.coaching
Is .coaching a real TLD? Who’s applying to run it?
.coaching is contested: 2 applications for it are on ICANN’s Reveal Day list, as of 7 October 2026. They are tldbox and Identity Digital. XYZ Registry named .coaching as a backup string for its .soft application. ICANN deactivated it, because another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup. Link Freedom Group named .coaching as a backup string for its .hack 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
Two of the two already run TLDs, 14.80M names between them. Three run one of .coaching's closest 2012 strings: Identity Digital .coach, Identity Digital .consulting and Identity Digital .training.
Will names sell?
A natural fit for coaches building a personal brand, but most will still default to .com, so expect steady niche use rather than a standard.
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. .coaching’s closest 2012 strings hold .consulting 41K, .training 23K and .coach 27K.
The nearest 2012 strings, and how many names each holds today
The closest 2012 string, .consulting, held 41,255 names, June 2026. .training held 23,492; .coach held 27,466. Chosen by AI from every string in the 2012 round, without being told what happened to any of them.
Same bet in a different service vertical: an unregulated, credential-free professional-services gerund whose primary registrants are solo practitioners and boutique firms hanging their own shingle, so the registry lives or dies on volume of individual self-identified professionals rather than on any institution or gatekeeper.
An activity-noun for a people-development service sold by the same population of independent practitioners and small firms, with the same ambiguity risk (a common English word that also describes what many non-registrants do) and the same dependence on practitioners preferring an occupation TLD over .com.
Literally the same occupation word in singular form and the closest possible string match for practitioner identity, but discounted because the bare noun reads as much as a company name and a stadium/bus sense as a profession, whereas the gerund unambiguously names the practice.
Where they meet elsewhere
Identity Digital and XYZ Registry face each other in 77 contests this round, .coaching included.
- Identity Digital × XYZ Registry
- Identity Digital × Link Freedom Group
- XYZ Registry × Link Freedom Group
independent coaches and coaching businesses (life, executive, career, fitness, sports) plus coaching platforms, certification programs, and course sellers who want a name that says the service outright
What a .coaching domain is
.coaching 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 .coaching domain extension real yet?
.coaching 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 .coaching domain?
You can’t yet. A .coaching 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 .coaching was .consulting, delegated on 1 April 2014.
Is .coaching a real TLD?
Not yet. .coaching is not in the DNS root, so nothing resolves under it. It’s here because .coaching 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
- 2 applicants · first recordedICANN
- Link Freedom Group · first recordedLink Freedom Group
The source’s 4 linesHide the lines
LFGL2683T-T81905 · Link Freedom Group Ltd · replacement string of .hack · Deactivated SS2654T-T49354 · Hair Apparent, LLC · primary · contention set 2026-41 TG2593-T64817 · tldbox GmbH · primary · contention set 2026-41 XL2625T-T69224 · XYZ.COM LLC · replacement string of .soft · Deactivated
“SS2654T-T49354 · Hair Apparent, LLC · primary · contention set 2026-41 TG2593-T64817 · tldbox GmbH · primary · contention set 2026-41”ICANN
“.coaching · Lifestyle · “Evolving by design.””Link Freedom Group
- Band chosen: 30-49, usable but limited. The string names a large, real profession with heavy solo-practitioner turnover, so genuine end-use registrations are plausible at volume, and constructions like a personal name plus .coaching read naturally as a primary identity for an individual practitioner. It is not in the 50-69 band because, by analogy with other descriptive professional-services TLDs (an inference from analogy: strings like .consulting, .lawyer, and similar service descriptors have tended to see modest registration bases, price-driven renewal behavior, and thin resale markets), sustained primary-identity adoption inside the coaching profession has not visibly consolidated on a descriptive TLD, and coaches skew toward mainstream extensions for credibility with clients. It is not in the 10-29 band because demand here is not joke- or event-driven: the buyer group is large, self-employed, marketing-dependent, and continuously renewing, which supports a durable if unspectacular registration base over the next 5 years. The applicant fact is neutral context: the string was filed by Link Freedom Group, which submitted more than 300 strings in the ICANN 2026 round and published its list before Reveal Day; a very large portfolio applicant suggests a volume-registration commercial model rather than a restricted professional registry, which fits the price-driven band placement. Registration counts, pricing, and any prior-round history for this exact string are unknown. Main market uncertainty: whether solo coaches, a personal-brand-driven buyer group, treat a descriptive TLD as credible enough for their primary client-facing identity or keep it as a redirect behind a .com.