.brand
Is .brand a real TLD? Who’s applying to run it?
.brand is contested: 10 applications for it are on ICANN’s Reveal Day list, as of 7 October 2026. They are XYZ Registry, XServer, Squarespace, Identity Digital, GoDaddy Registry, M&A Entity LLC, Intercap, Internet DotTrademark Organisation and 2 more, listed below. XServer named .brand as a backup string for its .follow application. ICANN deactivated it, because another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup. KNET named .brand as a backup string for its .官网 application. ICANN deactivated it, because another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup.
Who is applying, and what they run today
Six of the ten already run TLDs, 44.44M names between them. Three run one of .brand's closest 2012 strings: Identity Digital .agency, Identity Digital .marketing and GoDaddy Registry .design. Four run none.
Will names sell?
A generic word that sounds like branding jargon; some marketers and DTC shops may register it, but few will make it their main address.
Last round the AI scored the 2012 strings blind to their fate. Strings it scored 60 or more hold a median 27,168 names today; those under 30, a median of 30. .brand’s closest 2012 strings hold .marketing 30K, .design 119K and .agency 128K.
The nearest 2012 strings, and how many names each holds today
The closest 2012 string, .marketing, held 29,572 names, June 2026. .design held 118,808; .agency held 127,849. Chosen by AI from every string in the 2012 round, without being told what happened to any of them.
Same bet exactly: an abstract commercial-discipline noun sold as an open generic to the agencies, consultants and in-house teams who practice it, working only if practitioners will re-badge their primary identity onto the craft word instead of their own company name.
Also a creative-discipline noun whose registrant pool is studios and freelancers claiming a craft label, but it is a denser everyday word with a community that already self-identifies by it, so it needs less category education than an abstract asset word.
Targets the identical buyer (the branding/marketing shop) and rests on the same assumption that a firm will put its front door on a category word, though it names the entity type rather than the intangible that entity produces.
Where they meet elsewhere
Identity Digital and XYZ Registry face each other in 77 contests this round, .brand included.
- Identity Digital × XYZ Registry
- Identity Digital × Link Freedom Group
- Identity Digital × GoDaddy Registry
- Link Freedom Group × XYZ Registry
- Identity Digital × Radix
branding agencies, DTC and consumer-product companies, and marketing consultants who want a name that literally says 'brand'; secondarily domainers speculating on brandable one-word registrations.
What a .brand domain is
.brand is not a TLD yet. It is a string on our record of the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round, in our Brand category. 10 applications for it are on ICANN’s Reveal Day list.
Is the .brand domain extension real yet?
.brand 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 .brand domain?
You can’t yet. A .brand 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 .brand was .marketing, delegated on 14 January 2014.
Is .brand a real TLD?
Not yet. .brand is not in the DNS root, so nothing resolves under it. It’s here because .brand is on ICANN’s Reveal Day list of applied-for strings. Every entry on this page links to its source.
- 2 applicants · first recordedICANN
- 8 applicants · first recordedICANN
- 2 applicants · now confirmedICANN
- Radix · first recordedRadix
- Link Freedom Group · first recordedLink Freedom Group
The source’s 12 linesHide the lines
IDOL2621T-T20061 · Internet DotTrademark Organisation Limited · primary · contention set 2026-31 IRI2679T-T15412 · Intercap Registry Inc. · primary · contention set 2026-31 KCL2693T-T23960 · KNET Co., Ltd. · replacement string of .xn--kbt444f · Deactivated LFGL2683T-T94977 · Link Freedom Group Ltd · primary · contention set 2026-31 MEL2626T-T48733 · M&A Entity LLC · primary · contention set 2026-31 NA2631T-T69341 · Registry Services, LLC · primary · contention set 2026-31 RTIS2674T-T83546 · Radix Technologies Inc SEZC · primary · contention set 2026-31 SRL2616T-T86558 · Squarespace Registry LLC · primary · contention set 2026-31 VTL2632T-T88824 · Velvet Taupe, LLC · primary · contention set 2026-31 XCI2688T-T81155 · XServer Cloud Incorporated · primary · contention set 2026-31 XI2694T-T28363 · XRegistry Incorporated · replacement string of .follow · Deactivated XL2625T-T31633 · XYZ.COM LLC · primary · contention set 2026-31
The source’s 10 linesHide the lines
IDOL2621T-T20061 · Internet DotTrademark Organisation Limited · primary · contention set 2026-31 IRI2679T-T15412 · Intercap Registry Inc. · primary · contention set 2026-31 LFGL2683T-T94977 · Link Freedom Group Ltd · primary · contention set 2026-31 MEL2626T-T48733 · M&A Entity LLC · primary · contention set 2026-31 NA2631T-T69341 · Registry Services, LLC · primary · contention set 2026-31 RTIS2674T-T83546 · Radix Technologies Inc SEZC · primary · contention set 2026-31 SRL2616T-T86558 · Squarespace Registry LLC · primary · contention set 2026-31 VTL2632T-T88824 · Velvet Taupe, LLC · primary · contention set 2026-31 XCI2688T-T81155 · XServer Cloud Incorporated · primary · contention set 2026-31 XL2625T-T31633 · XYZ.COM LLC · primary · contention set 2026-31
“Radix has applied for these TLDs; we do not own or operate them today.”Radix
“.brand · Commerce · “Stand out, be recognized.””Link Freedom Group
- Band chosen: 30-49 (usable but limited). The string is a common English word with obvious relevance to marketing and consumer commerce, so registrations at volume are plausible, especially on promotional pricing, which keeps it above the 10-29 vanity band. It is not in the 50-69 strong-niche band because the word describes a function rather than naming a community or product category with its own identity: a serious company is more likely to protect or brand itself on a namespace than to adopt 'something.brand' as its primary identity, and the semantics are awkward ('acme.brand' reads like a label, not an address). A further drag, reasoned qualitatively: in the domain industry the phrase 'dot-brand' already conventionally refers to company-owned TLDs, so the open string invites category confusion among exactly the professional buyers who would otherwise be its best fit. By analogy (flagged as analogy), descriptor TLDs aimed at marketing functions have historically leaned on discounting and shown thin aftermarkets and low primary-identity use, and I expect similar dynamics here over the next 5 years. The applicant, Link Freedom Group, filed more than 300 strings in the ICANN 2026 round and lists this string under 'Commerce' with the tagline 'Stand out, be recognized.'; a large-portfolio applicant suggests standardized rather than category-specialist go-to-market, which I weigh mildly against deep vertical adoption. Main market uncertainty: whether branding/creative agencies treat '.brand' as a credible portfolio or client-showcase address (which could push it toward the top of this band) or whether the dot-brand terminology clash and defensive-registration framing cap it as a low-signal descriptor.