Nine companies filed half of ICANN’s 2026 TLD round
826 of 1,614 applications, under 55 legal names. Smaller than 2012 and more concentrated; 181 of 263 contested strings stay contested after every switch to a backup string, and private deals are banned.
A third of the applications, 539, were filed under a legal name that does not name the company. Charleston Road Registry Inc. is Google; Toddler Logic, LLC is Identity Digital.
1,145 applications, 71% of the round, came from legal names that told ICANN they run a registry or a registrar, or are affiliated with one. The companies applying already run the TLDs holding 86% of new-gTLD domains.
2012 and 2026, measure by measure
A contest is two or more applications for one string. Contests rose while applications fell, so more applications met on the same strings; the higher fee means the two rounds come to almost the same money at list price.
Three of 2012’s nine largest filers are one company today
Donuts, Afilias and Demand Media (Rightside) filed 364 applications between them in 2012 and are one company today, Identity Digital. Of the 436 brand TLDs that launched from the 2012 round, a brand TLD being one the applicant keeps for its own name, 108 have since been retired, according to IANA’s root zone database.
AI words drew 3.4 applications each; the average non-brand string drew 1.9
OpenAI applied for seven of them (.agent, .agi, .asi, .mcp, .gpt, .model, .evals). Google, Meta and OpenAI each applied for .agent as a generic word, which the Applicant Guidebook (3.1.7) bars from being kept closed.
181 contests will outlast every backup switch; 2012 sent 16 to auction
Every application names a backup string, and the backup is usable only if nobody applied for that string. Identity Digital and XYZ meet in 77 contests, more than any other pair, and 243 of the 263 contests include a company that already runs a registry. The ranked list is at most contested TLDs.
Two in three 2012 TLDs hold under 10,000 domains today
| Domains | 2012 TLDs today (773) | This round, by closest 2012 TLDs (664) |
|---|---|---|
| Closest 2012 TLDs no longer live | — | 16 |
| Under 1,000 | 249 | 116 |
| 1,000 to 9,999 | 260 | 191 |
| 10,000 to 99,999 | 211 | 282 |
| 100,000 or more | 53 | 59 |
323 of 664 strings sit under 10,000 domains or beside a TLD no longer live; 59 sit at 100,000 or more. The largest are .mart, .cart, .goods and .retail, whose closest 2012 TLD is .shop (4.6 million). Each TLD’s monthly count is on our stats pages.
Brand applications fell by more than a third; Japan’s count rose
The United States still files most, 151 down from 203, though its share rose from 39% to 45%.
21 October decides which contests end first
The backup-string window runs from 8 to 21 October: an application may switch to its backup string once, if nobody applied for that string. On String Confirmation Day, 17 November, ICANN confirms the strings and opens objections, which run to 16 March 2027. The last day to withdraw for a 65% refund is 27 November (ICANN’s milestones), and the prioritization draw that sets ICANN’s review order is expected in the first half of 2027. The record changelog lists each change as ICANN makes it.
What it means for each reader
- Reporting on the round
- A third of the applications were filed under a legal name that does not name the company. Each tie from legal name to company is sourced on the company’s page. All 402 companies →
- In a contest
- 82 of 263 contests can end by backup switches before 21 October. The other 181 end by withdrawal, community priority or auction. The contested strings, ranked →
- Protecting a mark
- Objections run from 17 November to 16 March 2027. All 986 strings and their applicants are on the scoreboard. The 986 strings →
- Investing in names
- By their closest 2012 TLDs, 49% of this round’s strings resemble TLDs that hold under 10,000 domains or have closed. The ten largest 2012 TLDs hold 61.5% of that round’s domains. Monthly counts for each TLD →
- Selling names
- The companies applying already run the TLDs holding 86% of new-gTLD domains. The companies behind half the applications are ones registrars already carry. Registries by company →
- Naming a company
- .agent, the round’s largest contest at 13 applications, cannot be settled before ICANN’s review begins after the draw in the first half of 2027. No .agent name can exist before then. The .agent contest →
How we counted
Every count of applications, strings, legal names and companies is from ICANN’s published list, downloaded at 18:07 UTC on 7 October 2026. ICANN’s statistics page counts 1,615 applications and 481 applicants; the list holds 1,614 under 480 legal names; one application is still under an administrative check. Legal names count as one company only where ICANN’s list or a public filing ties them, and each tie is sourced on the company’s page. A legal name does not name the company when neither the company’s name nor one of its brands appears in it.
Domain counts are ICANN’s monthly registry reports, May 2026 by TLD and April 2026 by company, available through our Stats API. The 2012 figures are ICANN’s program statistics, its 2012 list and the companies’ own counts, each linked where it appears. Claims announced before Reveal Day, 7 October, that the list did not hold stay on the record, marked abandoned. This page does not update; the live version of every table is on the overview, and the round’s rules are in the explainer.