.find
Is .find a real TLD? Who’s applying to run it?
.find is contested: 3 applications for it are on ICANN’s Reveal Day list, as of 8 October 2026. They are Google Registry, Intercap and Link Freedom Group. Identity Digital named .find as a backup string for four of its applications: .race, .pot, .mcp and .check. ICANN deactivated those backups, because another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup. GoDaddy Registry named .find as a backup string for its .list application. ICANN deactivated it, because another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup. ShortDot named .find as a backup string for its .why 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 three already run TLDs, 2.34M names between them. One runs one of .find's closest 2012 strings: Google Registry .search. Link Freedom Group runs none.
Will names sell?
A pleasant generic verb for search and discovery tools, but most serious projects would still put their main identity elsewhere.
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. .find’s closest 2012 strings hold .search 1, .seek 11 and .compare 964.
The nearest 2012 strings, and how many names each holds today
The closest 2012 string, .search, held 1 names, June 2026. .seek held 11; .compare held 964. Chosen by AI from every string in the 2012 round, without being told what happened to any of them.
The same bet exactly: a bare generic verb for the act of locating something, owning no category of its own, aimed at whoever wants to claim the discovery function itself rather than a subject matter.
Another single-syllable looking-for verb resting on the same premise as .find — that a namespace named after the user's action, not the thing acted on, can carry a discovery or classifieds operator's primary identity.
Same structural bet of a generic transactional verb sold as a utility layer, but narrower because it presupposes a purchase-decision use case where .find stays open to any kind of lookup.
Where they meet elsewhere
Identity Digital and Link Freedom Group face each other in 68 contests this round, .find included.
- Identity Digital × Link Freedom Group
- Identity Digital × GoDaddy Registry
- Identity Digital × Intercap
- Link Freedom Group × GoDaddy Registry
- Link Freedom Group × Intercap
builders of search, discovery, directory, marketplace and recommendation products who want a verb-styled name (jobs.find, homes.find), plus SEO-minded lead-gen sites and name-hack enthusiasts
What a .find domain is
.find is not a TLD yet. It is a string on our record of the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round, in our AI & tech category. 3 applications for it are on ICANN’s Reveal Day list.
Is the .find domain extension real yet?
.find 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 .find domain?
You can’t yet. A .find 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 .find was .search, delegated on 29 June 2017.
Is .find a real TLD?
Not yet. .find is not in the DNS root, so nothing resolves under it. It’s here because .find 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
- Identity Digital · first recordedICANN
- 2 applicants · first recordedICANN
- ShortDot · now deactivated backupICANN
- ShortDot · now abandonedICANN
- 2 applicants · first recordedICANN
- Link Freedom Group · now confirmedICANN
- ShortDot · now announced
- ShortDot · first recordedShortDot (Ireland) Limited
- Link Freedom Group · first recordedLink Freedom Group
The source’s 9 linesHide the lines
CRRI2564-T18557 · Charleston Road Registry Inc. · primary · contention set 2026-83 IRI2679T-T28109 · Intercap Registry Inc. · primary · contention set 2026-83 LFGL2683T-T22952 · Link Freedom Group Ltd · primary · contention set 2026-83 NA2626T-T95997 · ShortDot (Ireland) Limited · replacement string of .why · Deactivated NA2631T-T12521 · Registry Services, LLC · replacement string of .list · Deactivated TCL2632T-T19690 · Tidal Case, LLC · replacement string of .check · Deactivated TCL2632T-T27609 · Tidal Case, LLC · replacement string of .mcp · Deactivated TCL2632T-T51366 · Tidal Case, LLC · replacement string of .pot · Deactivated TCL2632T-T67204 · Tidal Case, LLC · replacement string of .race · Deactivated
“CRRI2564-T18557 · Charleston Road Registry Inc. · primary · contention set 2026-83 IRI2679T-T28109 · Intercap Registry Inc. · primary · contention set 2026-83 LFGL2683T-T22952 · Link Freedom Group Ltd · primary · contention set 2026-83”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
“.find · Infra · “Find what you didn’t know you needed.””Link Freedom Group
- Band chosen: usable but limited (30-49). .find is a common English verb with a clear semantic hook: discovery, lookup, matching. That gives it broad surface area (noun.find reads like a command) but no single category it owns. By analogy, flagged as such: generic verb and utility TLDs such as .link, .click, .live and .plus have tended to register in volume when priced low while producing weak brand signal and thin aftermarkets, whereas category standards like .app or .io earned primary-identity status by binding to one identifiable buyer tribe; .find lacks that tribe, since search startups, directories, dating apps and job boards do not share an identity the way app developers do. It is not in the strong-niche band (50-69) because there is no evidence pattern of sustained demand where .find is the natural first choice; adoption would need explaining in essentially every pitch. It is not in the vanity band (10-29) because the word is genuinely functional, supports readable left-of-dot phrases across many verticals, and could plausibly serve lead-gen and discovery products at volume. The applicant, Link Freedom Group, filed a large portfolio of strings in the ICANN 2026 round and lists this one under category Infra with the tagline 'Find what you didn't know you needed', which suggests a broad-utility rather than community-anchored positioning; that is consistent with volume-priced distribution rather than premium identity marketing. Main market uncertainty: whether AI-agent and answer-engine discovery interfaces make command-like verb domains (query.find) newly attractive as machine-readable or promotable identities within 5 years, which could pull it toward genuine niche demand, or whether discovery continues consolidating inside platforms, leaving verb TLDs as pure price-volume plays.