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2026 new gTLD round has actually opened

Kevin Murphy, May 1, 2026, 03:10:26 (UTC), Domain Policy

As of today, you can now apply to own a piece of the internet’s root zone for the first time since 2012.

Almost unbelievably, given some of its relatively recent history, ICANN has hit its deadline and opened up its systems for companies and organizations to file applications for new gTLDs.

The application window opened late April 30 and will close August 12. Many applicants will have been working on their bids for some time, but may hold out until later in the window to actually commit.

ICANN CEO Kurt Lindqvist said in a press release: “Whether building a brand for a company, spotlighting a geographic region or city, strengthening a community, or launching a business to offer domain names under a new registry, a new gTLD can be an innovative tool for commerce, security, and communication.”

ICANN noted that it’s expecting to receive applications for gTLDs in non-Latin scripts — 27 are available — to broaden the linguistic diversity of the DNS. Whether the Org has done enough awareness-raising outreach in non-Anglophone regions is an open question, however.

The cost of applying begins at $227,000. That’s the base application fee, but it will likely often be bumped up by thousands for applicants that need special extra evaluation services.

There’s also going to be an auction of last resort for competing applications for the same strings, where ICANN pockets the proceeds. Unlike the 2012 round, there’s no ICANN-endorsed pathway to privately resolving contention sets for cash.

As many as 75 organizations around the world may have qualified for the Applicant Support Program, which will subsidize application fees by as much as 80%.

We won’t know who has applied for what until probably around mid-October. Applicants then get two weeks to change their strings to their back-ups if they find themselves in unwelcome contention sets. Final strings are confirmed in November.

That’s all assuming the 2026 room is more or less the same size as the 2012 round, in which there were 1,930 applications. A larger batch of applications may delay things a little.

Applications can be filed via ICANN’s new TLD Application Management System (TAMS). The Org has also made a great number of documents and archived webinars available that talk prospective applicants through the process.

Applicants, or simply the curious, can also use DI’s free Stringtel tool to investigate the risks and opportunities associated with their chosen gTLD strings.

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