.exec
Is .exec a real TLD? Who’s applying to run it?
Nobody has applied for .exec in its own right, as of 7 October 2026. Squarespace named .exec as a backup string for its .member application. ICANN deactivated it, because another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup. Suffix named .exec as a backup string for its .mvp application. ICANN deactivated it, because another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup.
A real word with two meanings (executive, execute) but no clear owner; usable for niche sites, little brand or resale value.
executive coaches, executive-search and leadership firms, plus developer tools and runtimes that execute code or commands
Nobody has applied for .exec in its own right.
Named on the ICANN gTLD application list, 7 October 2026 as a replacement (backup) string of the applicant's .mvp 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 .member 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, self-asserted seniority title that an individual businessperson puts their personal identity on, with status signalling rather than any verifiable credential doing all the work.
Also a clipped occupational title sold as a personal badge to individuals, but it leans on an institutional role that is conferred, where .exec is self-declared and unbounded.
The same abbreviated professional-honorific bet aimed at a working individual's own name, differing in that it implies a gated guild membership rather than an open claim to seniority.
What a .exec domain is
.exec is not a TLD yet. It is a string on our record of the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round, in our Commerce category. Nobody has applied for .exec in its own right. It is named on ICANN’s list as part of an application for another string.
Is the .exec domain extension real yet?
.exec 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 .exec domain?
You can’t yet. A .exec 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 .exec was .ceo, delegated on 28 December 2013.
Is .exec a real TLD?
Not yet. .exec is not in the DNS root, so nothing resolves under it. It’s here because ICANN’s list names .exec as part of an application for another string. Every entry on this page links to its source.
“SI2639T-T61176 · Suffix Inc. · replacement string of .mvp · Deactivated SRL2616T-T75748 · Squarespace Registry LLC · replacement string of .member · Deactivated”ICANN
- Band chosen: 30-49 (usable but limited). .exec is a genuine English abbreviation with two plausible markets: the executive-services world (coaching, search, leadership programs, C-suite personal pages) and the software world, where 'exec' means to run a program or command (CLI tools, runtimes, serverless and sandbox products). The split is the problem: neither audience is large enough on its own to make the TLD a category default, and the two readings dilute each other, so a buyer must still explain the choice. By analogy (flagged as analogy), executive-flavoured strings such as .ceo and professional strings such as .expert or .pro have drawn modest, price-sensitive registration and thin aftermarkets rather than primary-identity adoption; developer strings such as .dev and .app did better, but they were short, generic, and backed by broad developer-platform distribution, which .exec does not obviously inherit. It is not in the 50-69 band because there is no visible community that would make .exec its sustained primary identity, and not in the 10-29 band because the word is real, short, professional-sounding, and does carry straightforward end-use utility for a coaching firm or a code-execution product. On the record, both applications for the string (Suffix Inc. and Squarespace Registry LLC, each filed as a standard application and each listed as a replacement string for another primary) are marked deactivated; per the rules the TLD is scored as if delegated and available, so this is noted only as neutral context. Main market uncertainty: whether the developer reading or the executive reading dominates at launch, since a developer-tool positioning with platform distribution could lift it toward the next band, while a vanity executive positioning would hold it near the bottom of this one.