Top Websites Ranking: an Alexa Top 1 Million Alternative
The Alexa ranking that a generation of marketers, researchers and security teams relied on was switched off in 2022. Here are the most popular websites among real users today, with categories, and the ranked list that picks up where the old Top 1 Million stopped.
What happened to the Alexa website ranking?
Alexa Internet was founded in 1996 and bought by Amazon in 1999. For more than two decades its traffic rank was the number people quoted when they wanted to say how big a website was.
The voice assistant with the same name was not affected. Only the website analytics service and its rankings were retired, which is why searches like "alexa rank" and "alexa top 1 million sites" now lead to an empty end.
Why the Alexa Top 1 Million mattered
The Top 1 Million file was a plain list of the most visited domains. Its simplicity made it a default input in many workflows, and those workflows still need a replacement.
Research
Security and measurement studies used it to pick the sites worth testing, from HTTPS adoption to tracker counts.
Security allowlists
Teams treated top ranked domains as a starting point for allowlists and as a baseline for spotting lookalike domains.
Media planning
Advertisers and agencies used rank as a quick filter for which publishers were worth a conversation.
Market sizing
Analysts counted how many popular sites sat in a vertical or a country to size markets and track competitors.
Top 50 websites by popularity
These are the 50 most popular well-known websites in the current release, ranked by popularity among real users. Each row shows the main content category and the country association where one applies.
| Rank | Website | Main category (IAB v3) | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | google.com | Technology & Computing > Computing | United States |
| 2 | instagram.com | Technology & Computing > Computing | Global |
| 3 | youtube.com | Technology & Computing > Computing | Global |
| 4 | linkedin.com | Technology & Computing > Computing | Global |
| 5 | facebook.com | Technology & Computing > Computing | Global |
| 6 | github.com | Technology & Computing > Computing | United States |
| 7 | pinterest.com | Technology & Computing > Computing | United States |
| 8 | amazon.com | Shopping | United States |
| 9 | reddit.com | Technology & Computing > Computing | United States |
| 10 | x.com | Technology & Computing > Computing | Global |
| 11 | tiktok.com | Technology & Computing > Computing | United States |
| 12 | paypal.com | Personal Finance > Consumer Banking | United States |
| 13 | nytimes.com | News | United States |
| 14 | microsoft.com | Technology & Computing > Computing | United States |
| 15 | apple.com | Technology & Computing > Computing | United States |
| 16 | twitch.tv | Technology & Computing > Computing | United States |
| 17 | imdb.com | Entertainment > Movies | United States |
| 18 | amazon.de | Shopping | Germany |
| 19 | patreon.com | Hobbies & Interests > Content Production | United States |
| 20 | bbc.co.uk | News | United Kingdom |
| 21 | adobe.com | Technology & Computing > Computing | United States |
| 22 | theguardian.com | News | United Kingdom |
| 23 | bing.com | Technology & Computing > Computing | United States |
| 24 | etsy.com | Shopping | United States |
| 25 | canva.com | Technology & Computing > Computing | Australia |
| 26 | shopify.com | Business and Finance > Industries | Canada |
| 27 | researchgate.net | Science > Environment | Germany |
| 28 | businessinsider.com | Business and Finance > Business | United States |
| 29 | bbc.com | News | United Kingdom |
| 30 | netflix.com | Entertainment > Television | United States |
| 31 | goodreads.com | Technology & Computing > Computing | United States |
| 32 | discogs.com | Entertainment > Music | Netherlands |
| 33 | gov.uk | Business and Finance > Business | Global |
| 34 | ameblo.jp | Technology & Computing > Computing | Japan |
| 35 | zoom.us | Technology & Computing > Computing | United States |
| 36 | telegraph.co.uk | News | United Kingdom |
| 37 | yahoo.com | Technology & Computing > Computing | United States |
| 38 | quora.com | Technology & Computing > Computing | United States |
| 39 | upwork.com | Careers > Job Search | United States |
| 40 | amazon.co.uk | Shopping | Global |
| 41 | booking.com | Travel > Travel Type | Global |
| 42 | dailymotion.com | Entertainment > Television | France |
| 43 | ebay.com | Shopping | United States |
| 44 | pixabay.com | Fine Art > Fine Art Photography | Germany |
| 45 | discord.com | Technology & Computing > Computing | United States |
| 46 | cnn.com | News | United States |
| 47 | walmart.com | Shopping | United States |
| 48 | steamcommunity.com | Video Gaming > PC Games | Brazil |
| 49 | dailymail.co.uk | News | United Kingdom |
| 50 | msn.com | News | United States |
The order shifts a little from month to month, but the top of the web is stable: search, video, social networks, messaging, encyclopaedias and the largest shops. Infrastructure and content delivery domains are left out here so the list shows destinations people visit.
What the top of the web is made of
Counting the main category of the 50 sites above gives a quick picture of where attention goes.
For deeper lists inside one subject, see the top 100 websites by category, which ranks ten leading domains in each of ten major categories.
What replaced Alexa?
No single list took over the Alexa role. Buyers now pick between three kinds of source, and the right one depends on what the list is for.
| Need | Plain popularity list | Traffic analytics tool | Ranked and categorized database |
|---|---|---|---|
| Top 1 million domains in one file | Yes | Usually limited exports | Yes |
| Category for every domain | No | Partial | Yes, IAB v2, IAB v3 and 59 filtering categories |
| Country level popularity | Rarely | Yes, per site lookups | Yes, country bands for every domain |
| Licence for commercial products | Often unclear | Usually excluded | Internal, OEM and group licences |
| Bulk files for your own systems | Yes | Rarely | CSV, Parquet, JSON |
| Beyond the top million | No | Partial | over 120 million categorized domains |
If your workflow only needs a rough "is this site big" signal, a plain list is fine. If you need to filter, segment or build a product on top of the ranking, categories and a clear licence matter more than the rank itself.
How popularity bands work
The most visited domains carry a global popularity band, and those with a clear country association also carry a band inside that country. Both reflect popularity among real users.
In total 11,123,283 domains carry a global popularity band and 4,641,486 carry a country level band. Domains outside the bands are still categorized and listed.
Bands are more stable than single positions. A site that moves from position 412 to 437 is still in the same band, which makes the bands a better filter for allowlists and media lists than an exact rank.
Country rankings
A global top list is dominated by a few very large platforms. For local campaigns or regional research, the country level band is the better tool. These are the countries with the most categorized domains in the current release.
| # | Country | Categorized domains | Share of all |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Germany | 9,467,439 | 9.2% |
| 2 | United States | 3,408,009 | 3.3% |
| 3 | United Kingdom | 2,997,010 | 2.9% |
| 4 | France | 2,258,309 | 2.2% |
| 5 | Netherlands | 2,110,301 | 2.0% |
| 6 | Russia | 2,109,105 | 2.0% |
| 7 | Brazil | 1,459,039 | 1.4% |
| 8 | Italy | 1,358,946 | 1.3% |
| 9 | Switzerland | 1,297,826 | 1.3% |
| 10 | India | 1,061,825 | 1.0% |
| 11 | Spain | 1,038,588 | 1.0% |
| 12 | Australia | 986,753 | 1.0% |
| 13 | Canada | 955,529 | 0.9% |
| 14 | Poland | 889,359 | 0.9% |
| 15 | Japan | 754,405 | 0.7% |
Country lists are also available as ready pages, for example United States domains, Germany domains and Japan domains.
Most popular websites by country
Global lists hide how different national webs are. These are the five most popular well-known sites associated with each country in the current release, in order of popularity.
| Country | Top 5 websites with a country association |
|---|---|
| United States | google.com, github.com, pinterest.com, amazon.com, reddit.com |
| Germany | amazon.de, researchgate.net, pixabay.com, n-tv.de, spiegel.de |
| United Kingdom | bbc.co.uk, theguardian.com, bbc.com, telegraph.co.uk, dailymail.co.uk |
| France | dailymotion.com, amazon.fr, lemonde.fr, lefigaro.fr, bfmtv.com |
| Japan | ameblo.jp, amazon.co.jp, pixiv.net, yahoo.co.jp, kakuyomu.jp |
| India | amazon.in, flipkart.com, espncricinfo.com, moneycontrol.com, jio.com |
| Italy | amazon.it, corriere.it, repubblica.it, ilfattoquotidiano.it, gazzetta.it |
| Poland | allegro.pl, ceneo.pl, onet.pl, wp.pl, otomoto.pl |
Global platforms with no single home country are left out of these rows, which is why national news, local marketplaces and country editions of large shops rise to the top.
News leads in Europe
In the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Italy, national news publishers fill most of the top five. Local news is still where people go first.
Local marketplaces hold on
Poland and India show home grown shops near the top next to global marketplaces, a pattern that matters for any retail or ad campaign.
Japan reads and writes
Blogging, illustration and web fiction platforms rank high in Japan, a mix you would never see in a global top list.
Moving from the Alexa file to a new ranked list
Many scripts and dashboards still expect the old two column file of rank and domain. Switching is quick if you plan for the differences.
Ranking glossary
- Registrable domain: the name you can buy, such as example.co.uk
- Band: a popularity range, such as top 1,000
- Country band: the same idea inside one country
- Category: what the site is about, in IAB or filtering terms
Common pitfalls
- Treating link shorteners and tracking domains as destinations
- Comparing exact positions month to month
- Using a global list for a local campaign
- Forgetting that one brand can own many country domains
Who uses a ranked website list
The buyers of ranked domain lists are the same groups that once downloaded the Alexa file, now with stricter needs on licensing and coverage.
Adtech and publishers
Pick inventory by popularity and category, and exclude unsafe sites. See brand safety advertising.
Security teams
Seed allowlists with popular, well categorized domains and detect lookalikes. See DNS filtering security.
SEO and market analysts
Track the biggest sites in a vertical over time. See SEO competitor analysis.
Researchers
Choose measurement targets with a documented, licensed source. See website classification dataset.
How to get the full ranked list
The top 50 on this page is a preview. The full ranked list is part of the licensed database and comes in the sizes buyers ask for most.
The head of the web, for media lists and quick allowlists.
Most of the sites people visit in a normal week.
The direct replacement for the old Alexa file, with categories.
over 120 million categorized domains with popularity bands.
Fields on every row
- Domain and global popularity band
- Country and country level band
- IAB v2 and v3 categories, four tiers
- Web filtering categories
- Audience personas
Delivery
- CSV, Parquet or JSON files
- Monthly refresh of the ranking
- Lookup API included with licences
- Runs inside your own systems
Licence
- Internal use for analytics and security
- OEM use inside a product
- No resale or publication of the raw list
- See pricing for plans
What a website ranking can and cannot tell you
A ranking is a strong signal, but only for the question it answers. Knowing its limits keeps decisions based on it sound.
| Question | Can a ranking answer it? | Better signal to add |
|---|---|---|
| Is this site widely used? | Yes, that is its core job | Country band for local use |
| Is this site safe for my brand? | No, popular sites can still carry unsafe content | Web filtering and IAB categories |
| Is this site a business I can sell to? | Partly, popularity hints at size | Category, personas and an industry label |
| Is this domain new or suspicious? | Only by its absence from the top bands | Security categories and daily new domain files |
| How much traffic does it get exactly? | No, bands describe relative popularity, not visit counts | Your own analytics for your own sites |
The strongest lists combine both views: popularity to rank, categories to filter. That pairing is what the licensed file delivers on every row.
Frequently asked questions
What happened to the Alexa website ranking?
Amazon stopped selling new Alexa.com subscriptions on 8 December 2021 and retired the Alexa.com website, including its traffic rankings, on 1 May 2022. The free Top 1 Million list stopped updating with it.
What replaced the Alexa Top 1 Million?
There is no single official successor. Teams now use other popularity rankings, commercial traffic panels or ranked domain databases. Our ranked list covers the most popular domains among real users, with categories, country and popularity bands on every row.
How do I get the full ranked list of websites?
The full ranked list is part of the licensed database. Contact us with the number of domains you need, for example the top 10,000, 100,000 or 1 million, and the fields you want.
How is popularity measured?
The ranking reflects popularity among real users. Domains are grouped into global and country level popularity bands, so you can compare sites worldwide or within one country.
Can I check the rank of my own website?
You can look up any domain in our domain checker to see its categories. Popularity bands for large domain sets are included in the licensed files.
Why are link shorteners missing from the top 50?
Short link and tracking domains appear on millions of pages but are not places people choose to visit. We leave them out of the published top 50 so the list shows real destinations, while the licensed file keeps them with their own category.
How often does the ranking change?
The full ranked list is refreshed every month. The very top changes slowly, while positions further down the list move more, which is why popularity bands are the safer filter for most uses.
Is there a news sites ranking?
Yes. Popular news publishers are covered in the ranking, and the dedicated news domains list collects news and politics sites in one file.
Replace the Alexa Top 1 Million with a ranked, categorized list
Tell us how many domains you need and which fields matter. We reply with the right size and licence.
Get the full ranked list See pricingAlexa is a trademark of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates. It is used here only to identify the retired service discussed. Website names and domains listed on this page belong to their respective owners and are shown only to describe popularity. URL Categorization Database is not affiliated with, sponsored or endorsed by Amazon or any listed website.