Last update: 2025-06-04
The RRR Model
The "RRR Model" provides a simple model to understand the three main parties involved in the domain name registration process: the registry, the registrar, and the registrant.
Registries, Registrars, and Registrants
The registry is the organization that manages a specific TLD.
They handle all the "infrastructure" behind providing DNS
resolutions for their domains.
They generally expose their services via networked APIs (via HTTP or EPP).
For example, the .com TLD is managed by a registry called Verisign.
The registrant is simply the person that registers a domain name. NB: Even if an organization registers a domain, a specific person usually has to be designated.
The registrar is the entity that sells domains to the public, delivering end customer service. For example, Namecheap and GoDaddy are popular registrars.
Registries
For country-code TLDs, ICANN delegates the choice of the registry
to the sovereign state that owns the given TLD.
For example, France chose "AFNIC" as their registry to manage
the .fr TLD.
For other TLD types (so all gTLDs), ICANN/IANA choose which registry they want to assign the TLD to. A registry can manage multiple TLDs (actually, most registries do).
An overview of the registries assigned for each TLD can be found here: https://www.iana.org/domains/root/db.
Registrars
As mentioned previously, the registrar acts as the intermediary between registry and the registrant. But why do we need a registrar? In theory, couldn't registrants directly purchase a domain from the registry? Wouldn't that make things more simple?
Using registrars as intermediaries has several benefits:
- A registrar helps centralize all your domains across many TLDs
- Registries can focus on infrastructure and technical operations
- Registrars can focus on (public) customer service and registrant UX
NB: ICANN requires registries of gTLDs to only expose domain registration via a registrar (this is called the "Strict Separation" policy). A registrar must be accredited by ICANN to be allowed to sell gTLD domains.