New Domain Extensions 2026: Every Applied-For TLD That Matters (Reveal Day)

ICANN just redrew the map of the internet

At 18:00 UTC on October 7, 2026, ICANN published the complete list of applications in the 2026 new gTLD round — every company that wants to run a new domain extension, and every string they applied for. It is the first reveal of its kind in fourteen years.

The headline numbers: 1,663 applications were submitted during the April–August window; 47 failed to pay the $227,000 fee and were thrown out, leaving 1,616 proceeding (ICANN's snapshot lists 1,615 primary-string records). Behind them: 333 brand applications, 16 community applications, 15 geographic names, and applicants from every region on earth.

For perspective: 2012's round drew 1,930 applications, with .app (13 applicants) going to Google for $25 million. This time the hottest strings look like a dispatch from the future: .agent, .agi, .llm, .api, .btc.

One crucial caveat: these are applications, not launches. Nothing below is registrable today, and the first uncontested extensions aren't expected until late 2027 or early 2028. Reveal Day gives us the first honest look at the DNS of the 2030s — and the first chance for founders, brand owners, and investors to build a watchlist.

The list can still shift: a Replacement Period runs October 8–21, during which eligible applicants may switch to a pre-designated backup string. The final list lands on String Confirmation Day, November 17, 2026 — re-check then before planning around any specific string.

The numbers at a glance

ICANN's Reveal Day data snapshot (primary-string application data as of October 7, 2026):

• 1,615 primary-string applications in the snapshot (1,616 confirmed proceeding)
• 333 brand (.brand) applications · 16 community · 15 geographic-name
• 51 applications from Applicant Support Program participants (56 organizations received an 85% fee discount)
• 864 from North America, 506 from Europe, 218 from Asia/Australia/Pacific, 16 from Africa, 11 from Latin America/Caribbean
• 21 internationalized (non-Latin-script) applications, plus 9 variants

The directory gtlds.fyi (built on ICANN's released data) counts 986 distinct proposed strings and 263 overlaps — cases where two or more applicants want the same string. Those overlaps are where the drama lives.

The most contested strings: where the auctions will happen

When multiple applicants want the same string, ICANN forms a contention set. The 2026 rules ban applicants in the same set from privately resolving it — no quiet backroom deals like 2012. Contested strings head toward formal resolution, which ultimately means auctions, with the winning bid going to ICANN.

The hottest string of the round is unmistakable: .agent. Thirteen companies applied, including Google, OpenAI, and Meta — a proxy war over the identity layer of the AI agent economy, fought three letters at a time. Identity Digital is also in the fight and hedged with the shortened variants .agnt and .agt. Unstoppable Domains and the Sentient Foundation had publicly announced their intent to pursue .agent through ICANN back in December 2025.

Tied with .agent: .lab / .labs — thirteen applicants pursuing one or the other, GoDaddy among them. If history rhymes, the .agent auction could be one of the most expensive domain events ever recorded — Google paid $25 million for .app in 2012.

Every applied-for string that matters: the master table

The applications worth knowing — from ICANN's published data as reported October 7–8, 2026.

The full round spans 986 strings — ICANN's Application Publication and Statistics site is authoritative; gtlds.fyi is the fastest browse.

The biggest applicants: who is buying the future

Identity Digital — 216 applications, the largest single applicant, spanning 13 categories from AI and Web3 & Crypto to Gambling and Health & Wellness. The company told Domain Name Wire its 2026 list builds on the 2012 lesson — its biggest winners were broad generics like .live, .digital, .life, and .world, each now over 400,000 domains. It also serves as backend registry provider for other applicants' strings, some in contention against its own — run, it says, by separate teams.

Link Freedom Group — 300+ submissions. AI & Tech (.llm, .agi, .quantum, .robot), Commerce (.cart, .brand, .merch, .mall), Culture (.lfg, .kek, .mvp, .truth, .omg, .boom), Crypto & Web3 (.block, .btc, .coin, .nft), Lifestyle (.nil, .god, .pop, .zen), and Web Infrastructure (.portal, .core, .bit, .internet, .url) — framed as a bid to open "one of the internet's foundational layers" to new categories of users.

GoDaddy — 77 applications. Generic gold (.api, .brand, .crm, .good, .hub, .labs, .wallet) plus a strategic AI-agent play: .ans and .agentid for DNS-based agent identification, with .ansid as a replacement string. Its .agi filing puts it directly against Link Freedom Group.

Google — 39 applications, far fewer than its 101 in 2012. Twenty are dot-brands (.alphabet, .chromebook, .pixel, .fitbit, .nest, .waze, .waymo, .deepmind, .gemini, .gemma, .veo); the rest map its product universe — .agent, .api, .mcp, .lens, .maps, .workspace, .classroom. It faces auctions on several, starting with .agent.

The portfolio specialists announced their intentions before Reveal Day: Namecheap's Starlight Registry (40 strings — .aid, .arc, .clone, .droid, .flux, .forge, .lab, .logic, .maker, .mesh, .ops, .sense, .shift, .sync, .synth, .trek, .wave), Oinkadot (25 — .anime, .ghost, .glitch, .manga, .queen, .spice, .weed, .wire), Internet.Best (10 creator-economy strings — .chatbot, .creator, .influencer, .prompt, .skills, .streamer), Phoenix Domain Partners (9 — .bbq, .beach, .chic, .comics, .jackpot, .pool), and Name Space LLC (10 — .aura, .fest, .ify, .sound).

AI and crypto won the string wars before a single domain sold

Look at what applicants collectively bet $227,000-a-pop on and the round has a clear thesis: the next internet is agentic, and it transacts on-chain. The AI-agent cluster — .agent, .agi, .llm, .ans, .agentid, .mcp, .robot, .quantum, .intelligence, .genie — is the densest. When Google, OpenAI, Meta, and GoDaddy all pay six figures for agent identity infrastructure, it signals where they believe value accrues: not just in models, but in the naming layer agents use to find and trust each other. The crypto cluster (.btc, .coin, .nft, .block, .crypto, .bit, .wallet, .chain) is nearly as dense — an attempt to bring unofficial "Web3 domains" into the real DNS, where they work in every browser.

If you're building in AI today, the practical takeaway: the namespace your agents will live in is being auctioned right now. Our guide to .ai domains covers what you can actually register today while the 2026 strings work through evaluation.

What Reveal Day means for domain buyers

Bluntly: nothing you can buy — yet. No 2026-round string is registrable, and the earliest uncontested extensions won't reach general availability until late 2027 or early 2028. Anyone offering "pre-registrations" for .agent or .llm today is selling you nothing.

What you can do now:

• Build a watchlist. Pick the 3–5 strings that map to your industry. Check whether they're contested and who you're up against — that determines whether a string launches in 2028 or dies in auction purgatory.
• Register the alternative today. If your heart is set on a future .agent domain, secure your name in a live extension now and treat the new TLD as a future upgrade. Browse the 1,100+ TLDs you can register today and compare real registrar prices.
• Trademark holders: get into the Trademark Clearinghouse. Every launch includes a sunrise period with first rights on matching domains — the cheapest brand protection you'll ever buy.
• Recheck everything on November 17. The Replacement Period (Oct 8–21) lets applicants swap to a backup string. Set a calendar reminder for String Confirmation Day.
• Don't plan around contested strings. Thirteen applicants want .agent; twelve will lose, and marquee auctions could run into eight figures. Treat contested strings as lottery tickets, not roadmaps.

For brand owners who didn't apply, the risk isn't missing out — it's a rival owning a string matching your brand or industry. The objection window (November 17, 2026 – March 16, 2027) is the formal recourse. Have counsel review the list now, not in March.

The timeline: what happens next

The official ICANN schedule from here:

From Reveal Day onward, applicants in the same contention set are forbidden from communicating with each other about their applications — which is why 2026's Reveal Day was a quiet website publication instead of 2012's champagne reception in a London hotel.

Update (October 19, 2026): the Replacement Period is closed — what changed, and what November 17 decides

The two-week window that could redraw the map has shut. Here's where the 2026 round stands now, and the three dates that matter next.

The Replacement Period ran October 8–21 — and the list may already look different

From 00:01 UTC on October 8 through 23:59 UTC on October 21, any applicant that had designated an eligible backup "replacement" string in its original filing could irreversibly switch to it (ICANN new gTLD program milestones, confirmed via ICANN's published schedule and legal analyses from Greenberg Traurig and Legal500). The typical motive: escape a contention set. An applicant facing 12 rivals for .agent, for example, could have sidestepped the fight entirely by falling back to a pre-registered alternative — GoDaddy's filings, for instance, listed .ansid as a replacement string for its agent-identity play.

Two hard constraints applied: a replacement string could not be identical to any other applied-for primary or replacement string, and applicants that never designated a backup had no move to make. ICANN has not yet published which applicants actually switched — its statistics page still shows Reveal Day figures as the latest data (noted by BRS Registry's Reveal Day analysis). The switches, if any, become visible on the next milestone.

November 17, 2026: String Confirmation Day — the list becomes final

On November 17, ICANN publishes the definitive list of applied-for strings and updated contention sets, incorporating every replacement-period switch. This is the date the original post told readers to mark — and the advice stands, with one addition: recheck every string you care about, even uncontested ones. A replacement switch can introduce a brand-new string into the round or quietly remove one you were tracking.

November 17 also opens two consequential windows:

• The Objections Period (November 17, 2026 – March 16, 2027). For 90 days, anyone can file formal objections on four grounds: string confusion, legal rights infringement, community opposition, and limited public interest. Governments are already mobilizing — Australia's infrastructure department opened a public consultation asking citizens to flag proposed gTLDs with "sensitive or problematic language" so it can act through ICANN's Governmental Advisory Committee during the objections window. If you hold a trademark that collides with an applied-for string, this is your formal recourse, and preparation starts now — not in March.
• The final withdrawal window. Applicants that want out can withdraw by 23:59 UTC on November 27, 2026 and recover 65% of the $227,000 evaluation fee. Expect some long-shot applications to disappear here — every withdrawal in a contention set shortens the odds for everyone left in it.

What this means for your watchlist (updated guidance)

1. Don't trust the Reveal Day list anymore. Treat every string as provisional until November 17. If you built a watchlist from the October 7 data, plan to rebuild it.
2. Contested strings just got more interesting. Any applicant that used the replacement window to flee a contention set has revealed its private odds assessment — it decided the fight wasn't worth it. The applicants that stayed are signaling they intend to win, including at auction.
3. Trademark owners: the clock is now real. Between November 17 and March 16, objections must be filed with evidence and fees. Have counsel review the final list the week it publishes.
4. The "pre-registration" warning still applies — more so. With the list in flux, anyone selling registrations or "priority access" for 2026-round strings is selling fiction. Nothing is registrable, and the final string set isn't even settled.

The next update to this post lands after String Confirmation Day, when the final list — and the real contention-set map — is public.

Frequently asked questions

Can I register a .agent or .llm domain today?

No. These are applications, not live extensions — the earliest launches are expected in late 2027 or early 2028, after evaluation, contracting, delegation, and trademark sunrise periods. Anyone selling "pre-registrations" is selling nothing. Need a domain now? Register one of the 1,100+ live TLDs and treat new strings as a future upgrade.

How many applications did ICANN receive?

1,663 were submitted; 47 were discarded for non-payment of the $227,000 fee, leaving 1,616 proceeding (1,615 primary-string records in the snapshot). The 2012 round drew 1,930.

What is a contention set?

When two or more applicants want the same or similar string, ICANN groups them into a contention set — only one can operate it. The 2026 rules bar private deals between set members; contested strings end in ICANN-run auctions.

What is the Replacement Period?

October 8 (00:01 UTC) through October 21, 2026 (23:59 UTC): applicants who designated a backup "replacement" string may irreversibly switch to it, typically to escape a contention set. The final list lands on String Confirmation Day, November 17.

Which strings are the most contested?

.agent and .lab/.labs are tied at 13 applicants each. The .agent fight includes Google, OpenAI, Meta, and Identity Digital. In 2012 the most contested string was .app (also 13 applicants) — Google won it at auction for $25 million.

Was .llm really applied for?

Yes. Link Freedom Group filed 300+ submissions including .llm, .agi, .quantum, and .robot. GoDaddy separately applied for .agi, so that string is contested.

When can brands object to an application?

November 17, 2026 – March 16, 2027, on four grounds: string confusion, legal rights, community opposition, and limited public interest. Brand owners should have counsel review the applications now — and recheck the final list on String Confirmation Day, since replacement strings can change the field.

When will the new extensions actually launch?

The first uncontested strings are expected in late 2027 or early 2028: replacement period (October 2026) → string confirmation (Nov 17) → objections (through March 2027) → prioritization draw (H1 2027) → evaluation, contracting, and delegation. Contested strings headed for auction take longer.

The bottom line

Reveal Day gave us the first map of the internet's next decade: 1,616 applications, 986 strings, 263 fights — and a clear verdict from the companies writing $227,000 checks. The future belongs to agents, AI infrastructure, and on-chain identity. Thirteen companies are about to spend a fortune fighting over three letters: .agent.

For everyone else, the playbook is patience plus preparation: build your watchlist, secure your name in today's namespace, get trademarks into the Clearinghouse, and mark November 17 for the final list. The land rush hasn't started — but for the first time in fourteen years, we can see exactly where it will happen.

This guide reflects ICANN's Reveal Day snapshot of October 7, 2026. Strings may change during the October 8–21 Replacement Period; we'll update this post when the confirmed list lands on String Confirmation Day, November 17.

ICANN's reveal is just the starting gun — track upcoming TLD launches to get alerted before general availability opens, when the best names go first.

Set on a classic extension instead? Our breakdown of the best TLD for a startup in 2026 compares .com, .io, .ai and .co on price, trust and availability.

Try it: Track the extensions you care about as they move toward launch with the TLD Launch Radar.

Keep reading: ICANN Reveal Day, explained — what the 1,600+ applications actually mean.