, as written ICANN’s Transfer Policy lists, among the specific instances in which a registrar of record may deny a transfer, a request made within 60 days of the creation date shown in the registry record. The same policy section refers to the first 60 days after a registrar transfer and the 60-day lock following a Change of Registrant. ICANN published an updated version of the Transfer Policy in February 2024 with a phased implementation timeline, so always read the current policy and your registrar’s notice rather than relying on a third-party summary of the dates. ## Other reasons a transfer stalls The date rules are only one category. Most failed transfers come from account-side settings that you can fix yourself in a few minutes. - The domain is locked (clientTransferProhibited). Registrars must give you a reasonable way to unlock it. - The authorisation / EPP code is wrong, expired or was never requested. - The registrant contact email is not verified, so the approval message never arrives. - The registration is expired, unpaid, or within 60 days of a registrant-data change. - There is an active dispute or a court/order restriction on the name. ## A pre-flight checklist Do this before you pay the new registrar. A transfer normally extends the expiry by one year, so the fee is not wasted — but a failed transfer costs time. - Check the creation date and the date of the last transfer or registrant change. - Unlock the domain at the current registrar and request the authorisation code. - Make sure the registrant email is one you control and can receive mail at. - Confirm the new registrar supports that TLD and disclose any currency or tax differences. - Start the transfer well before expiry, not in the final week. ## FAQ Q: Can my registrar refuse to let me transfer out at all? A: ICANN’s Transfer Policy limits the specific instances in which a transfer can be denied, and requires registrars to give holders a reasonable opportunity to unlock a domain. A blanket refusal is not the same thing as a documented policy ground. Q: Does changing my contact details start a new 60-day lock? A: ICANN’s policy includes a 60-day lock following a Change of Registrant. Details such as which fields trigger it and any opt-out are defined in the current policy and your registrar’s implementation, so check before editing registrant data if you plan to transfer soon. Q: Will I lose the remaining time I already paid for? A: A standard registrar transfer usually extends the expiry by one year rather than discarding the remaining term, but confirm the exact rule with both registrars for your TLD. ## Sources - ICANN — Transfer Policy (updated version noted February 2024) — https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/transfer-policy-2016-06-01-en - ICANN Lookup (RDAP) — https://lookup.icann.org/ --- # ccTLD or gTLD for a Global Brand? A Decision Framework Source: https://freeonlinebox.com/tools/tldlist/blog/cctld-vs-gtld-for-a-global-brand/ Published: 2026-11-09 Tags: Strategy, ccTLD Question: Should a global brand use a ccTLD or a gTLD? Answer: Use a ccTLD when the business is intentionally tied to one country and you can satisfy that registry’s eligibility rules; use a gTLD when you expect to serve several markets. Google treats ccTLDs as a strong country-targeting signal and generic TLDs as location-neutral, so the choice is really about where you want to be geographically anchored. ## Start with where you will sell in three years A ccTLD is an excellent signal for a single market and a poor foundation for a site that will later expand. Google notes that a country-specific domain can only target a single country. If expansion is plausible, a generic TLD with locale-specific subdirectories and hreflang is easier to grow. ## Four questions that settle most cases Write the answers down before you search for a name. It prevents the common mistake of buying a beautiful ccTLD you are not eligible to hold. - Eligibility: does the registry require local presence, a local company or a trademark? - Geotargeting: do you want an explicit country signal, or location-neutral URLs? - Trust: will your target audience recognise and correctly type the extension? - Defence: how many adjacent TLDs would you need to register to avoid confusion? ## Do not confuse ccTLD status with "vanity" usage Google explicitly treats a published list of ccTLDs — including .ai, .io, .co, .me and .tv — as generic because users and site owners see them as generic. Picking one of those does not give you the geotargeting behaviour of .de or .jp. Check the classification before you build a strategy on it. ## FAQ Q: Is a ccTLD better for local search rankings? A: It is a documented geotargeting signal, not a general ranking boost. Google describes ccTLDs as one signal among several for a page’s target locale. Q: Can I use hreflang with a single ccTLD for multiple languages? A: You can mark language variants, but the country-code domain still sends a strong single-country signal. A generic TLD with locale-specific URLs is the more flexible documented pattern. Q: Should I buy every ccTLD defensively? A: That is a legal and budget decision, not an SEO one. Prioritise the markets where you actively trade and where confusion or impersonation is plausible. ## Sources - Google Search Central — Managing multi-regional and multilingual sites — https://developers.google.com/search/docs/specialty/international/managing-multi-regional-sites - IANA Root Zone Database — https://www.iana.org/domains/root/db - TLD List — Generic vs country-code TLDs — https://freeonlinebox.com/tools/tldlist/guides/generic-vs-country-code-tlds/ --- # DNSSEC in Plain English (and Whether You Need It) Source: https://freeonlinebox.com/tools/tldlist/blog/dnssec-in-plain-english/ Published: 2026-11-09 Tags: DNS, Security Question: What is DNSSEC, and do I need to enable it? Answer: DNSSEC adds cryptographic signatures to DNS records so a resolver can verify that an answer was not forged or altered in transit. It does not encrypt DNS traffic and it does not hide your browsing — that is a different set of protocols. Whether to enable it depends on whether your registrar and DNS provider support it and whether you can manage key rollovers safely. ## The problem it solves A normal DNS answer is easy to forge if an attacker can intercept or poison the lookup. DNSSEC lets the zone owner sign its records; a validating resolver checks the signature chain from the root down to the zone before trusting the answer. If the signature does not check out, the lookup fails instead of returning a tampered address. ## What it does not do This is the part most summaries get wrong. DNSSEC provides authenticity, not confidentiality. - It does not encrypt queries — DNS-over-HTTPS and DNS-over-TLS do that. - It does not hide the names you look up from your resolver. - It does not secure your website, your email content or your registrar account. - It does not protect against a compromised registrar account changing the zone legitimately. ## Should you turn it on? If your registrar and authoritative DNS provider both support DNSSEC and offer managed signing, enabling it is a reasonable integrity upgrade with little day-to-day work. If you would have to manage keys, DS records and rollovers manually, a mistake can make the entire domain unresolvable — a much bigger availability risk than the attack it prevents. Check the support documentation on both sides first. ## FAQ Q: Is DNSSEC the same as DNS over HTTPS? A: No. DNSSEC signs records so answers can be authenticated; DNS over HTTPS encrypts the transport of the query. They solve different problems and can be used together. Q: Can DNSSEC take my site offline? A: A broken signature chain or a mismatched DS record at the registrar can cause validating resolvers to reject all lookups for the zone. That is why managed signing and a documented rollback path matter. Q: Does TLD List show DNSSEC status for each TLD? A: The catalogue is built from IANA delegation data and registrar prices. It does not audit per-domain DNS configuration, so check your own authoritative DNS provider for DNSSEC status. ## Sources - IANA Root Zone Database — https://www.iana.org/domains/root/db - TLD List — How DNS and domain names work — https://freeonlinebox.com/tools/tldlist/guides/how-dns-and-domain-names-work/ --- # Why Domain Price Data Goes Stale — and How We Label It Source: https://freeonlinebox.com/tools/tldlist/blog/why-domain-price-data-goes-stale/ Published: 2026-11-09 Tags: Data quality, Methodology Question: Why does domain price data go stale, and how should a comparison site say so? Answer: Retail prices change, promotions expire, some registrars block automated reading, and a few publishers only release dated datasets. A comparison site cannot honestly claim every quote is live, so it should publish each offer’s provenance and evidence date, mark older quotes as stale, and state when the whole dataset was last refreshed instead of implying real-time pricing. ## The four ways a price feed degrades Price comparison is an evidence problem before it is a scraping problem. Even with a perfect crawler, some sources simply do not publish fresh data. - A registrar republishes its price list without a date, so the evidence age is unknown. - An automated request is blocked, and the last successfully verified quote has to be kept. - A source publishes a dated open dataset that is refreshed rarely or not at all. - A promotion expires while the underlying standard price stays the same. ## Our labelling, and what each label means TLD List keeps the evidence attached to the number. First-party means a figure read from a registrar’s own published price list. Snapshot means it comes from an openly licensed dataset with a dated snapshot. Stale means the evidence is more than 30 days old and the figure is a historical reference, not a current quote. The data sources page documents these definitions and the sync report records which sources could not be refreshed. A refresh can therefore report a partial status: the dataset is genuinely re-generated, while some sources retain their previous evidence. That is a truthful outcome, not a failed build. ## What "updated daily" does and does not promise The site is rebuilt and republished every day, and the published price index carries the exact generation timestamp of that run. That guarantees you are looking at the newest dataset we have, with its real date. It does not guarantee that every individual quote was re-verified in the last 24 hours, and we do not present it that way. ## FAQ Q: Is every price on TLD List live right now? A: No. Some offers come from first-party price lists, some from dated snapshots, and some are older than 30 days and explicitly marked stale. The site shows the provenance and the dataset generation date rather than claiming real-time pricing. Q: Why not hide stale prices entirely? A: Hiding them would make the catalogue look complete while silently dropping the long tail of TLDs. Showing them with an explicit label preserves the information and lets you verify before buying. Q: How can I check when the data was generated? A: The homepage shows the IANA sync date and the price dataset date, and the published prices-index.json carries a generated_at timestamp for the current run. ## Sources - TLD List — Data sources and provenance — https://freeonlinebox.com/tools/tldlist/data-sources/ - IANA delegated TLD list (plain text) — https://data.iana.org/TLD/tlds-alpha-by-domain.txt ---