On this page we provide background information about the Prefix Top Lists (PTLs) datasets published by the OpenINTEL project. These datasets aggregate domain popularity into BGP prefixes and Autonomous Systems (ASes) and are intended for academic Internet measurement research.
PTLs offer an infrastructure-centric alternative to domain-based top lists by highlighting the network prefixes and ASes that host popular Internet services. The datasets are released as weekly snapshots to support longitudinal analysis.
The goal of the Prefix Top Lists dataset is to provide a stable, network-aware target selection resource for Internet measurements. While domain-based top lists are widely used, they often exhibit volatility and obscure shared infrastructure. Since many Internet phenomena occur at the prefix and AS level, PTLs shift the unit of analysis to better align with routing and operational settings.
Prefix Top Lists are constructed by combining domain-based top lists, OpenINTEL DNS resolution data, and BGP routing information.
In short, we:
The published datasets include Prefix Top Lists (PTLs) and AS Top Lists (ATLs), released weekly in both Zipf-weighted and presence-based variants.
The data collected by the OpenINTEL platform has numerous applications in network and network security research. To support these efforts, we make our open data available on the download page or through the links provided in the coverage overview above, under the terms and conditions outlined on our terms page. As using our data may require specialized knowledge and specific analysis infrastructure, we encourage academic researchers to contact us to discuss your needs.
Closed data may be available upon request (more information here). If you have an interest in licencing access to our data for commercial purposes feel free to contact us.