.craft
Is .craft a real TLD? Who’s applying to run it?
.craft is contested: 5 applications for it are on ICANN’s Reveal Day list, as of 8 October 2026. They are Identity Digital, GoDaddy Registry, Automattic, Starlight (Namecheap) and Link Freedom Group. XYZ Registry named .craft as a backup string for its .portal application. ICANN deactivated it, because another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup. XServer named .craft as a backup string for its .official application. ICANN deactivated it, because another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup.
A friendly address for makers, artisans, and craft brewers, but most serious businesses will still prefer .com over it.
makers, artisans, and craft-beverage businesses (breweries, distilleries, roasters), plus studios and workshops selling handmade or skill-forward goods, with a secondary fringe of software teams who identify with 'craft' as an ethos
In LFG's published list of 300+ strings submitted before the ICANN window closed on 2026-08-12. Their catalog tagline: “Where expertise becomes identity.”
Named on the ICANN gTLD application list, 7 October 2026 as a replacement (backup) string of the applicant's .official application, shown as deactivated: another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup
Named on the ICANN gTLD application list, 7 October 2026 as a replacement (backup) string of the applicant's .portal application, shown as deactivated: another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup
The 2012 applications making the most similar bet. Chosen by AI from every string in that round, without being told what happened to any of them.
Same bet: a single generic noun naming a whole creative practice, sold as primary identity to a dispersed population of individual makers and small studios, and dependent on that community accepting an outsider-run word as its collective home.
Same bet: a practice/discipline noun that independent practitioners and small shops put their own name in front of, monetized by the breadth of a self-identifying professional community rather than by any anchor tenant.
Same maker-culture bet on a hands-on identity word, but it skews hobbyist/consumer and reads as an initialism rather than the trade noun a professional would hang a business on.
What a .craft domain is
.craft is not a TLD yet. It is a string on our record of the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round, in our Culture category. 5 applications for it are on ICANN’s Reveal Day list.
Is the .craft domain extension real yet?
.craft is not yet a domain extension you can register: nothing resolves under it, and no registrar sells names in it. It is a string applicants have put forward in the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round, the process that decides whether it becomes one.
When can you buy a .craft domain?
You can’t yet. A .craft name can only be registered once the string is delegated (added to the DNS root) and its registry opens. Last round's closest parallel to .craft was .art, delegated on 23 June 2016.
Is .craft a real TLD?
Not yet. .craft is not in the DNS root, so nothing resolves under it. It’s here because .craft is on ICANN’s Reveal Day list of applied-for strings. Every entry on this page links to its source.
- Starlight (Namecheap) · noteDomain Name Wire
- XYZ Registry · first recordedICANN
- XServer · first recordedICANN
- Identity Digital · first recordedICANN
- GoDaddy Registry · first recordedICANN
- Automattic · first recordedICANN
- Starlight (Namecheap) · first recordedICANN
- Link Freedom Group · now confirmedICANN
- Link Freedom Group · first recordedLink Freedom Group
“BEI2691T-T99138 · Bellatrix Exploration, Inc. · primary · contention set 2026-53 KKWT2621T-T78272 · Knock Knock WHOIS There, LLC · primary · contention set 2026-53 LFGL2683T-T10005 · Link Freedom Group Ltd · primary · contention set 2026-53 NA2631T-T74490 · Registry Services, LLC · primary · contention set 2026-53 SS2654T-T73111 · Hair Apparent, LLC · primary · contention set 2026-53”ICANN
“BEI2691T-T99138 · Bellatrix Exploration, Inc. · primary · contention set 2026-53 KKWT2621T-T78272 · Knock Knock WHOIS There, LLC · primary · contention set 2026-53 LFGL2683T-T10005 · Link Freedom Group Ltd · primary · contention set 2026-53 NA2631T-T74490 · Registry Services, LLC · primary · contention set 2026-53 SS2654T-T73111 · Hair Apparent, LLC · primary · contention set 2026-53 XCI2688T-T22077 · XServer Cloud Incorporated · replacement string of .official · Deactivated XL2625T-T16424 · XYZ.COM LLC · replacement string of .portal · Deactivated”ICANN
“For us, moving into the registry side is a natural extension of what we have been building.”Domain Name Wire
“.craft · Culture · “Where expertise becomes identity.””Link Freedom Group
- Band chosen: 30-49, usable but limited. The string is a real, warm, broadly understood English word with several plausible buyer pools: craft beverages, handmade goods, craftsmanship-branded studios, and 'software craft' culture. That breadth supports registration volume and occasional genuine primary-identity use over the next 5 years. It is not in the 50-69 band because, by analogy (flagged as analogy) with creative-vertical TLDs like .design and .art, even the stronger of those achieved primary-identity use mainly among portfolio-driven professionals, and 'craft' lacks an equivalent profession whose members need a personal web identity; makers and brewers largely live on marketplaces and social platforms and treat domains as secondary, so sustained demand that needs no explaining is unlikely. It is not in the 10-29 band because the word is not a joke or event-driven string: it carries positive brand connotation, reads naturally right-of-the-dot (beer.craft, leather.craft), and by analogy with hobby/vertical strings like .coffee or .studio it should sustain a modest but real registration base rather than a novelty spike. Applicant context: the string is an announced application by Link Freedom Group in the ICANN 2026 round, cataloged under 'Culture' with the tagline 'Where expertise becomes identity.'; a portfolio applicant of this scale implies standard registrar-channel distribution rather than a single-vertical evangelism push, which tempers expectations of concentrated category adoption. Aftermarket outlook is thin: a small set of generic left-of-dot words (beer, gin, wood, home) could command real resale premiums, but the long tail would trade near registration price. Main market uncertainty: whether the craft-beverage segment, the one vertical with dense branding spend, will treat a new TLD as identity-worthy or continue defaulting to .com and compound brand names. Registration volumes, renewal behavior, and pricing for this or comparable TLDs are unknown; all quantitative dynamics here are reasoned qualitatively from analogy.