.developer
Is .developer a real TLD? Who’s applying to run it?
Nobody has applied for .developer in its own right, as of 8 October 2026. Identity Digital named .developer as the backup string of three of its applications: .block, .note and .sell.
A longer sibling of .dev: usable for developer sites, but .dev already owns that identity, so expect modest, price-led uptake.
individual software developers and small dev shops wanting a descriptive address, plus property developers, most of whom already identify on .dev, .io or .com
Nobody has applied for .developer in its own right.
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 bare profession noun sold as a credential-flavoured identity to individual technical practitioners and the firms that employ them, where value depends on people wanting their job title as their address rather than their employer's brand.
Same buyer and same job — the software-building community's own word for itself, aimed at individual builders and tooling vendors — differing only in being the in-group shorthand rather than the full occupational noun, which shifts registrations toward companies and projects.
Also a single profession noun whose holders are practitioners staking personal identity on a craft title, but it rides on a licensed, association-governed trade, so the string carries gatekeeping implications that a self-declared occupation like developer does not.
What a .developer domain is
.developer 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 .developer in its own right. It is named on ICANN’s list as part of an application for another string.
Is the .developer domain extension real yet?
.developer 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 .developer domain?
You can’t yet. A .developer 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 .developer was .engineer, delegated on 4 June 2014.
Is .developer a real TLD?
Not yet. .developer is not in the DNS root, so nothing resolves under it. It’s here because ICANN’s list names .developer as part of an application for another string. Every entry on this page links to its source.
“OD2692T-T13279 · Oyster Dream, LLC · replacement string of .sell OD2692T-T24089 · Oyster Dream, LLC · replacement string of .note OD2692T-T74494 · Oyster Dream, LLC · replacement string of .block”ICANN
- Band chosen: 30-49 (usable but limited). The string is a clear, dictionary occupational noun with two real meanings (software developer, property developer), and it is applied for by a large portfolio operator whose registrar distribution tends to produce volume at launch (applicant fact from the record: Identity Digital / Oyster Dream, LLC, standard application, recorded as a replacement string of .sell; the replacement status itself is neutral here since delegation is assumed). It is not in the 50-69 band because the developer-identity niche already has an established occupant: by analogy, .dev became the address developers reach for without explanation, and a longer synonym launched later tends to collect spillover and defensive registrations rather than primary identities. Analogous longer-form occupational strings such as .engineer, .engineering, .software and .codes have, by analogy, sustained steady but unremarkable registration bases with thin aftermarkets, which is the pattern I expect here. It is not in the 10-29 band because the word is serious, broadly understood, and a plausible primary identity for a solo developer's portfolio site or a property-development firm, so demand is real rather than event-driven or joke-led. Main market uncertainty: whether property developers (a buyer group .dev does not serve well) adopt it at any meaningful rate, or whether the string stays a developer-portfolio also-ran priced against .dev; the second outcome is my base case.