.model
Is .model a real TLD? Who’s applying to run it?
.model is contested: 3 applications for it are on ICANN’s Reveal Day list, as of 7 October 2026. They are OpenAI, GoDaddy Registry and Identity Digital. XYZ Registry named .model as a backup string for its .bao application. ICANN deactivated it, because another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup. Link Freedom Group named .model as a backup string for its .ddd application. ICANN deactivated it, because another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup.
A word with real pull in both AI and fashion, so niche projects can wear it well, but no industry treats it as a default address yet.
ai developers and ML platforms publishing named models, plus modeling agencies, individual fashion or 3d-artist portfolios, and hobbyist model-making communities looking for a literal, memorable identity
In Journey To The West's published portfolio of 323 strings submitted in the ICANN 2026 round. Their catalog line: “The trained system behind modern AI.”
In LFG's published list of 300+ strings submitted before the ICANN window closed on 2026-08-12. Their catalog tagline: “The reference point.”
Named on the ICANN gTLD application list, 7 October 2026 as a replacement (backup) string of the applicant's .bao 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 one-word English occupation noun for a look-and-perform trade where the primary registrants are individual talent (plus their agencies) hanging a personal portfolio identity on the string, so the TLD only works if a diffuse, non-technical, agency-mediated profession adopts it as its own namespace.
Same bet on the other reading of the string: a short generic noun naming a class of software artifact that developers deploy and address individually, betting that an emerging technical category will want its own namespace before the category's shape (and its one or two dominant platforms) is settled.
Same bet as a creative-asset noun that has to serve two buyers at once — practitioners claiming a professional identity and marketplaces/catalogs of the asset type itself — with the risk that the word is so plain and so widely used that no group treats it as their home.
What a .model domain is
.model 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 .model domain extension real yet?
.model 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 .model domain?
You can’t yet. A .model 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 .model was .actor, delegated on 26 February 2014.
Is .model a real TLD?
Not yet. .model is not in the DNS root, so nothing resolves under it. It’s here because .model is on ICANN’s Reveal Day list of applied-for strings. Every entry on this page links to its source.
- XYZ Registry · first recordedICANN
- Link Freedom Group · now deactivated backupICANN
- Link Freedom Group · now abandonedICANN
- Journey To The West · now abandonedICANN
- OpenAI · first recordedICANN
- GoDaddy Registry · first recordedICANN
- Identity Digital · first recordedICANN
- Journey To The West · first recordedJourney To The West Corporation
- Link Freedom Group · first recordedLink Freedom Group
“GEL2647T-T32512 · Glass Emotion, LLC · primary · contention set 2026-157 LFGL2683T-T25843 · Link Freedom Group Ltd · replacement string of .ddd · Deactivated NA2631T-T46213 · Registry Services, LLC · primary · contention set 2026-157 OOL2614T-T37173 · OPENAI OPCO, LLC · primary · contention set 2026-157 XL2625T-T82038 · XYZ.COM LLC · replacement string of .bao · Deactivated”ICANN
“GEL2647T-T32512 · Glass Emotion, LLC · primary · contention set 2026-157 NA2631T-T46213 · Registry Services, LLC · primary · contention set 2026-157 OOL2614T-T37173 · OPENAI OPCO, LLC · primary · contention set 2026-157”ICANN
“.model · Future Tech · “The trained system behind modern AI.””Journey To The West Corporation
“.model · Culture · “The reference point.””Link Freedom Group
- Band chosen: strong niche TLD (50-69), at its floor. The string carries unusually broad semantic load: 'model' is simultaneously the core noun of the AI industry (language models, model cards, model registries), the identity word of the fashion/modeling world, and a hobbyist term (scale models, 3D models). By analogy, .ai converted a semantically loaded string into a category standard once the AI wave arrived, and .design sustained genuine primary-identity use among designers; .model could plausibly ride the same AI tailwind as a home for named models, demos, and portfolios (analogy, not observed demand for this string). It is above the 30-49 band because at least two real buyer groups (AI teams and modeling professionals) have credible primary-identity use cases rather than volume-or-price registrations only. It is below the 70-89 band because no major category currently defaults to it: AI companies overwhelmingly publish models under their own brand domains, and the fashion world's online identity runs through social platforms and agency sites, so adoption needs explaining and the aftermarket is speculative. Registration volumes, pricing, and comparable-string sales data are unknown, so this is reasoned qualitatively. Main market uncertainty: whether AI developers will adopt any third-party TLD as a canonical namespace for model identities within 5 years, or keep models as paths under their existing brand domains, which would confine .model to the smaller fashion/hobbyist niches.