.idea
Is .idea a real TLD? Who’s applying to run it?
.idea is contested: 2 applications for it are on ICANN’s Reveal Day list, as of 7 October 2026. They are NextGEN TLDs and Link Freedom Group.
Who is applying, and what they run today
None of the two runs a TLD today.
Will names sell?
A friendly word for pitching concepts and creative projects, but few serious ventures would make it their main address.
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. .idea’s closest 2012 strings hold .vision 13K, .design 119K and .build 12K.
The nearest 2012 strings, and how many names each holds today
The closest 2012 string, .vision, held 12,532 names, June 2026. .design held 118,808; .build held 11,620. Chosen by AI from every string in the 2012 round, without being told what happened to any of them.
Same bet exactly: an aspirational abstract concept noun with no defined registrant community behind it, so the registry has to sell evocative meaning to anyone creative or ambitious rather than enroll an identifiable industry.
Same buyer — the creative/agency/maker crowd putting identity on a concept word — but .design is anchored by an actual profession with a roster of practitioners, whereas nobody's occupation is 'idea'.
Also a generic creation word aimed at the startup/maker impulse rather than a category of business, betting that the verb's aspirational charge substitutes for a natural community of registrants.
early-stage founders, innovation labs, idea-management and brainstorming tools, and creators staking a page for a concept before it has a name of its own
What a .idea domain is
.idea is not a TLD yet. It is a string on our record of the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round, in our Culture category. 2 applications for it are on ICANN’s Reveal Day list.
Is the .idea domain extension real yet?
.idea 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 .idea domain?
You can’t yet. A .idea 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 .idea was .vision, delegated on 11 February 2014.
Is .idea a real TLD?
Not yet. .idea is not in the DNS root, so nothing resolves under it. It’s here because .idea is on ICANN’s Reveal Day list of applied-for strings. Every entry on this page links to its source.
- NextGEN TLDs · first recordedICANN
- Link Freedom Group · now confirmedICANN
- Link Freedom Group · first recordedLink Freedom Group
“LFGL2683T-T47338 · Link Freedom Group Ltd · primary · contention set 2026-114 NTG2671T-T54636 · NextGEN TLDs GmbH · primary · contention set 2026-114”ICANN
“.idea · Lifestyle · “Ideas in motion, ready to grow.””Link Freedom Group
- Band: usable but limited (30-49). .idea is a clean, universally understood English noun, which puts a floor under it: registrations at volume are plausible for concept pages, innovation-team microsites, and idea-submission portals, and the word reads naturally left-of-dot (brand.idea as 'our idea'). It does not reach the strong-niche band (50-69) because no identifiable buyer category treats an idea-stage label as a durable primary identity; ideas are, by nature, transient, and projects that survive typically rebrand onto a name-bearing domain, so genuine sustained primary-identity use is hard to argue. It sits above the vanity band (10-29) because the string has real functional use beyond a joke: suggestion boxes, pitch pages, and innovation programs are recurring, non-event-driven use cases, by analogy with how generic abstract-noun TLDs attract steady low-price registration flows without strong brand signal (analogy, not observed data for this string). Aftermarket pull is likely thin: singular abstract nouns without a commercial category anchor have, by analogy with comparable generic strings, weak resale dynamics because the TLD adds mood rather than credibility. A minor cross-current: the string collides with a well-known software project-folder convention, which gives it developer familiarity but no purchasing intent (qualitative observation, no figures asserted). The applicant, Link Freedom Group, filed more than 300 strings in the 2026 round and lists this one under 'Lifestyle' with the tagline 'Ideas in motion, ready to grow.', consistent with a broad-portfolio, price-driven go-to-market rather than a category-building push, which caps expected adoption energy. Main market uncertainty: whether idea-stage registrations behave as churn-heavy event demand (registered at inspiration, dropped at renewal) or convert into lasting identities for innovation programs over the next 5 years.