.port
Is .port a real TLD? Who’s applying to run it?
.port is contested: 2 applications for it are on ICANN’s Reveal Day list, as of 7 October 2026. They are Identity Digital and Link Freedom Group. Starlight (Namecheap) named .port as a backup string for two of its applications: .ship and .gate. ICANN deactivated those backups, because another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup.
A common word with several loose meanings (shipping, software, portfolios) but no group that clearly needs it as its main web address.
developer-tool and networking projects playing on the software-port metaphor, plus maritime/logistics operators and port authorities wanting a literal industry label; a smaller fringe of portfolio-site name hacks.
In LFG's published list of 300+ strings submitted before the ICANN window closed on 2026-08-12. Their catalog tagline: “Step in, step out, move forward.”
In Journey To The West's published portfolio of 323 strings submitted in the ICANN 2026 round. Their catalog line: “Where goods change hands between land and sea.”
Named on the ICANN gTLD application list, 7 October 2026 as a replacement (backup) string of the applicant's .gate 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 .ship 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 shape: a plain generic English noun naming a piece of physical infrastructure whose only natural primary-identity holders are the institutions that operate one, so the registry is selling to a small, non-consumer, quasi-institutional base rather than to a mass registration market.
Also an unowned category noun for a facility type where the operators of the facility are expected to move their primary identity onto the string, the difference being scale — hotel has a huge commercial operator base while a port-style string has a few hundred authorities and terminal operators.
A short generic noun straddling a physical logistics facility and a technical/computing sense, so the bet depends on the same polysemy hedge: monetize the industrial operators while the second meaning supplies volume from an unrelated audience.
What a .port domain is
.port is not a TLD yet. It is a string on our record of the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round, in our AI & tech category. 2 applications for it are on ICANN’s Reveal Day list.
Is the .port domain extension real yet?
.port 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 .port domain?
You can’t yet. A .port 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 .port was .hospital, delegated on 9 December 2016.
Is .port a real TLD?
Not yet. .port is not in the DNS root, so nothing resolves under it. It’s here because .port is on ICANN’s Reveal Day list of applied-for strings. Every entry on this page links to its source.
- Starlight (Namecheap) · first recordedICANN
- Starlight (Namecheap) · first recordedICANN
- Journey To The West · now abandonedICANN
- Identity Digital · first recordedICANN
- Link Freedom Group · now confirmedICANN
- Journey To The West · first recordedJourney To The West Corporation
- Link Freedom Group · first recordedLink Freedom Group
“LFGL2683T-T22198 · Link Freedom Group Ltd · primary · contention set 2026-187 OD2692T-T47846 · Oyster Dream, LLC · primary · contention set 2026-187”ICANN
“EEI2686T-T16303 · Elnath Exploration, Inc. · replacement string of .gate · Deactivated LFGL2683T-T22198 · Link Freedom Group Ltd · primary · contention set 2026-187 OD2692T-T47846 · Oyster Dream, LLC · primary · contention set 2026-187 PEI2685T-T63063 · Procyon Exploration, Inc. · replacement string of .ship · Deactivated”ICANN
“.port · Trade & Logistics · “Where goods change hands between land and sea.””Journey To The West Corporation
“.port · AI & Tech · “Step in, step out, move forward.””Link Freedom Group
- Band chosen: 30-49 (usable but limited). The string is a short, real dictionary word, which helps memorability, but its meanings pull in different directions: in software a port is a number on a machine, not a brand, so the tech reading gives flavor rather than identity; the maritime reading points at a real but conservative industry (port authorities, terminal operators, freight platforms) that, by analogy with how heavy-industry sectors have treated other industry-word TLDs, tends to keep its primary identity on legacy namespaces and treat new extensions as defensive or campaign registrations. It is not in the 50-69 band because no single vertical shows the kind of sustained, self-explaining primary-identity demand that would make a .port address read as a category default; every serious use would need explaining. It is not in the 10-29 band because the word is common, spans multiple plausible verticals, supports name hacks (e.g., passport/portfolio-style constructions), and analogous generic-word tech-adjacent TLDs have historically sustained volume registrations on price with occasional genuine end-use, an inference from analogy rather than a verified figure. Applicant facts, stated neutrally: the string is announced by Link Freedom Group, which filed more than 300 strings in the ICANN 2026 round and published its list ahead of Reveal Day; a portfolio-scale applicant suggests, by analogy with prior portfolio registries, distribution-led adoption (registrar promotion, pricing tiers) rather than a single-community push. Main market uncertainty: whether the maritime/logistics sector treats .port as a usable industry identity at all, or whether demand collapses to low-value tech-flavored registrations; that split is the difference between the top and bottom of this band.