Domain blocking keeps your brand name from being registered across many top-level domains without registering it yourself. Instead of buying yourbrand.shop, yourbrand.xyz, yourbrand.top and hundreds more, and renewing each one every year, a brand owner places a block on the string “yourbrand” at the registry level, and every registry covered by the block refuses to register that label to anyone. There is no website, no DNS, and no portfolio to manage; the name simply cannot be taken. This guide explains how a block works, how it differs from defensive registration and monitoring, what NameBlock, GlobalBlock, and BrandLock cover and require, and how to choose.
What a domain block is
A domain block is a registry-level reservation. When a brand owner purchases a block, each participating registry adds the string to a list of labels its systems will not accept. A registrar attempting to create yourbrand.example for any customer receives a refusal, as it would for a reserved name. The blocked label is registered to no one: it does not appear in the zone file, does not resolve, and has no WHOIS or RDAP record (the public registration data for a domain) because there is no registration to record.
That mechanism makes blocking cheap and durable. A registered domain has a registrant, a renewal date, nameservers, and an account that can be compromised; a block is an entry in a registry’s reserved-names list that stays in force for the block term. The brand owner pays a block fee, per extension or for a bundle of TLDs (top-level domains) depending on the product, rather than a registration and renewal for each domain. Our explainer on cybersquatting describes what happens when a third party registers the brand first.
How blocking differs from defensive registration
Defensive registration means buying the domain yourself so that no one else can. It has three limits. The first is cost per TLD: every domain carries its own registration and renewal fee, and some new gTLDs (generic top-level domains introduced since 2013) price brand-matching names as premiums. The second is renewal burden: a portfolio of a few hundred domains needs someone to track expiration dates and keep the registrar account secure, and one missed renewal lets a cybersquatter pick up the name on the drop. The third is coverage: a defensive registration protects only the TLDs you bought, and the attacker registers your name in the one you skipped.
INTA members reported holding an average of 352 defensively registered domains (median 78) and spending an average of $150,000 per year on defensive actions, according to the INTA New gTLD Cost Impact Survey, a 2017 survey of 33 members that the report flags for high variability. Even at that spend, the portfolio covers a fraction of the TLDs in existence, and a block closes the gap that defensive registration leaves open.
Defensive registration still has a role. The domains you want to resolve to a live site or send mail, typically your mark in .com and in the ccTLDs (country-code top-level domains) where you operate, must be registered, because a block prevents registration by everyone, including you. The right pattern is a small registered core and a block over the rest.
How blocking differs from monitoring and takedown
Monitoring watches for a lookalike or exact-match domain after it is registered and alerts you. Takedown, through a registrar abuse report, a UDRP (Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy) complaint, or a URS (Uniform Rapid Suspension) filing, removes the domain after it has been used. Both are reactive: the registration has happened, the phishing page may be live, and enforcement is paid per incident. The INTA survey above put the median cost of a UDRP proceeding at $9,500 and of a cease-and-desist letter at $3,000, from a small number of respondents. A block prevents the registration that would have triggered that expense. Monitoring remains essential for the TLDs and variants a block does not cover, which is why our DNShield domain name monitoring service runs alongside a block rather than instead of one.
The domain blocking products
Two families of product dominate the market. The NameBlock family lets a brand owner choose the extensions to block, one at a time, from the registries integrated with NameBlock. GlobalBlock bundles hundreds of extensions into a single order.
NameBlock: BrandLock and AbuseShield
NameBlock is the blocking platform that connects participating registries to a shared block list and keeps it updated as blocks are created, renewed, or deleted. Its two products are sold per extension. BrandLock blocks an exact-match label (3 to 63 characters, no special or internationalized characters) under each participating TLD the buyer selects, after which a registrar search for that name shows it as unavailable rather than as a premium or aftermarket name. Participating extensions include .icu, .sbs, .cyou, .cfd, .bond, .buzz, .one, .ws, and .vegas, with several dozen more as registries integrate.
AbuseShield is NameBlock’s variant product. An algorithm generates up to 500 variants of a domain most likely to be used for abuse, including homoglyphs (lookalikes that swap a letter for a visually similar character), common misspellings, and phishing suffixes, and blocks them in the selected extension. It is offered in fewer extensions than BrandLock, and the protected domain must already be registered there. BrandLock reserves the exact name; AbuseShield reserves the lookalikes around it.
GlobalBlock and GlobalBlock+
GlobalBlock is operated by the Brand Safety Alliance, a group of registries that pooled their TLDs so that a brand owner can block a string across all of them in one order. According to the GlobalBlock datasheet published by Markmonitor, a vendor document, the service blocks across 558 domain extensions, offers terms of one to three years, and provides seven-day grace periods for creation and auto-renewal. The count changes as registries join and now includes ccTLDs, so the Brand Safety Alliance’s current list is the figure to check. The same datasheet describes GlobalBlock+ as adding automatic blocking of homoglyph variants. Businesses with registered trademarks receive automatic inclusion, and the coverage plan the buyer selects sets the scope.
BrandLock for Freename
BrandLock for Freename extends blocking into Web3 naming. Freename operates blockchain-based TLDs that sit outside the ICANN root and are resolved by wallets and Web3 browsers rather than the conventional DNS. Names registered there cannot be reached through the UDRP and are used to impersonate brands in cryptocurrency and NFT contexts. BrandLock for Freename reserves a brand’s string in three packages (Freename100, Freename4k, and FreenameALL, covering 100 TLDs, 4,000 TLDs, and every existing and future Freename TLD), with no wallet to manage and no gas fees (per-transaction blockchain charges).
What a block requires
GlobalBlock is built around trademark rights: a registered trademark qualifies the brand for automatic inclusion, usually through a mark recorded in the TMCH (Trademark Clearinghouse), the ICANN-operated database that verifies trademarks for the new gTLD program. BrandLock is more flexible: proof of trademark may be requested depending on the name, but it can protect names with no trademark, such as a personal name. AbuseShield requires that the protected domain already be registered in the covered extension. A registered mark opens the broadest coverage in every case; our guide on how to trademark a domain name describes that process.
What a block does not cover
A block covers only the TLDs in the provider’s program, and in the NameBlock family only the extensions you paid for. Legacy gTLDs such as .com and .net are not part of any blocking program, so your mark there must still be registered or watched. A base-tier block covers only the exact string; typos and homoglyph variants are covered only by AbuseShield and GlobalBlock+, and only within the variant set the provider generates. A block has no effect on domains that already exist. If yourbrand.top was registered before the block was placed, the block does not remove it; that domain still needs monitoring and, if abusive, enforcement. Our explainer on typosquatting describes the variant techniques that a block’s typo coverage does and does not reach.
Pricing in general terms
NameBlock products are priced per name, per extension, per year, with volume discounts, so exact-match coverage in a chosen set of NameBlock extensions is a modest annual cost. GlobalBlock is a flat fee per string per term for the whole bundle, quoted by coverage plan, with the Plus tier priced above the base tier. BrandLock for Freename is quoted by package. Against the cost of registering and renewing the same string in several hundred TLDs, a block is usually far less expensive for any brand exposed in more than a few dozen extensions. Provider and reseller prices change, so we quote current pricing for each engagement; contact us for a quote on the extensions and products that fit your brand.
Comparing the products
| Product | Scope | Eligibility | Variants and typos | Web3 coverage | Typical buyer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BrandLock (NameBlock) | Exact-match block, bought per extension from NameBlock’s participating TLDs | Label of 3 to 63 characters; trademark proof may be requested | Exact string only | No | Small or mid-sized brand, or an individual, blocking a name in chosen extensions |
| AbuseShield (NameBlock) | Up to 500 algorithm-selected abuse variants, bought per domain per extension | Protected domain already registered in that extension | Yes, homoglyphs, misspellings, and abuse suffixes | No | Brand with phishing or lookalike history in specific extensions |
| GlobalBlock | Exact-match block across Brand Safety Alliance registries in one order (558 extensions per the 2024 datasheet, including ccTLDs) | Registered trademark gives automatic inclusion | Exact string only | No | Brand wanting the widest conventional TLD coverage in one purchase |
| GlobalBlock+ | GlobalBlock scope plus automatic homoglyph variants | Registered trademark gives automatic inclusion | Yes, homoglyph variants generated automatically | No | Enterprise or heavily phished brand |
| BrandLock for Freename | Exact-match block across Freename Web3 TLDs in packages of 100, 4,000, or all | Brand owner; no wallet required | Exact string only | Yes | Brand active in or targeted through cryptocurrency and NFT channels |
How to decide
Three factors drive the choice. The first is brand size. A single-brand small business with exposure in a known handful of new gTLDs is usually well served by BrandLock in those extensions; a brand with broad exposure is better served by one GlobalBlock order, and a company with several brands needs a block per string. The second is TLD exposure. A brand that sells internationally, or whose name is a common word, benefits most from the widest program; a brand whose exposure sits in ccTLDs no block covers should fund defensive registration there first. The third is abuse history. If the brand has already been phished through lookalikes, the variant tiers (AbuseShield or GlobalBlock+) are worth the premium, because the exact string is not what attackers are registering. Coverage, pricing, and eligibility change over time, and we confirm them for every order. Our page on what brand protection is shows where blocking fits in a minimum program, and the online brand protection hub places it among the other layers.
How DNAccess provisions and manages domain blocks
DNAccess is an independent advisor that also resells NameBlock, AbuseShield, BrandLock, BrandLock for Freename, and GlobalBlock. We confirm the trademark position and, where a product requires it, record the mark in the Clearinghouse. We then map the brand’s portfolio and existing third-party registrations against each program’s TLD list, so the client sees what the block will cover and which existing registrations need monitoring or enforcement. We place the order, manage the term and renewal so the block does not lapse, and pair it with DNShield domain name monitoring for the extensions and variants the block does not reach. When a product is not the right fit, we say so. To discuss a domain block for your brand, contact DNAccess.