2025 review of the .fr:
a new all-time record for create operations

2025 key figures:

• 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

The .fr grew by 0.4 pp in 2025, on the back of the anomalous years of 2020
(impact of COVID-19, +7.0%), 2021 (gradual return to normality, +5.8%),
2022 (end of the return to normality, +2.9%), 2023 (boom in create operations, +3.4%) and 2024 (downturn accompanied by stabilising creations, +2.0%).

• 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).

Outlook for 2026: how will the .fr evolve?

Following the exceptionally high level of create operations in 2025 for .fr domain names, this trend should return to normal levels in 2026. The underlying assumptions are a return to creation levels comparable to the already high levels recorded in 2023 and 2024, against a backdrop of the digital transformation of VSEs/SMEs which is underpinning their use.

At the same time, the structural trend toward higher deletions, notably linked to the high volume of create operations recorded last year, will likely put downward pressure on the growth of stock. The rise in multi-year registrations could mitigate this phenomenon in 2026 however, by driving up, ipso facto, retention rates in the short term.