.machine
Is .machine a real TLD? Who’s applying to run it?
.machine is contested: 3 applications for it are on ICANN’s Reveal Day list, as of 7 October 2026. They are XYZ Registry, Identity Digital and Link Freedom Group. 0G named .machine as a backup string for its .robot application. ICANN deactivated it, because another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup.
A playful word ending for AI and robotics projects; fine for side projects and lab pages, but serious teams will mostly reach for .ai instead.
AI, robotics, automation, and industrial-IoT builders who want a literal, machine-flavored identity; secondarily hobbyists and maker brands using it as a suffix hack (e.g. a product name that reads naturally before .machine).
In LFG's published list of 300+ strings submitted before the ICANN window closed on 2026-08-12. Their catalog tagline: “Make life simpler, work smarter.”
Named on the ICANN gTLD application list, 7 October 2026 as a replacement (backup) string of the applicant's .robot 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: an unowned generic industrial-goods noun sold to machine shops, dealers and manufacturers as their primary identity, which only works if a fragmented trade sector adopts a category word nobody can claim exclusively.
Same bet in structure — a plain implement noun with a physical-trade meaning and a software/abstract meaning, so it must win either an industrial buyer or a tech buyer without being naturally owned by either.
Same manufacturing-sector buyer and same reliance on the industrial trade choosing a generic descriptor for its identity, though it reads as a company-name suffix rather than the object-category noun that .machine is.
What a .machine domain is
.machine is not a TLD yet. It is a string on our record of the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round, in our AI & tech category. 3 applications for it are on ICANN’s Reveal Day list.
Is the .machine domain extension real yet?
.machine 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 .machine domain?
You can’t yet. A .machine 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 .machine was .equipment, delegated on 6 November 2013.
Is .machine a real TLD?
Not yet. .machine is not in the DNS root, so nothing resolves under it. It’s here because .machine is on ICANN’s Reveal Day list of applied-for strings. Every entry on this page links to its source.
- 0G · first recordedICANN
- XYZ Registry · first recordedICANN
- Identity Digital · first recordedICANN
- Link Freedom Group · now confirmedICANN
- Link Freedom Group · first recordedLink Freedom Group
“ASL2693T-T79647 · Agador Slip, LLC · primary · contention set 2026-142 LFGL2683T-T84042 · Link Freedom Group Ltd · primary · contention set 2026-142 XL2625T-T14287 · XYZ.COM LLC · primary · contention set 2026-142”ICANN
“A2652T-T75760 · Zero Gravity Labs Inc. · replacement string of .robot · Deactivated ASL2693T-T79647 · Agador Slip, LLC · primary · contention set 2026-142 LFGL2683T-T84042 · Link Freedom Group Ltd · primary · contention set 2026-142 XL2625T-T14287 · XYZ.COM LLC · primary · contention set 2026-142”ICANN
“.machine · AI & Tech · “Make life simpler, work smarter.””Link Freedom Group
- Band: usable but limited (30-49), at its low end. The string is a common English word with a clear AI/automation resonance, and the current wave of interest in AI agents and machine-to-machine services gives it a plausible buyer story over the next 5 years. But by analogy (flagged as analogy) to descriptive tech generics like .computer, .systems, and .network, such strings have tended to see modest registration volumes, little primary-identity use by serious companies, and thin aftermarkets; there is no verified demand data for .machine itself, so specifics are unknown. It sits above the vanity band (10-29) because the word maps directly onto a large, well-funded category and a robotics or ML-infra startup could credibly adopt name.machine as a real identity, not just a gag. It stays below the strong-niche band (50-69) because within its own category the incumbent default is elsewhere: the analogy suggests .ai has absorbed most of the credibility premium for machine-intelligence branding, leaving .machine as an explained, second-choice address rather than one with sustained demand. The applicant, Link Freedom Group, filed more than 300 strings in the ICANN 2026 round and lists this one under 'AI & Tech'; a large-portfolio applicant is a neutral fact here and mainly signals a breadth strategy rather than a single-string marketing push, which tempers adoption expectations. Main market uncertainty: whether the machine-agent economy produces a naming convention where 'machine' (the literal noun) beats 'ai' (the field) as the identity suffix buyers actually want.