net is one of the original top-level domains[1] (the other six being com, org, edu, gov, mil, and arpa) despite not being mentioned in RFC 920, having been created in January 1985.

Verisign regained the contract bid and secured its control over the net registry for another six years.

[3] Registrations are processed via accredited registrars and internationalized domain names are also accepted.

It was created on 1 January 1985 according to the public records, and NORDUnet has used this domain name since 1985.

Total registered domain names with net extension are 13.0 million as of Q2 2024.