On October 7, 2026, ICANN held the reveal event for the new round of generic Top-Level Domain (gTLD) applications—the first such opening since 2012, marking a gap of approximately 14 years. A total of 1,663 applications were submitted during the window, with roughly 1,615 valid primary strings—originating from about 480 applicant entities—making the published list.
In terms of categories, there were 333 brand-related domains (.brand), 16 community-based domains, and 15 self-declared geographic names. Additionally, there were 51 applications under the Applicant Support Program, 21 Internationalized Domain Name (IDN) applications, and 9 variant applications. Geographically, North America led by a wide margin with 864 applications, followed by Europe (506) and Asia-Pacific/Australia (218); Africa and Latin America combined accounted for fewer than 30 applications, highlighting a persistent digital divide.
Competition for strings is equally fierce. Third-party data indicates that among approximately 980 distinct strings, around 263 are contested by multiple parties. High-demand strings include .agent, which attracted 13 applicants—drawing in giants such as OpenAI, Meta, Google, and Alibaba—while .bit drew about 11 applicants, and .api, .brand, and .hub each attracted around 10. With the evaluation fee for a single application reaching $227,000, the barrier to entry is high.
It is important to note that public disclosure does not equate to approval. The process moves next to the string replacement period (October 8–21), String Confirmation Day (November 17), followed by stages such as evaluation, objection, contention resolution, and contract signing. Applicants who withdraw before November 27 are eligible for a 65% refund of the evaluation fee. The number of domains that ultimately make it to the root zone will be significantly lower than the number of applications; the battle for these domains has only just begun.
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