.create
Is .create a real TLD? Who’s applying to run it?
.create is contested: 2 applications for it are on ICANN’s Reveal Day list, as of 7 October 2026. They are Intercap and Suffix. Dot Digital Networks named .create as a backup string for its .labs application. ICANN deactivated it, because another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup. CamConnecting named .create as a backup string for its .zen application. ICANN deactivated it, because another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup. Link Freedom Group named .create as a backup string for its .mode 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
One of the two already run TLDs, 11K names between them. Suffix runs none.
Will names sell?
A pleasant verb domain for creators and makers, but too broad to become the default address of any one profession or industry.
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. .create’s closest 2012 strings hold .design 119K, .build 12K and .studio 197K.
The nearest 2012 strings, and how many names each holds today
The closest 2012 string, .design, held 118,808 names, June 2026. .build held 11,620; .studio held 196,756. Chosen by AI from every string in the 2012 round, without being told what happened to any of them.
Same bet: an open, unrestricted English creative-act word sold as primary identity to the creative-professional pool (studios, agencies, freelancers, tools), where value rests on that cohort self-identifying with the word rather than on any registry-imposed credential.
Same string type doing the same job — a plain imperative verb-of-making with no owner and no defined registrant class, betting that makers will hang identity on an action word that also reads as the tail of a phrase.
Chases the identical buyer (creative shops wanting a name that signals making things), but as an occupational place-noun it has a self-evident registrant class and never has to manufacture meaning out of an abstract verb the way .create does.
Where they meet elsewhere
Link Freedom Group and Intercap face each other in 31 contests this round, .create included.
- Link Freedom Group × Intercap
- Link Freedom Group × Suffix
- Intercap × Suffix
- Link Freedom Group × CamConnecting
- Intercap × CamConnecting
creator-economy individuals and small studios (designers, video makers, writers, indie builders) wanting an aspirational personal or portfolio address, plus brandable-name hunters
What a .create domain is
.create is not a TLD yet. It is a string on our record of the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round, in our Culture category. 2 applications for it are on ICANN’s Reveal Day list.
Is the .create domain extension real yet?
.create 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 .create domain?
You can’t yet. A .create 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 .create was .design, delegated on 24 January 2015.
Is .create a real TLD?
Not yet. .create is not in the DNS root, so nothing resolves under it. It’s here because .create is on ICANN’s Reveal Day list of applied-for strings. Every entry on this page links to its source.
- Link Freedom Group · now deactivated backupICANN
- 2 applicants · first recordedICANN
- Link Freedom Group · now abandonedICANN
- Intercap · first recordedICANN
- Suffix · now confirmedICANN
- Suffix · now announced
- Suffix · first recordedSuffix Inc.
- Link Freedom Group · first recordedLink Freedom Group
“IRI2679T-T47088 · Intercap Registry Inc. · primary · contention set 2026-54 SI2639T-T23718 · Suffix Inc. · primary · contention set 2026-54”ICANN
The source’s 5 linesHide the lines
CCS2640T-T99130 · Cam Connecting SARL · replacement string of .zen · Deactivated DDNP2635T-T57777 · Dot Digital Networks Pte. Ltd. · replacement string of .labs · Deactivated IRI2679T-T47088 · Intercap Registry Inc. · primary · contention set 2026-54 LFGL2683T-T81151 · Link Freedom Group Ltd · replacement string of .mode · Deactivated SI2639T-T23718 · Suffix Inc. · primary · contention set 2026-54
“Catalog lists: .asap .create .future .lfg .mvp .out .pal .planet .research .share .tag .this .visit”Suffix Inc.
“.create · Lifestyle · “Create what’s next.””Link Freedom Group
- Band chosen: 30-49 (usable but limited), at the upper edge. The word is universally positive and reads naturally before the dot ('studio.create', 'jane.create'), and the creator economy is a large, real buyer pool over the next 5 years, so registrations at volume are plausible. But it is not in the 50-69 band because verb-form TLDs, by analogy, tend to produce curiosity and campaign registrations rather than sustained primary-identity use: creators already have entrenched identity homes (portfolio platforms, social handles, and incumbent TLDs), and no single profession maps to 'create' the way designers map to a design-specific string, so adoption would need explaining and the aftermarket is likely thin outside short brandable left-sides. It is not in the 10-29 band because the term is not a joke or event-driven string; the demand base (creators, agencies, maker brands) is genuine and durable, and the string works as a call-to-action domain for product launches and creative-tool marketing. By analogy, noun TLDs tied to a concrete profession or artifact have outperformed abstract verb TLDs in primary-identity use; .create sits with the abstract verbs. The applicant, Link Freedom Group, filed more than 300 strings in the ICANN 2026 round and lists this string under category 'Lifestyle' with the tagline 'Create what's next.'; a broad-portfolio applicant strategy is stated neutrally here and mainly implies generalist rather than community-led go-to-market, which tempers the odds of deep vertical cultivation. Pricing, registrar distribution, and any launch partnerships are unknown. Main market uncertainty: whether the creator economy ever coalesces on any domain-based identity at all in the next 5 years, versus staying platform-native (handles and hosted pages), which caps every creator-aimed TLD regardless of string quality.