.desk
Is .desk a real TLD? Who’s applying to run it?
Nobody has applied for .desk in its own right, as of 7 October 2026. XYZ Registry named .desk as a backup string for its .scam application. ICANN deactivated it, because another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup. GoDaddy Registry named .desk as a backup string for its .gig application. ICANN deactivated it, because another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup.
A tidy word for help desks, newsrooms and support portals, but most such projects will keep their main brand elsewhere.
support and service-desk teams, SaaS help-centre and ticketing products, newsrooms and editorial "desks", front-desk and concierge services wanting a short hackable name (help.desk, front.desk, news.desk)
Nobody has applied for .desk in its own right.
Named on the ICANN gTLD application list, 7 October 2026 as a replacement (backup) string of the applicant's .gig 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 .scam 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 as .desk: an unowned generic service-function noun that no one claims as a primary identity, sold on the assumption that companies will hang a customer-service endpoint under their own brand (brand.support / brand.desk) and that support-tooling vendors will treat it as category real estate.
Identical wager on the assistance-channel vocabulary — a short, ownerless common noun whose value depends entirely on second-level brands using it as a functional address rather than on anyone building a standalone identity on it, exactly the 'help desk' buyer .desk is chasing.
Also a generic organizational-unit noun that means 'the place where a function is delivered' (service center, help center) and monetizes through the same brand-plus-function pattern, but it is broader and place-flavoured where .desk is a narrower workplace/service-point object noun, so the buyer set only partly overlaps.
What a .desk domain is
.desk is not a TLD yet. It is a string on our record of the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round, in our AI & tech category. Nobody has applied for .desk in its own right. It is named on ICANN’s list as part of an application for another string.
Is the .desk domain extension real yet?
.desk is not yet a domain extension you can register: nothing resolves under it, and no registrar sells names in it. Nobody has applied for it on the public record; the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round is the process that would decide whether it becomes one.
When can you buy a .desk domain?
You can’t yet. A .desk 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 .desk was .support, delegated on 18 December 2013.
Is .desk a real TLD?
Not yet. .desk is not in the DNS root, so nothing resolves under it. It’s here because ICANN’s list names .desk as part of an application for another string. Every entry on this page links to its source.
“NA2631T-T42693 · Registry Services, LLC · replacement string of .gig · Deactivated XL2625T-T13533 · XYZ.COM LLC · replacement string of .scam · Deactivated”ICANN
- Band chosen: 30-49, usable but limited. The string is a common English noun whose strongest meaning is a compound suffix (help desk, service desk, front desk, news desk, trading desk), which gives it a genuine hackable-name use: a support portal or newsroom can plausibly run as a primary identity on name.desk. By analogy (flagged as analogy) to word TLDs like .help, .support, .zone and .space, the likely pattern is steady but modest volume driven by price promotions and secondary-site use, with weak brand signal and a thin aftermarket beyond a handful of generic two-word hacks. It is not in the 50-69 band because no category treats a .desk address as its default identity; help-desk SaaS and newsrooms have established naming habits on legacy TLDs and would need to explain a .desk address. It is not in the 10-29 band because the end-use is serious and recurring (support portals, service catalogues, editorial desks) rather than event-driven or novelty, and the suffix structure gives real naming utility. On the record, two applications exist, both marked deactivated and both filed as replacement strings for other primary applications (one by GoDaddy Registry, one by XYZ); those are stated neutrally and, since delegation is assumed, affect only the inference that operator commitment to this string is unknown. Main market uncertainty: whether support-portal and ticketing products adopt the suffix form (brand.desk) as a customer-facing identity at scale, or treat it as a defensive or redirect registration.