.age
Is .age a real TLD? Who’s applying to run it?
.age is not contested. One application for it is on ICANN’s Reveal Day list, as of 8 October 2026. It is ShortDot. Identity Digital named .age as a backup string for two of its applications: .ops and .agnt. ICANN deactivated those backups, because another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup.
A niche TLD for domain-hack buyers building names from English words ending in -age (page, stage, image, message, storage, village), plus age-verification, senior-care and "new age / digital age" themed brands.
Who is applying, and how much each already runs
Two of the 2 are tied to a registry that runs TLDs today. Identity Digital and ShortDot filed 256 applications between them across the round.
The nearest 2012 strings, and how many names each holds today
The closest 2012 string, .life, held 474,179 names, June 2026. .able held 5; .trust held 56. Chosen by AI from every string in the 2012 round, without being told what happened to any of them.
Same bet as .age: a single abstract English noun about human existence that everyone understands but no industry owns, so the registry has to manufacture a use case and sell breadth rather than serve an existing category of registrants who already call themselves that.
Like .age, it is a short, meaning-light common English word that is also a productive suffix (en.able / cap.able vs. im.age / vint.age), so its value rests on word-completion cleverness and second-level wordplay rather than on anyone putting a primary identity on the right of the dot.
If .age is read as an age-assurance/verification play, .trust is the nearest 2012 analogue: an abstract property-noun whose entire worth depends on the registry policing who may register, turning the string into a compliance badge instead of a category label — but the parallel holds only under that reading of the target.
domain-hack buyers building names from English words ending in -age (page, stage, image, message, storage, village), plus age-verification, senior-care and "new age / digital age" themed brands
What a .age domain is
.age is not a TLD yet. It is a string on our record of the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round, in our AI & tech category. One application for it is on ICANN’s Reveal Day list.
Is the .age domain extension real yet?
.age 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 .age domain?
You can’t yet. A .age 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 .age was .life, delegated on 15 May 2014.
Is .age a real TLD?
Not yet. .age is not in the DNS root, so nothing resolves under it. It’s here because .age is on ICANN’s Reveal Day list of applied-for strings. Every entry on this page links to its source.
- Identity Digital · fact correctedICANN
- Identity Digital · first recordedICANN
- Identity Digital · first recordedICANN
- ShortDot · now confirmedICANN
- ShortDot · now announced
- ShortDot · first recordedShortDot (Ireland) Limited
“AM2619T-T27105 · Acid Medal, LLC · replacement string of .agnt · Deactivated AM2619T-T66700 · Acid Medal, LLC · replacement string of .ops · Deactivated NA2626T-T96751 · ShortDot (Ireland) Limited · primary”ICANN
“NA2626T-T96751 · ShortDot (Ireland) Limited · primary”ICANN
“ShortDot (Ireland) Limited has submitted 40 applications to ICANN's 2026 New gTLD Program. The 80 strings shown include applied-for and designated replacement strings across ShortDot's 40 ICANN applications, presented without revealing their status or pairing.”ShortDot (Ireland) Limited
- Band chosen: 30-49 (usable but limited). The string's clearest asset is the unusually large pool of English -age word hacks (stage, page, image, message, manage, package, storage, garage, language, coverage, vintage, heritage, advantage), which by analogy to hack-driven TLDs like .ly, .me and .ing tends to generate a burst of creative registrations and a small tier of desirable hack names, while sustained primary-identity use stays shallow; there is also a secondary thematic market in age-verification and age-tech / senior-services products, though by analogy to other theme-word gTLDs that demand is modest and rarely brand-defining. It is not in the 50-69 band because there is no evidence of sustained demand or of serious projects choosing it as a primary identity without explanation, and the hack model tends to produce thin renewals and a narrow aftermarket (inference from analogy). It is above the 10-29 band because the hack surface is genuinely broad and the operator profile on record (registry behind .icu, .cyou, .bond, .cfd and .sbs, in the business since 2018) suggests distribution capacity that can produce volume registrations rather than a purely vanity footprint. Actual registration counts, pricing and renewal figures are unknown. Main market uncertainty: whether hack and theme demand converts into renewing, in-use sites or largely churns after launch promotions, which decides whether this sits at the top or bottom of its band.