.dig
Is .dig a real TLD? Who’s applying to run it?
Nobody has applied for .dig in its own right, as of 7 October 2026. .top (Zhongze) named .dig as a backup string for its .come application. ICANN deactivated it, because another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup. ShortDot named .dig as a backup string for its .yes application. ICANN deactivated it, because another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup.
A niche TLD for budget-conscious registrants chasing a short memorable name — hobby and side projects, "dig it" style vanity sites, plus a thin slice of excavation, mining, archaeology, gardening and DNS/dev-tool projects that find the word literally apt.
budget-conscious registrants chasing a short memorable name — hobby and side projects, "dig it" style vanity sites, plus a thin slice of excavation, mining, archaeology, gardening and DNS/dev-tool projects that find the word literally apt
Nobody has applied for .dig in its own right.
One of the 80 strings ShortDot published for the ICANN 2026 round. ShortDot states it has submitted 40 applications, but publishes the 80 strings without revealing which 40 are applications and which 40 are designated replacements. The submission claim is therefore applicant-level, not string-level: nothing in the source says ShortDot applied for THIS string. Catalogued, not announced.
Named on the ICANN gTLD application list, 7 October 2026 as a replacement (backup) string of the applicant's .come 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 three-letter everyday English verb that carries both a literal industry meaning (aviation there, excavation/mining/gardening here) and a colloquial second sense, so it has to be sold as an evocative action word rather than to a category that already needs a home.
Same bet: a short, punchy generic verb with no institutional owner or membership body behind it, whose value depends entirely on registrants finding the wordplay worth putting their primary identity on.
Same bet in structure — a tiny common verb with a double reading (activity vs. operate) that must be marketed as a brandable phrase-completing string — though it has a larger obvious consumer vertical to lean on than .dig does.
What a .dig domain is
.dig 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 .dig in its own right. It is named on ICANN’s list as part of an application for another string.
Is the .dig domain extension real yet?
.dig 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 .dig domain?
You can’t yet. A .dig 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 .dig was .fly, delegated on 15 September 2014.
Is .dig a real TLD?
Not yet. .dig is not in the DNS root, so nothing resolves under it. It’s here because ICANN’s list names .dig as part of an application for another string. Every entry on this page links to its source.
- ShortDot · now deactivated backupICANN
- .top (Zhongze) · first recordedICANN
- ShortDot · now abandonedICANN
- ShortDot · now announced
- ShortDot · first recordedShortDot (Ireland) Limited
“HKZI2636T-T87691 · Hong Kong Zhongze International Limited · replacement string of .come · Deactivated NA2626T-T19698 · ShortDot (Ireland) Limited · replacement string of .yes · Deactivated”ICANN
“ShortDot (Ireland) Limited has submitted 40 applications to ICANN's 2026 New gTLD Program. The 80 strings shown include applied-for and designated replacement strings across ShortDot's 40 ICANN applications, presented without revealing their status or pairing.”ShortDot (Ireland) Limited
- Band chosen: 30-49 (usable but limited), at its low end. The string is a real three-letter English word with several loosely related senses — excavation (mining, archaeology, construction, gardening), the slang "dig it", and the DNS lookup tool familiar to sysadmins — but none of those senses is a category with a large population of businesses that would want the word as their primary identity, and the ambiguity weakens brand signal. By analogy (flagged as analogy) with the operator's existing portfolio (.icu, .cyou, .sbs, .cfd, .bond per the facts block), short generic strings marketed through low-price registrar channels tend to draw volume on price rather than sustained end-use, with thin aftermarkets and high churn; that pattern is why .dig sits below the 50-69 band, where a TLD needs real sustained primary-identity demand. It sits above the 10-29 band because the word is genuinely usable and pronounceable, there are legitimate literal-use niches (excavation firms, archaeology projects, dev tooling), and short dictionary-word strings by analogy reliably generate registration volume even without a strong category. Main market uncertainty: whether any niche (mining/construction, or the dev community around the dig command) coalesces around it as an identity, versus the string being consumed purely as a promo-priced disposable namespace.