.follow
Is .follow a real TLD? Who’s applying to run it?
.follow is contested: 3 applications for it are on ICANN’s Reveal Day list, as of 7 October 2026. They are XServer, Suffix and Deejuu Technology.
A catchy verb for creator and social links, but few serious projects would make a .follow address their main identity.
creators, influencers and brands wanting a "follow me" link-in-bio style address, plus social-media tools and marketing campaigns
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 single lowercase social-graph action verb, where value depends on a platform either defending the word it trained users to click or an open registry convincing people to hang an identity on a call-to-action.
Same bet shape: an everyday social verb sold as an open generic, whose buyers are people and services whose whole proposition is the invitation itself rather than a category of goods.
Also a pure call-to-action string whose buyer puts the verb before the brand on a link, but it names a one-off response rather than an ongoing audience relationship, so the recurring-identity case is weaker.
What a .follow domain is
.follow is not a TLD yet. It is a string on our record of the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round, in our Culture category. 3 applications for it are on ICANN’s Reveal Day list.
Is the .follow domain extension real yet?
.follow 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 .follow domain?
You can’t yet. A .follow 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 .follow was .like, delegated on 5 December 2015.
Is .follow a real TLD?
Not yet. .follow is not in the DNS root, so nothing resolves under it. It’s here because .follow is on ICANN’s Reveal Day list of applied-for strings. Every entry on this page links to its source.
“DWTP2553-T45842 · Deejuu Web Technology Private Limited · primary · contention set 2026-87 SI2639T-T34528 · Suffix Inc. · primary · contention set 2026-87 XI2694T-T28363 · XRegistry Incorporated · primary · contention set 2026-87”ICANN
- Band chosen: 30-49 (usable but limited), at its low edge. .follow is a plain English verb with one obvious reading in the social-media era: a 'follow me' pointer, the kind of address a creator might print on a bio or a brand might use for a campaign hub. That gives it a legible, if narrow, end use. By analogy (flagged as analogy), verb and call-to-action TLDs such as .click, .link and .live have tended to gather registrations mainly through low promotional pricing and defensive or redirect use, with weak brand signal and a thin aftermarket; social-flavoured strings such as .social and .bio have found modest niche use without becoming a primary-identity default. .follow is unlikely to clear the band above (strong niche, 50-69) because within the next 5 years there is no established category where a serious project would present a .follow address as its main identity rather than as a redirect to its real site; demand would need explaining and would ride on registrar promotions. It sits above the band below (vanity/joke, 10-29) because the string is a natural fit for a recurring, non-event-driven use (creator links, campaign hubs, social-link aggregators) rather than a one-off joke, so some sustained volume on price is plausible. The record shows three confirmed applicants in one contention set, which indicates commercial interest in the string, but applicant identity says little about end-market pull. Main market uncertainty: whether link-in-bio or creator-tool products would adopt .follow as a bundled handle namespace, which is the only path I see to the 50-69 band; absent that, it stays a price-driven redirect TLD.