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Porkbun

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Porkbun LLC is an ICANN-accredited registrar A company that registers domain names for customers with the registry. Full definition (IANA registrar ID The unique number that identifies an ICANN-accredited registrar. Full definition 1861) that sells domain registration Obtaining the right to use a domain name for a set period. Full definition to the public, along with DNS Domain Name System The internet's directory that links domain names to computer addresses. Full definition, hosting, email and aftermarket The market where domain names that are already registered are bought and sold. Full definition services. It says it launched in 2015 to sell the new gTLD A generic top-level domain added to the internet through ICANN's New gTLD Program. Full definition of its parent, Top Level Design LLC, which assigned those registry The central database and system of a top-level domain, or loosely the organization that runs it. Full definition agreements (.design, .gay, .ink, .tattoo and .wiki) to Registry Services, LLC in 2021 and 2023.

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Industry roles and organizations

Updated on 4 min read

Porkbun is a domain name A readable internet name made of labels separated by dots. Full definition registrar: a company that sells domain name registrations to the public and manages them with the registries that run each top-level domain. Its legal name is Porkbun LLC (LLC stands for limited liability company). It began, by its own account, as the sales channel for a group that also ran registries for several new top-level domains, a business the group has since handed to another company.

What Porkbun is

Porkbun LLC describes itself as an ICANN-accredited registrar “based out of the Pacific Northwest” of the United States. As of October 2026, its website gives a postal address in Tigard, Oregon. The company says it “was launched in 2015”.

Porkbun’s ownership page states that Porkbun LLC is “a fully owned subsidiary of Top Level Design LLC”, and the site footer calls Porkbun “a Top Level Design Company”.

Its registration agreement, in the version effective 17 March 2025, is governed by the laws of the State of Oregon. That is a contract term; it does not by itself show where the company was formed.

Its role in the domain system

Porkbun is a registrar, not a registry. A registry operator The organization that holds the contract or mandate for a TLD and sets its rules. Full definition runs a top-level domain such as .com and keeps its central database. A registrar sells names in that domain to the public, sends the registration data The information kept about a domain and its owner. Full definition to the registry and manages the names for its customers. Porkbun puts it in retail terms on its own About page: the registries are “the wholesalers”, while registrars represent “the retail side of the industry”.

To sell names in gTLD generic top-level domain A top-level domain not tied to a country, run under ICANN contracts. Full definition, a registrar must be accredited by ICANN Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers The nonprofit that coordinates the global DNS and gTLD policy. Full definition. As of October 2026, official records show:

  • IANA Internet Assigned Numbers Authority The functions that coordinate the root zone, IP addresses and protocol numbers. Full definition lists Porkbun LLC as “Accredited” under registrar ID 1861 (IANA file updated 8 October 2026).
  • ICANN’s list of accredited registrars shows Porkbun LLC with the IANA number 1861 and the country United States of America.

The IANA registrar ID is the number that identifies the registrar in registry records. The .com registry’s RDAP Registration Data Access Protocol The modern protocol for looking up domain registration data, replacing WHOIS. Full definition record for porkbun.com, for example, names IANA registrar ID 1861 as the registrar of record The registrar that currently manages a given domain at the registry. Full definition: Porkbun is the registrar of its own domain name.

History

The history of Porkbun is tied to the registry business of its parent, Top Level Design, LLC, a Florida limited liability company according to its agreements with ICANN.

  • Top Level Design signed ICANN registry agreements for .tattoo (30 August 2013), .wiki (7 November 2013), .ink (5 December 2013), .design (7 November 2014) and .gay (23 May 2019).
  • Porkbun says it was born as a direct-to-consumer way to sell those domains, and that it launched in 2015.
  • With ICANN’s consent given on 9 July 2021, the .design registry agreement was assigned to Registry Services, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, as of 13 July 2021.
  • With ICANN’s consent given on 28 April 2023, the registry agreements for .gay, .ink, .tattoo and .wiki were assigned to the same company as of 4 May 2023.

Porkbun’s About page describes the registry business as “sold in 2023”. The ICANN documents show the five registry agreements moved between 2021 and 2023. As of October 2026, IANA shows all five TLD top-level domain The last part of a domain name, after the final dot. Full definition sponsored by Registry Services, LLC, the registry business GoDaddy The largest registrar, which also runs a registry business and an aftermarket platform. Full definition runs under the name GoDaddy Registry; IANA lists GoDaddy Registry as administrative contact.

Top Level Design’s own website says that, having sold its TLDs in 2021 and 2023, it now focuses on running its registrar. A group which once held both a registry operator and a registrar now holds only the registrar side.

What it offers in domains

As of October 2026, Porkbun lists these services on its website and in its registration agreement:

  • registration and transfer of domain names;
  • DNS management, plus email and URL forwarding;
  • a privacy/proxy service A service that hides a registrant's personal details from public lookups. Full definition service, which Porkbun says it provides through a privacy service provider;
  • SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificates;
  • web hosting and email hosting;
  • its own marketplace for buying and selling domains, domain auctions and expired-domain closeout An expired domain with no bids, sold at a fixed price that falls daily. Full definition;
  • a single search that, it says, covers listings and auctions on Afternic GoDaddy's domain marketplace, which shows listings across many partner registrars. Full definition, Sedo A German domain marketplace that also offers brokerage and parking. Full definition, Atom, NameBright and DAX as well as its own marketplace;
  • an API (application programming interface) for registration, transfers, DNS and related tasks, and an MCP (Model Context Protocol) server.

Three names appear in Porkbun’s story, and they play different roles:

  • Porkbun LLC is the registrar, IANA registrar ID 1861. It sells and manages registrations.
  • Top Level Design LLC is Porkbun’s parent. It was the registry operator of .design, .gay, .ink, .tattoo and .wiki until it assigned those agreements. As of October 2026, the IANA registrar list shows no entry under its name.
  • Registry Services, LLC, with GoDaddy Registry as its listed administrative contact, is the current registry operator of those five TLDs. As far as the sources show, it belongs to a different group from Porkbun.

As of October 2026, these records show no TLD run by Porkbun or its parent.

A worked example shows the split. A registrant The person or organization that holds a domain name registration. Full definition buys example.com through Porkbun. Porkbun is the registrar, and the .com registry records IANA ID 1861 as registrar of record, which any RDAP lookup shows. If the same registrant buys a .design name through Porkbun, Porkbun is still the registrar, while Registry Services, LLC is the registry operator of .design.

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