.hope
Is .hope a real TLD? Who’s applying to run it?
.hope is not contested. One application for it is on ICANN’s Reveal Day list, as of 7 October 2026. It is Public Interest Registry. .top (Zhongze) named .hope as a backup string for its .firm application. ICANN deactivated it, because another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup. GoDaddy Registry named .hope as a backup string for its .good application. ICANN deactivated it, because another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup. Link Freedom Group named .hope as a backup string for its .tag 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
Three of the 4 are tied to a registry that runs TLDs today. Link Freedom Group, GoDaddy Registry and .top (Zhongze) filed 251 applications between them across the round.
Will names sell?
A warm, feel-good address for charities, causes and wellness brands, but most serious groups will still pick .org or .com first.
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. .hope’s closest 2012 strings hold .faith 6K, .love 69K and .joy 2.
The nearest 2012 strings, and how many names each holds today
The closest 2012 string, .faith, held 5,558 names, June 2026. .love held 68,867; .joy held 2. Chosen by AI from every string in the 2012 round, without being told what happened to any of them.
Same bet: a single abstract virtue noun with no defined registrant class, monetized on inspirational/uplift sentiment and courting religious, cause and campaign registrants who want the feeling rather than a category label.
Same bet: an emotive abstract noun sold open to anyone, where value depends entirely on the word's affective pull rather than on any industry, profession or membership it denotes.
Same class of string (short positive-emotion noun with universal appeal and no natural owner), but it skews gift/consumer-cheer rather than hope's cause-and-perseverance register, so the buyer set overlaps only partly.
Where they meet elsewhere
Link Freedom Group and GoDaddy Registry face each other in 32 contests this round, .hope included.
- Link Freedom Group × GoDaddy Registry
- Link Freedom Group × .top (Zhongze)
- GoDaddy Registry × .top (Zhongze)
nonprofits, cause campaigns, faith and community groups, wellness and coaching brands, and hospitals or foundations wanting an emotional, mission-forward address
What a .hope domain is
.hope is not a TLD yet. It is a string on our record of the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round, in our Culture category. One application for it is on ICANN’s Reveal Day list.
Is the .hope domain extension real yet?
.hope 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 .hope domain?
You can’t yet. A .hope 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 .hope was .faith, delegated on 25 March 2015.
Is .hope a real TLD?
Not yet. .hope is not in the DNS root, so nothing resolves under it. It’s here because .hope is on ICANN’s Reveal Day list of applied-for strings. Every entry on this page links to its source.
- 2 applicants · first recordedICANN
- Link Freedom Group · now deactivated backupICANN
- Link Freedom Group · now abandonedICANN
- Public Interest Registry · first recordedICANN
- Link Freedom Group · first recordedLink Freedom Group
“PIR2624T-T97872 · Public Interest Registry · primary”ICANN
The source’s 4 linesHide the lines
LFGL2683T-T56011 · Link Freedom Group Ltd · replacement string of .tag · Deactivated NA2631T-T44826 · Registry Services, LLC · replacement string of .good · Deactivated NPL2622T-T22956 · NETDREAM PTE. LTD. · replacement string of .firm · Deactivated PIR2624T-T97872 · Public Interest Registry · primary
“.hope · Lifestyle · “Hope is always welcome.””Link Freedom Group
- Band chosen: 30-49, usable but limited. .hope is a universally positive English word with plausible end-use for nonprofits, cause campaigns, faith communities, and wellness brands, and its Lifestyle positioning by the applicant matches that read. It is not in the 50-69 band because the buyer group it best fits (charities and causes) has a deeply entrenched incumbent habit around .org, so primary-identity adoption would need explaining and there is no evidence of sustained organic demand for this string; by analogy (flagged as analogy), emotional-word TLDs such as .love and .faith have tended to see modest, price-sensitive registration behavior rather than category-standard status, and .life-style strings have leaned on volume promotions rather than brand strength. It is not in the 10-29 band because the word's breadth gives it more than event-driven or joke value: campaign microsites (giving drives, patient-support pages, disaster response) are a recurring, renewable use case over the next 5 years, and short left-of-dot phrases read naturally (find.hope, give.hope). Aftermarket value is likely thin and concentrated in a handful of generic left-of-dot words. Applicant facts, stated neutrally: the string is 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; a portfolio of that size implies registry attention and marketing per string is spread across many launches, which tempers adoption likelihood but does not change the string's intrinsic fit. Main market uncertainty: whether the nonprofit and cause sector, the best-fit buyer, will treat any new gTLD as acceptable for donor-facing trust, or whether donation-fraud caution keeps them anchored to legacy extensions.