domain name news
ICANN's Reveal Day showed 1,615 applications for new top-level domains, with .agent drawing 13 competing applicants. Identity Digital filed the most applications (216), ahead of Link Freedom Group, XYZ Registry, GoDaddy and Intercap Registry.
Source: dnjournal.com published on
ICANN's 2026 Reveal Day export, finalized October 8, shows 1,614 applications for 986 distinct gTLD strings from 480 applicants, with 55 percent of applications in direct conflict and artificial intelligence terms the most contested category.
Source: iptwins.com original in French published on
AtomRadar's 2026 survey of 500 US founders found 69% would have considered a more premium domain if installment payment plans had been available, and 78% said such plans make stronger domains easier to acquire.
Source: atom.com published on
Hours after ICANN disclosed new gTLD applications, Link Freedom Group replaced 19 of its 158 proposed top-level domains with alternative strings, dropping contested names like .brand and .max in favor of less-contested options.
Source: Domain Name Wire published on
The Coalition on Digital Impact's first State of Digital Access report finds that having internet connectivity does not mean users can navigate services in their own language, with over half of surveyed organizations citing native-language access problems.
Source: circleid.com published on
Following ICANN's Reveal Day on October 7, 2026, Austrian registry services firm tldbox confirmed it applied for three new generic top-level domains: .salzburg, .verein and .coaching, under ICANN's new gTLD Program 2026 round.
Source: Nic.at original in German published on
ICANN published the applications for the 2026 new gTLD round on October 7, showing 481 applicants filed 1,615 applications, including 333 dot-brands. More than half, 891 applications, fall into 263 contention sets, with 13 applicants competing for .agent.
Source: domainbrief.de original in German published on
Public Interest Registry, the nonprofit behind .org, applied for 14 new top level domains in the 2026 round, including .aid, .cause, .donate, .hope, .impact, .mission, .nonprofit and .organization, with backup strings chosen for six. The move would expand its existing portfolio of charity-related extensions such as .ngo, .foundation, .charity, .gives and .giving.
Source: Domain Name Wire published on
XYZ.com LLC, the company behind .xyz and 34 other extensions, has applied for 139 new top level domain names in the 2026 application round, making it the third-largest applicant by count, according to Domain Name Wire.
Source: Domain Name Wire published on
A company called Journey to the West Corporation claimed on a website in August to have applied for 323 new top-level domains in ICANN's 2026 round, but it was absent from ICANN's official applicant list and its site has since vanished.
Source: Domain Name Wire published on
Amazon has applied for just eight dot-brand top level domains in the 2026 new gTLD round, a sharp pullback from its 76 applications in the 2012 expansion, Domain Name Wire reports.
Source: Domain Name Wire published on
Squarespace, one of the largest domain registrars following its 2023 acquisition of Google Domains, has applied with ICANN for 15 new top level domains including .brand, .chef, .gym, .hub and .venue. GoDaddy is competing for nine of the same strings, while only .member, .planner, .trainer and .venue have no rival applicants.
Source: Domain Name Wire published on
ICANN published its full list of 1,616 new top-level domain applications, revealing .agent and .lab/.labs tied at 13 applicants each as the most contested strings, with .bit, .api and .brand close behind.
Source: Domain Name Wire published on
Intercap Registry, which currently runs .inc, .dealer and .box, has filed 71 applications in the 2026 new top-level domain round, making it one of the biggest applicants despite its relatively small existing portfolio.
Source: Domain Name Wire published on
Meta applied for 18 new top level domains including .superintelligence, .agent, .meta and .whatsapp, ICANN disclosed. Rival applicant Radix had sought .superintelligence only as a backup string, so its bid becomes void once Meta’s primary application proceeds.
Source: Domain Name Wire published on
Identity Digital, already the largest gTLD registry operator, applied for 216 new top-level domain strings in the 2026 application round, spanning 13 categories including AI, Web3, finance and travel, chief revenue officer Matt Overman told Domain Name Wire.
Source: Domain Name Wire published on
GoDaddy has applied for 77 new top level domains through its registry subsidiary in the 2026 round of ICANN’s expansion, a major increase after largely skipping the 2012 round.
Source: Domain Name Wire published on
DTTM TLD, LLC, Donald Trump’s intellectual property holding company, has applied to ICANN for the .trump top-level domain, one of 1,616 applications submitted during this year’s new gTLD round.
Source: Domain Name Wire published on
Automattic, the company behind WordPress, has applied for up to 16 new top-level domains, including .matt, .wordpress, .woo, .tumblr, .craft, .hire, .human, .jazz, .make, .mesh, .pod, .pop, .robot, .soul, .story, .vibe and backup strings like .php. The company already runs .blog, which has around 375,000 registrations. Several of the new applications, such as .wordpress, .woo and .tumblr, are dot-brand domains, while .matt appears tied to founder Matt Mullenweg’s first name.
Source: Domain Name Wire published on
OpenAI has applied for fifteen new top level domains, including five dot-brand strings (.chatgpt, .codex, .oai, .openai, .gpt) and generic terms like .agent, .skill and .voice. OpenAI is one of thirteen applicants for .agent, competing with Google and Meta, while two other companies also applied for .gpt. Rival Anthropic applied for just two dot-brands, .anthropic and .claude.
Source: Domain Name Wire published on