.plan
Is .plan a real TLD? Who’s applying to run it?
.plan is contested: 2 applications for it are on ICANN’s Reveal Day list, as of 7 October 2026. They are XYZ Registry and Identity Digital. GoDaddy Registry named .plan as a backup string for its .hire application. ICANN deactivated it, because another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup. Starlight (Namecheap) named .plan as a backup string for two of its applications: .ops and .maker. ICANN deactivated those backups, because another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup.
A clear everyday word that fits planners and planning apps, but too broad to become a go-to address; expect modest, price-driven uptake.
planning and productivity app makers, financial, travel and event planners, and brands wanting a word-hack address such as game.plan or business.plan
Named on the ICANN gTLD application list, 7 October 2026 as a replacement (backup) string of the applicant's .maker 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 .ops 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 .hire 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 bare English verb-noun describing an activity rather than an industry, so no single company or community owns it and the registry must sell the word itself to anyone doing that action across many verticals.
Same bet: an abstract work-product noun that is also a verb, with no owning sector — value comes from the universal business process it names, which makes it broadly useful but leaves no natural anchor tenant to put its primary identity on it.
Same bet in shape — a generic, open, cross-vertical noun whose buyer is anyone producing that artifact — but it leans informational/content rather than action-and-intent, so the registrant motive is publishing rather than tooling.
What a .plan domain is
.plan is not a TLD yet. It is a string on our record of the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round, in our Commerce category. 2 applications for it are on ICANN’s Reveal Day list.
Is the .plan domain extension real yet?
.plan 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 .plan domain?
You can’t yet. A .plan 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 .plan was .build, delegated on 18 January 2014.
Is .plan a real TLD?
Not yet. .plan is not in the DNS root, so nothing resolves under it. It’s here because .plan is on ICANN’s Reveal Day list of applied-for strings. Every entry on this page links to its source.
“MEI2627T-T58035 · Menkalinan Exploration, Inc. · replacement string of .maker · Deactivated MEI2699T-T15549 · Mirfak Exploration, Inc. · replacement string of .ops · Deactivated NA2631T-T13150 · Registry Services, LLC · replacement string of .hire · Deactivated SS2654T-T19815 · Hair Apparent, LLC · primary · contention set 2026-181 XL2625T-T74748 · XYZ.COM LLC · primary · contention set 2026-181”ICANN
“SS2654T-T19815 · Hair Apparent, LLC · primary · contention set 2026-181 XL2625T-T74748 · XYZ.COM LLC · primary · contention set 2026-181”ICANN
- Band chosen: 30-49 (usable but limited). The string is a short, widely understood English word with several legitimate end uses: planning and scheduling software, financial and retirement planners, event and travel planners, and subscription-tier naming, plus word-hack appeal (game.plan, floor.plan, master.plan). The verified record shows registry-industry interest: two confirmed standard applications (Identity Digital and XYZ) sit in ICANN contention set 2026-181, and three further applications (two from Namecheap entities, one from GoDaddy Registry) were filed as replacement strings and are now deactivated. That breadth of interest suggests operators expect volume demand, which supports adoption likelihood but not brand strength. It is not in the 50-69 band because 'plan' has no single vertical that would rally around it as a primary identity; its meanings are scattered across finance, events, architecture, software and pricing pages, and by analogy (flagged as analogy) broad generic-word TLDs from the 2012 round have tended to fill on promotional pricing with weak renewal and thin aftermarkets rather than becoming category defaults. It is not in the 10-29 band because the demand is not event-driven or jokey: planning is a durable commercial activity, the word reads naturally as a suffix, and multiple registries independently judged it worth applying for. Registration and renewal figures for comparable generic-word TLDs are unknown here. Main market uncertainty: whether a recognizable planning or financial-planning product adopts a .plan address as its primary identity and normalizes the suffix, versus the TLD settling into a word-hack and defensive-registration pattern over the next 5 years.