.grid
Is .grid a real TLD? Who’s applying to run it?
.grid is not contested. One application for it is on ICANN’s Reveal Day list, as of 8 October 2026. It is Starlight (Namecheap). Radix named .grid as a backup string for its .mcp application. ICANN deactivated it, because another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup.
A clean word for energy and tech projects, but most of that market will keep using mainstream domains; expect niche, price-driven uptake.
smart-grid and clean-energy startups, utility digital projects, and tech teams riffing on "grid" as a computing or design metaphor
In Journey To The West's published portfolio of 323 strings submitted in the ICANN 2026 round. Their catalog line: “The network that delivers power to everyone.”
Named on the ICANN gTLD application list, 7 October 2026 as a replacement (backup) string of the applicant's .mcp application, shown as deactivated: another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup
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: an open generic infrastructure-sector noun sold to companies in the power/utility economy who would put their primary identity on the sector word itself, not a brand.
Same bet in shape: a short abstract connective-infrastructure noun that reads both literally (the physical interconnect) and metaphorically, so its buyer base is a mix of infrastructure operators and anyone claiming a systems identity.
Same bet one notch narrower: a plain-English energy-category noun whose whole thesis is that a defined industry of installers, developers and equipment vendors self-identifies with the category term.
What a .grid domain is
.grid is not a TLD yet. It is a string on our record of the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round, filed under Infrastructure. One application for it is on ICANN’s Reveal Day list.
Is the .grid domain extension real yet?
.grid 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 .grid domain?
You can’t yet. A .grid 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 .grid was .energy, delegated on 1 November 2014.
Is .grid a real TLD?
Not yet. .grid is not in the DNS root, so nothing resolves under it. It’s here because .grid 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
- Radix · first recordedICANN
- Journey To The West · now abandonedICANN
- Starlight (Namecheap) · first recordedICANN
- Journey To The West · first recordedJourney To The West Corporation
“EEI2686T-T55898 · Elnath Exploration, Inc. · primary RTIS2674T-T17682 · Radix Technologies Inc SEZC · replacement string of .mcp · Deactivated”ICANN
“EEI2686T-T55898 · Elnath Exploration, Inc. · primary”ICANN
“For us, moving into the registry side is a natural extension of what we have been building.”Domain Name Wire
“.grid · Energy & Mobility · “The network that delivers power to everyone.””Journey To The West Corporation
- I place .grid in the 30-49 'usable but limited' band, at its lower edge: it is a genuine dictionary word with a coherent energy-infrastructure theme and a secondary tech/design meaning, which lifts it above vanity strings, but I see no sign of a category where it becomes a primary-identity default, which keeps it out of the 50-69 niche-standard band. By analogy (flagged as such), sector TLDs like .energy and .solar attracted registrations without producing broad primary-identity adoption or a meaningful aftermarket, and .grid is narrower than .energy within the same vertical. The dual meaning (power grid vs. grid computing/CSS grid) slightly broadens the buyer pool but also dilutes the brand signal. The applicant is one of 323 strings in a published 2026-round portfolio, which I read neutrally as a portfolio-style launch rather than a single-string operator push; that shapes adoption likelihood, not string quality. Main market uncertainty: whether the current wave of grid-modernization and energy-transition startups would treat a themed TLD as credible primary identity at all, or default to .com/.energy/.io.