.impact
Is .impact a real TLD? Who’s applying to run it?
.impact is contested: 2 applications for it are on ICANN’s Reveal Day list, as of 7 October 2026. They are Public Interest Registry and Intercap.
A meaningful word for impact investors and social enterprises, but likely a niche add-on address rather than a main identity.
impact investors, social enterprises, foundations, ESG consultancies and campaign sites wanting a purpose-signalling address alongside their .org or .com
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 abstract virtue-noun with no defined registrant class, sold to a self-selecting mission-driven crowd (foundations, social enterprises, campaigns) who want the value word itself as their identity rather than a sector label.
Also a values adjective that any organization can claim by assertion rather than qualification, so it wins or loses on whether buyers will put their primary identity on a soft reputational claim — the difference is that .green had an established movement vocabulary behind it where .impact's is narrower and newer.
Short aspirational values marker aimed at the same kind of ethically-positioned buyer, but it leans on a widely understood prefix habit (eco-this, eco-that) rather than a standalone outcome noun, making the adoption mechanics somewhat easier than the target's.
What a .impact domain is
.impact is not a TLD yet. It is a string on our record of the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round, filed under Commerce. 2 applications for it are on ICANN’s Reveal Day list.
Is the .impact domain extension real yet?
.impact 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 .impact domain?
You can’t yet. ICANN publishes every applied-for string on Reveal Day, 7 October 2026 at 18:00 UTC. A .impact name can only be registered after that, once the string is delegated and its registry opens. Last round's closest parallel to .impact was .giving, delegated on 6 August 2015.
Is .impact a real TLD?
Not yet. .impact is not in the DNS root, so nothing resolves under it. It’s here because .impact is on ICANN’s Reveal Day list of applied-for strings. Every entry on this page links to its source.
“IRI2679T-T75873 · Intercap Registry Inc. · primary · contention set 2026-118 PIR2624T-T15791 · Public Interest Registry · primary · contention set 2026-118”ICANN
“EDI2665T-T28371 · Endpoint Domains, Inc. · primary IRI2679T-T96997 · Intercap Registry Inc. · replacement string of .wiz · Deactivated NA2626T-T63059 · ShortDot (Ireland) Limited · replacement string of .ask · Deactivated XL2625T-T48604 · XYZ.COM LLC · replacement string of .con · Deactivated”ICANN
- Band chosen: 30-49 (usable but limited). The string is a real dictionary word with a live sector attached to it: impact investing, impact funds, impact reporting and the broader social-enterprise and purpose-led-business space. That gives it genuine descriptive fit and a plausible registration base of funds, consultancies, foundations and campaigns. It is not in the 50-69 band because, by analogy (flagged as analogy), earlier purpose-oriented TLDs such as .ngo/.ong, .charity, .foundation, .gives and .eco settled into small niches where adoption still needs explaining and most organisations kept .org or .com as their primary address; nothing in the verified facts suggests .impact would break that pattern. It is not in the 10-29 band because it is a serious, non-joke generic with a commercially active buyer group, and both applicants on the record (Intercap Registry Inc. and Public Interest Registry, both standard applications in contention set 2026-118) are established registry operators, which supports a credible launch and distribution rather than a vanity outcome. The applicants' replacement strings on the record (.esg for Public Interest Registry, .purpose for Intercap) indicate both see the string as part of a purpose/ESG positioning. Aftermarket value is expected to be thin outside a handful of category words (by analogy with other descriptive generics). Main market uncertainty: whether the impact-investing and social-enterprise sector treats the TLD as an identity signal the way nonprofits historically treated .org, or whether buyers register it defensively and redirect. Actual registration counts, pricing and launch dates are unknown.