ICANN Reveals 1,615 Applications for 2026 Round of New gTLDs

ICANN Publishes 2026 Round Application List

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) on 7 October 2026 published the list of applications received in the New Generic Top-Level Domains (gTLD) Program: 2026 Round. The publication reveals the applied-for strings and the applying entities, as required by community-developed policy set forth in the Applicant Guidebook. The published data includes the applied-for primary strings and any applicable variant or replacement strings, a list of contention sets in CSV format, and the public portions of each application. The full listing is available on the 2026 Round Application Publication and Statistics website.

"Reveal Day marks an important milestone for the next expansion of the Domain Name System," said Kurtis Lindqvist, President and Chief Executive Officer of ICANN. He added that the applications demonstrate how organizations around the world are innovating new ways to build trusted online identities, serve their communities, and connect with Internet users, and that ICANN remains focused on administering a fair, transparent, and predictable evaluation process grounded in policies developed by the global multistakeholder community.

Application Data Snapshot

The application submission window was open from 30 April to 12 August 2026. ICANN reported 1,615 applications in total, including 333 brand applications, 16 community-based applications, and 15 self-identified geographic name applications. A total of 51 applications were submitted by Applicant Support Program applicants.

By region, the snapshot lists 16 applications from Africa, 218 from Asia/Australia/Pacific, 506 from Europe, 11 from Latin America and the Caribbean, and 864 from North America. The round also includes 21 applications for Internationalized Domain Names and 9 applications for variants, which are strings that have other forms in different scripts such as Arabic or Chinese. ICANN noted that the snapshot reflects primary string application data as of 7 October 2026 and that the final number and types of applications will be confirmed on String Confirmation Day.

Upcoming Milestones

The Replacement Period runs from 8 October 2026 (00:01 UTC) to 21 October 2026 (23:59 UTC), during which applicants that applied for a second-choice or alternate replacement string may elect to switch from their primary applied-for string, provided the replacement string is eligible and not identical to another applied-for string.

String Confirmation Day is scheduled for 17 November 2026, when a final list of all applied-for gTLD strings and an updated list of contention sets will be published. This date also marks the start of the Community Input and Objections Period, which runs until 16 March 2027, and the final 10 days during which applicants can withdraw their application to receive a 65 percent refund of the gTLD evaluation fee, with requests due by 23:59 UTC on 27 November 2026.

ICANN also announced that 2026 Round operations will be paused during the organization's end-of-year office closure from 1:00 UTC on 19 December 2026 until 16:00 UTC on 4 January 2027, a pause that has been factored into the objections period. The Prioritization Draw, which sets the processing order for applications and contention sets after the String Evaluation Stage, is expected to take place on a to-be-determined date in the first half of 2027.

Sources: The Register · Icann · The Verge