.exp
Is .exp a real TLD? Who’s applying to run it?
Nobody has applied for .exp in its own right, as of 7 October 2026. XYZ named .exp as the replacement string of its .key application.
Short and flexible, but "exp" means too many things at once to become a recognised home for any one kind of project.
experiential and events agencies, XR and game studios, labs and "experiment" side projects, plus bargain hunters wanting a three-letter ending
No applications recorded for this TLD yet.
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 as .exp: a three-letter clipped form of an everyday commercial word, sold on the assumption that everyone silently expands the abbreviation the same way, with no single company owning the string and a broad open registrant base rather than a defined category or community.
Also a clipped generic word rather than a whole one, and it carries .exp's central risk — more than one plausible expansion (product / production / production-environment), so the namespace has to teach the buyer what it means before anyone will put a primary identity on it.
A three-letter truncation of a generic sector word whose value rests entirely on the shorthand already being in common use among the people expected to adopt it, the same wager .exp makes, though .med points at one trade while .exp stays open-ended.
What a .exp domain is
.exp is not a TLD yet. It is a string on our record of the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round, filed under AI & tech. Nobody has applied for .exp in its own right. It is named on ICANN’s list as part of an application for another string.
Is the .exp domain extension real yet?
.exp is not yet a domain extension you can register: nothing resolves under it, and no registrar sells names in it. Nobody has applied for it on the public record; the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round is the process that would decide whether it becomes one.
When can you buy a .exp domain?
You can’t yet. ICANN publishes every applied-for string on Reveal Day, 7 October 2026 at 18:00 UTC. A .exp name can only be registered after that, once the string is delegated and its registry opens. Last round's closest parallel to .exp was .dev, delegated on 18 December 2014.
Is .exp a real TLD?
Not yet. .exp is not in the DNS root, so nothing resolves under it. It’s here because ICANN’s list names .exp as part of an application for another string. Every entry on this page links to its source.
- XYZ · first recordedICANN
- Band: 30-49, usable but limited. The string is a three-letter abbreviation with no single settled meaning: experience, experiment, export, expert, expo, expedition and gaming's experience points all compete. That ambiguity is the core problem: a visitor cannot infer what a site on .exp is about, so the ending adds little credibility, and an aftermarket would be thin outside a handful of generic one-word labels. It is not in the 50-69 band because no identifiable community would choose .exp as a primary identity without explanation; experiential marketing and XR studios are plausible buyers but already have homes on .com, .io, .studio and .agency. It is not in the 10-29 band because the string is short, pronounceable, carries real dictionary-fragment meaning and could sustain volume registrations on price, the way other short abstract strings have (inference from analogy: short generic strings from the same operator family have tended to find a price-driven volume base rather than a brand-driven one; I assert no figures). Applicant facts, neutrally and from the record only: one application by XYZ.COM LLC as a replacement string for .key, no contention. That operator's portfolio of short strings suggests distribution into registrar storefronts, which raises adoption likelihood without raising brand strength. Main market uncertainty: whether one meaning (experience, pulled by events, XR and gaming) crystallises as the dominant read within five years; if it does, the string drifts toward the top of this band, and if it stays diffuse it settles as a cheap alternative ending with little identity value.