.gate
Is .gate a real TLD? Who’s applying to run it?
.gate is contested: 2 applications for it are on ICANN’s Reveal Day list, as of 8 October 2026. They are Starlight (Namecheap) and Red Rock (Cayman) Foundation. XServer named .gate as a backup string for its .mix application. ICANN deactivated it, because another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup. GoDaddy Registry named .gate as a backup string for its .api application. ICANN deactivated it, because another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup. Link Freedom Group named .gate as a backup string for its .dna 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
None of the two runs a TLD today.
Will names sell?
A catchy word for portals and gateways, but few serious projects would make .gate their main address in the next 5 years.
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. .gate’s closest 2012 strings hold .link 310K, .zone 53K and .box 3K.
The nearest 2012 strings, and how many names each holds today
The closest 2012 string, .link, held 310,085 names, June 2026. .zone held 52,525; .box held 2,752. Chosen by AI from every string in the 2012 round, without being told what happened to any of them.
Same bet: a short, abstract, non-category English noun with no industry or membership behind it, monetized on metaphorical resonance (connection/passage) and universal applicability rather than on owning a defined vertical.
Same bet in the spatial-metaphor family — a common noun that describes an access/boundary concept rather than a product class, so it must be sold as a brandable canvas to anyone who likes the word, not to a pre-existing buyer segment.
Same structural tension: an everyday concrete noun that is simultaneously a live tech company's name, so the string has to work as an open generic while carrying an implicit single-brand claim.
Where they meet elsewhere
Link Freedom Group and GoDaddy Registry face each other in 32 contests this round, .gate included.
- Link Freedom Group × GoDaddy Registry
- Link Freedom Group × Starlight (Namecheap)
- Link Freedom Group × XServer
- GoDaddy Registry × Starlight (Namecheap)
- GoDaddy Registry × XServer
gaming and virtual-world studios, gateway/API and access-control tool builders, crypto projects riding gateway metaphors, and portal-themed side projects looking for a thematic address rather than a default identity
What a .gate domain is
.gate is not a TLD yet. It is a string on our record of the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round, in our AI & tech category. 2 applications for it are on ICANN’s Reveal Day list.
Is the .gate domain extension real yet?
.gate 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 .gate domain?
You can’t yet. A .gate 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 .gate was .link, delegated on 18 January 2014.
Is .gate a real TLD?
Not yet. .gate is not in the DNS root, so nothing resolves under it. It’s here because .gate is on ICANN’s Reveal Day list of applied-for strings. Every entry on this page links to its source.
- Starlight (Namecheap) · noteDomain Name Wire
- 2 applicants · first recordedICANN
- Link Freedom Group · now deactivated backupICANN
- Link Freedom Group · now abandonedICANN
- Starlight (Namecheap) · first recordedICANN
- Red Rock (Cayman) Foundation · now confirmedICANN
- Red Rock (Cayman) Foundation · first recordedD3 (@D3inc) on X
- Link Freedom Group · first recordedLink Freedom Group
“EEI2686T-T16303 · Elnath Exploration, Inc. · primary · contention set 2026-91 GNL2631T-T74115 · Gate Naming Limited · primary · contention set 2026-91”ICANN
The source’s 5 linesHide the lines
EEI2686T-T16303 · Elnath Exploration, Inc. · primary · contention set 2026-91 GNL2631T-T74115 · Gate Naming Limited · primary · contention set 2026-91 LFGL2683T-T33762 · Link Freedom Group Ltd · replacement string of .dna · Deactivated NA2631T-T30375 · Registry Services, LLC · replacement string of .api · Deactivated XI2694T-T99509 · XRegistry Incorporated · replacement string of .mix · Deactivated
“our friends at Gate Naming Limited have applied to ICANN for the .gate Top-Level Domain”D3 (@D3inc) on X
“For us, moving into the registry side is a natural extension of what we have been building.”Domain Name Wire
“.gate · Lifestyle · “Your entry to new worlds.””Link Freedom Group
- Band: 30-49, usable but limited. .gate is a real English word with several semantic hooks — boarding gates, API gateways, logic gates, portals to other worlds (the applicant's own framing, tagline 'Your entry to new worlds.', category Lifestyle) — which supports volume registrations on price and occasional clever branding over the next 5 years. It is not in the 50-69 band because no single category treats 'gate' as its namespace: gateway-software teams, game studios, and crypto projects might each register one, but none is likely to adopt it as a primary identity without explaining the choice, and the word's strongest connotation splits across unrelated meanings, which dilutes brand signal. It is above the 10-29 band because, by analogy (flagged as analogy) with other short evocative-word TLDs such as .zone, .world, and .link, a real registration base tends to form around a common word with metaphorical reach, and 'gate' plausibly sustains steady low-intent demand plus a thin aftermarket for exact-match one-word SLDs, rather than purely event-driven or joke use. Applicant context, stated neutrally: the string was announced by Link Freedom Group, which filed more than 300 strings in the ICANN 2026 round and published its full list ahead of Reveal Day (press-corroborated by Domain Name Wire, 2026-08-13); a large-portfolio applicant suggests portfolio-style marketing rather than a single-community push, which tempers adoption expectations. Main market uncertainty: whether any sizable brand or vertical (a gaming/metaverse platform, a gateway-infrastructure vendor, or a crypto exchange sharing the name) anchors on .gate and gives it a flagship use case; without an anchor tenant, demand likely stays diffuse and price-driven. Registration volumes, pricing, and comparable-TLD counts: unknown.