.demo
Is .demo a real TLD? Who’s applying to run it?
.demo is contested: 3 applications for it are on ICANN’s Reveal Day list, as of 7 October 2026. They are GoDaddy Registry, Intercap and Identity Digital. DotMonk named .demo as a backup string for its .oss application. ICANN deactivated it, because another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup. Aruba named .demo as a backup string for its .fix application. ICANN deactivated it, because another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup. Link Freedom Group named .demo as a backup string for its .drone application. ICANN deactivated it, because another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup.
A handy label for software demo pages, but demos usually live on a company's main site, so few will make .demo their primary address.
SaaS and AI product teams who want a short, obvious address for live demos, sandboxes, and trial environments, plus agencies and developers staging client previews
In LFG's published list of 300+ strings submitted before the ICANN window closed on 2026-08-12. Their catalog tagline: “See it in action.”
Aruba S.p.A. told Domain Name Wire it applied for 39 strings in the 2026 round 'as primary or replacement', listing .demo among them without saying which strings are primary. The claim is the applicant's own, post-filing, relayed by the publication. Founder ruling 2026-09-09: recorded as announced. Already on the record from another applicant, so this adds to the contention set.
Named on the ICANN gTLD application list, 7 October 2026 as a replacement (backup) string of the applicant's .oss 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 exactly: a short software-lifecycle stage label that a vendor hangs on a secondary, purpose-built environment rather than its primary identity, so value depends entirely on engineering/product teams adopting TLD-as-environment-namespace instead of a subdomain.
Same functional software-stage vocabulary and same technical buyer, but .dev also carries a genuine self-identity claim (millions of people call themselves developers) that .demo lacks, since nobody's primary identity is 'a demo'.
Same bet as a generic English purpose-word that labels a single utility destination inside a larger brand's footprint — an action page, never a company's front door — so registrations are defensive/functional add-ons rather than primary registrations.
What a .demo domain is
.demo is not a TLD yet. It is a string on our record of the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round, in our AI & tech category. 3 applications for it are on ICANN’s Reveal Day list.
Is the .demo domain extension real yet?
.demo 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 .demo domain?
You can’t yet. A .demo 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 .demo was .prod, delegated on 29 August 2014.
Is .demo a real TLD?
Not yet. .demo is not in the DNS root, so nothing resolves under it. It’s here because .demo is on ICANN’s Reveal Day list of applied-for strings. Every entry on this page links to its source.
- Link Freedom Group · now deactivated backupICANN
- DotMonk · first recordedICANN
- Aruba · now deactivated backupICANN
- Link Freedom Group · now abandonedICANN
- Aruba · now abandonedICANN
- GoDaddy Registry · first recordedICANN
- Intercap · first recordedICANN
- Identity Digital · first recordedICANN
- Aruba · first recordedDomain Name Wire (Andrew Allemann), quoting Aruba S.p.A.
- Link Freedom Group · first recordedLink Freedom Group
“BPL2623T-T55890 · Bird Pepper, LLC · primary · contention set 2026-63 IRI2679T-T78764 · Intercap Registry Inc. · primary · contention set 2026-63 NA2631T-T63934 · Registry Services, LLC · primary · contention set 2026-63”ICANN
“APEC2611T-T67575 · Aruba PEC S.P.A. · replacement string of .fix · Deactivated BPL2623T-T55890 · Bird Pepper, LLC · primary · contention set 2026-63 DPL2578-T69962 · DotMonk Pvt. Ltd. · replacement string of .oss · Deactivated IRI2679T-T78764 · Intercap Registry Inc. · primary · contention set 2026-63 LFGL2683T-T41681 · Link Freedom Group Ltd · replacement string of .drone · Deactivated NA2631T-T63934 · Registry Services, LLC · primary · contention set 2026-63”ICANN
“Aruba S.p.A., which operates the .cloud top level domain, is expanding its domain portfolio. The company told Domain Name Wire that it applied for 39 top level domains in this year's new TLD round. That number includes replacement strings. [...] The company applied for the following strings as primary or replacement: aid, all, ask, beta, bit, bnb, cart, ciao, daily, demo, easy, fix, gaming, gen, genius, gym, happy, hello, hola, human, kit, lab, mars, max, moon, omg, pec, pop, rem, roma, sign, sito, super, tag, tex, vps, yes, zen, zzz”Domain Name Wire (Andrew Allemann), quoting Aruba S.p.A.
“.demo · AI & Tech · “See it in action.””Link Freedom Group
- I place .demo in the 30-49 band (usable but limited). The word is universally understood in software, and in the current wave of AI products a public, instantly recognizable demo address has genuine functional appeal, so registration demand at volume is plausible across the tech sector. It is not in the 50-69 band because a demo is inherently a secondary surface: it points at a product whose primary identity lives elsewhere, so sustained primary-identity use looks rare, and that caps brand signal and aftermarket depth. It is not in the 10-29 band because the demand is functional rather than novelty-driven: by analogy with developer-facing generics such as .app and .dev, tech-audience TLDs with a clear job can achieve real, recurring use, while by analogy with function-word TLDs like .blog and .live, that use tends to settle into utility registrations on price rather than premium identities. The applicant, Link Freedom Group, filed more than 300 strings in the ICANN 2026 round (the largest applicant of the round, list self-published before Reveal Day per Domain Name Wire, 2026-08-13), which suggests portfolio-scale distribution rather than a single-string curated developer push; specific launch pricing and channel plans are unknown. My main market uncertainty: whether companies will pay for a separate demo domain at all when demo.theirbrand.com is free, already trusted, and inherits their existing SEO and security posture; if subdomain habit wins, .demo compresses toward the bottom of this band.