Expired Domain Statistics (November 2026)
Counts and shares for 46,514 expired domains with backlinks: TLD mix, age, referring domains, Ahrefs DR, name length, categories and how many names are open. As at 5 November 2026.
As at 5 November 2026 the Revised directory holds 46,514 active listings, all of them expired domains that still have links from other sites. 69.7% are .com. 73.9% have fewer than 10 referring domains and only 87 have 250 or more. 97.0% have an Ahrefs Domain Rating (DR) under 10, and 39.9% are 15 years old or more. 30.1% are open, meaning the name is shown to everyone.
These are counts from our own directory, not a sample of every expired domain. Names with no link profile are not listed, so the figures describe expired domains that kept some links. Every table below carries a count and a share, and every listing is spam-screened before it goes up.
Which TLDs are expired domains with backlinks on?
Most are .com. As at 5 November 2026, .com holds 32,418 of 46,514 listings (69.7%), then .org with 3,827 and .net with 2,504. Together those three are 83.3% of the directory. The list below is the 15 largest TLDs. See expired .com domains, .org and .net for each hub.
As at 5 November 2026:
| TLD | Listings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| .com | 32,418 | 69.7% |
| .org | 3,827 | 8.2% |
| .net | 2,504 | 5.4% |
| .co.uk | 1,037 | 2.2% |
| .co | 792 | 1.7% |
| .com.au | 779 | 1.7% |
| .me | 580 | 1.2% |
| .io | 558 | 1.2% |
| .info | 492 | 1.1% |
| .app | 349 | 0.8% |
| .org.uk | 345 | 0.7% |
| .us | 207 | 0.4% |
| .dev | 186 | 0.4% |
| .org.au | 156 | 0.3% |
| .ai | 150 | 0.3% |
| All other TLDs | 2,134 | 4.6% |
How old are expired domains with backlinks?
Most are well past the age at which a site is treated as new. As at 5 November 2026, 88.5% of listings (41,187) are 5 or more years old, and 39.9% are 15 or more. The age band is the listing's age in years. The aged domains hub filters to listings at least five years old.
As at 5 November 2026:
| Age | Listings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| 0 to 4 years | 5,327 | 11.5% |
| 5 to 9 years | 10,997 | 23.6% |
| 10 to 14 years | 11,616 | 25.0% |
| 15 to 19 years | 13,265 | 28.5% |
| 20 or more years | 5,309 | 11.4% |
The first-registered year is a second clock, taken from registration records where known. A registration date can reset when a name drops and is registered again, so the two tables do not match row for row.
As at 5 November 2026:
| First registered | Listings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| 1995 to 1999 | 249 | 0.5% |
| 2000 to 2004 | 3,351 | 7.2% |
| 2005 to 2009 | 8,087 | 17.4% |
| 2010 to 2014 | 15,070 | 32.4% |
| 2015 to 2019 | 9,859 | 21.2% |
| 2020 to 2024 | 9,473 | 20.4% |
| 2025 or later | 425 | 0.9% |
How many referring domains do expired domains keep?
Most keep few. As at 5 November 2026, 73.9% of listings have fewer than 10 referring domains, 21.2% have 10 to 50, and 1.5% have 100 or more. A referring domain is a distinct site that links to the name, counted from our own web crawl. The directory shows a band, not an exact count. For the difference between links and linking sites, see referring domains vs backlinks.
As at 5 November 2026:
| Referring domains | Listings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer than 10 | 34,385 | 73.9% |
| 10 to 50 | 9,875 | 21.2% |
| 50 to 100 | 1,571 | 3.4% |
| 100 to 250 | 596 | 1.3% |
| 250 or more | 87 | 0.2% |
What is the Ahrefs DR of expired domains with backlinks?
Low. As at 5 November 2026, 97.0% of listings sit at DR 0 to 9, and 107 listings reach DR 30 or higher. DR is Ahrefs' own metric. Ahrefs describes Domain Rating as a scale from zero to a hundred, where the higher a website's DR, the stronger and more authoritative it is, as read on 5 November 2026.
As at 5 November 2026:
| Ahrefs DR | Listings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| 0 to 9 | 45,100 | 97.0% |
| 10 to 19 | 972 | 2.1% |
| 20 to 29 | 335 | 0.7% |
| 30 to 49 | 106 | 0.2% |
| 50 or more | 1 | 0.0% |
How long are the names of expired domains with backlinks?
Short. As at 5 November 2026, 70.3% of listings are one or two words, and 47.7% are a single word.
As at 5 November 2026:
| Words in the name | Listings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 22,175 | 47.7% |
| 2 | 10,505 | 22.6% |
| 3 | 10,214 | 22.0% |
| 4 | 3,406 | 7.3% |
| 5 or more | 214 | 0.5% |
What categories are expired domains with backlinks in?
SaaS is the largest category, with 5,667 listings (12.2%), followed by media and education. The table shows the 10 largest of the 25 categories we report, which together hold 52.2% of the directory. Browse any of them, for example SaaS, media or education.
As at 5 November 2026:
| Category | Listings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| SaaS | 5,667 | 12.2% |
| Media | 3,812 | 8.2% |
| Education | 2,321 | 5.0% |
| Ecommerce | 1,896 | 4.1% |
| Personal | 1,857 | 4.0% |
| Sports | 1,856 | 4.0% |
| Music | 1,814 | 3.9% |
| Travel | 1,712 | 3.7% |
| Other | 1,687 | 3.6% |
| Local and community | 1,676 | 3.6% |
How many expired domains are open and how many are masked?
About 3 in 10 are open. Open means the name is shown to everyone with no account. Masked means the name is hidden and shown to paid plans. As at 5 November 2026, 13,983 listings (30.1%) are open and 32,531 (69.9%) are masked. Open listings still show their referring-domain band, history and other metrics.
As at 5 November 2026:
| Name shown | Listings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Open | 13,983 | 30.1% |
| Regular (masked) | 32,024 | 68.8% |
| Featured (masked) | 507 | 1.1% |
How we count
- Active directory listings only. The base is the 46,514 listings that were active on 5 November 2026.
- No link profile, no listing. A name with no link profile is not listed, so these statistics describe expired domains that kept links, not every name that drops.
- Referring domains are distinct linking sites, counted from our own web crawl and shown as bands.
- DR is Ahrefs' Domain Rating, taken from Ahrefs. We do not compute it.
- First-registered year comes from registration records where known. The age band is the listing's age in years.
- Shares are the count divided by 46,514, rounded to one decimal place, so a table can sum to 99.9% or 100.1%.
- Spam screen. Every listing is spam-screened on its site history before it goes up. We do not publish spam-band shares or estimated values, because neither is a measured fact.
Using the Revised directory for this
- Open the directory and read the summary line for the live total. These tables are a snapshot, and the directory moves.
- Filter by TLD in Basics, for example .com or .com.au, and by Category to match a subject.
- Set a Referring domains floor in Quality. A floor of 10 keeps about a quarter of listings.
- Use aged domains when age is the filter, and high authority expired domains when you want a Revised Score of 65 or more. The hub filters on Revised Score, not on DR.
- Tick Open to work with named listings for free.
- Check any shortlisted name with the backlink checker and the expired domain checker. For the full method, see how to find expired domains with backlinks and the complete guide to expired domains.
We do not sell, hold or register domains. You register a name at any registrar you choose.
FAQ
How many expired domains have backlinks? There is no complete count. In the Revised directory, 46,514 active listings were expired domains with a link profile as at 5 November 2026. That is a curated set, not every name that has dropped.
What is the most common TLD for expired domains with backlinks? .com, with 69.7% of listings in the directory as at 5 November 2026. .org is next at 8.2% and .net at 5.4%.
How many referring domains does a typical expired domain have? Fewer than 10. 73.9% of listings are in that band, and 87 listings have 250 or more.
What is a good Ahrefs DR for an expired domain? In this directory, DR is low across the board: 97.0% of listings sit under DR 10, and 107 reach 30 or higher. DR is Ahrefs' metric and says little about whether the links are relevant to your subject, so read the linking sites too.
How old are expired domains with backlinks? 88.5% of listings are 5 or more years old and 39.9% are 15 or more, as at 5 November 2026.
What does open mean on a listing? Open means the name is shown to everyone with no account. Masked listings hide the name and show it to paid plans. 30.1% of listings were open as at 5 November 2026.