Afnic, the association responsible for .FR domain names has published the 2025 edition of its annual review of .FR activity. As a registry for the .FR top-level domain Afnic is well placed to observe the adaptation of French society, particularly from the perspective of the digital transition.

This 77-page report details the activity of .FR over the past months: key parameters, structure of the net balance, market concentration, geographical distribution, DNSSEC and IDN development, as well as trends in .FR creates operations and in business start-ups.

2025 key figures for .FR

• With 4,319,120 domain names registered at 31 December 2025 – The .fr has continued to assert itself as a mainstay of French digital sovereignty.
• 853,000 new create operations – The number of new domain names registered in 2025 has grown strongly (+6.3% as against 2024), peaking at a new all-time record (853,000) and driving the growth in stock.
• +2.4% growth – Its growth rose from 2.0% in 2024 to 2.4% in 2025, with create operations up by 6.3% (compared with 0.1% in 2024) and delete operations up by 4.3% (compared with 5.2% in 2024).
• A retention rate of 82.2% – The retention rate for .fr (i.e., the proportion of domain names renewed from one year to the next) remains high at 82.2%, despite a slight decline (82.6% in 2024, 83.4% in 2023).

The French domain name market

The growth of the .FR TLD was slightly below that of the French market in 2025 (2.4% as against 2.6%), which grew significantly (from 1.6% in 2024), driven by a dynamic .COM TLD. Growth of EU ccTLDs (excluding .UK) improved slightly in 2025, at +0.7% compared with +0.4% in 2024.

The global market, meanwhile, continued to grow at +5.0% in 2025 (estimation) as against +3.1% in 2024 and +2.7% in 2023, in large part due to nTLDs and the turnaround for the .COM TLD.

Having grown slightly faster than its local market in 2025 (see Figure 1), the market share of the .FR domain stood at 40.35% at the end of 2025 (compared with 40.44% at the end of 2024).

Exponential growth in multi-year name registrations

There has been exponential growth in multi-year name registrations, up from 3% in 2023 to 14% in 2025, with a preference for the 3-year maturity option. Multi-year names accounted for 9.7% of stock at the end of 2024, and 10.7% at year-end 2025. This phenomenon has a significant impact on the retention rate; a positive effect up until 2027, but one that is difficult to estimate further down the line, given its recent nature.

Outlook for 2026

In 2025, .FR domain name creations surged by 6.3% to 853,000, driven by digital transformation and marketing efforts. The retention rate is influenced by the nature of registrations, with ‘real’ needs improving retention and ‘opportunistic’ registrations increasing volatility. The momentum may stabilize in 2026, with a retention rate around 82.5-83%, but faces uncertainty from the .COM TLD. Challenges include the rise of AI tools and Google’s policy changes, which could impact the domain name industry. Despite these, the growth of the .FR domain in 2026 is projected to be between 1% and 2%, aligning with other European ccTLDs.

Download the 2025 .FR study – “The .fr in 2025” - Annual review (PDF, 896 KB, 77 pages) | Report archives