.intelligence
Is .intelligence a real TLD? Who’s applying to run it?
.intelligence is contested: 3 applications for it are on ICANN’s Reveal Day list, as of 8 October 2026. They are Starlight (Namecheap), Google Registry and Radix. Link Freedom Group named .intelligence as a backup string for its .nice 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
Two of the three already run TLDs, 12.76M names between them. Starlight (Namecheap) runs none.
Will names sell?
A long, descriptive word riding the AI wave, but shorter AI-focused endings dominate; useful for taglines, rarely a main brand.
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. .intelligence’s closest 2012 strings hold .analytics 4, .data 4 and .security 931.
The nearest 2012 strings, and how many names each holds today
The closest 2012 string, .analytics, held 4 names, June 2026. .data held 4; .security held 931. Chosen by AI from every string in the 2012 round, without being told what happened to any of them.
Same bet exactly: an abstract capability noun naming a technical discipline, sold to vendors who want the category itself as their identity, and dependent on that discipline staying a buzzword long enough for someone to pay category-level rent.
Also an abstract mass noun at the center of the same vendor industry and bought by the same kind of firm, but it names the raw material rather than the capability, so it leans more on being an infrastructure word than on a discipline's prestige.
An abstract capability noun that a whole vendor industry would put its primary identity on, and like the target it carries a double meaning (corporate practice vs. physical/state function) that splits the buyer pool rather than concentrating it.
Where they meet elsewhere
Link Freedom Group and Radix face each other in 24 contests this round, .intelligence included.
- Link Freedom Group × Radix
- Link Freedom Group × Starlight (Namecheap)
- Link Freedom Group × Google Registry
- Radix × Starlight (Namecheap)
- Radix × Google Registry
ai and business-intelligence startups, OSINT and analytics consultancies, and marketing teams wanting a descriptive secondary domain rather than a primary brand
What a .intelligence domain is
.intelligence is not a TLD yet. It is a string on our record of the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round, in our AI & tech category. 3 applications for it are on ICANN’s Reveal Day list.
Is the .intelligence domain extension real yet?
.intelligence 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 .intelligence domain?
You can’t yet. A .intelligence 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 .intelligence was .analytics, delegated on 21 December 2015.
Is .intelligence a real TLD?
Not yet. .intelligence is not in the DNS root, so nothing resolves under it. It’s here because .intelligence 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
- Link Freedom Group · now deactivated backupICANN
- Link Freedom Group · now abandonedICANN
- 2 applicants · first recordedICANN
- Radix · now confirmedICANN
- Radix · first recordedRadix
- Link Freedom Group · first recordedLink Freedom Group
“CRRI2564-T42314 · Charleston Road Registry Inc. · primary · contention set 2026-121 FEI2676T-T60926 · Fomalhaut Exploration, Inc. · primary · contention set 2026-121 RTIS2674T-T78143 · Radix Technologies Inc SEZC · primary · contention set 2026-121”ICANN
The source’s 4 linesHide the lines
CRRI2564-T42314 · Charleston Road Registry Inc. · primary · contention set 2026-121 FEI2676T-T60926 · Fomalhaut Exploration, Inc. · primary · contention set 2026-121 LFGL2683T-T22827 · Link Freedom Group Ltd · replacement string of .nice · Deactivated RTIS2674T-T78143 · Radix Technologies Inc SEZC · primary · contention set 2026-121
“Radix has applied for these TLDs; we do not own or operate them today.”Radix
“For us, moving into the registry side is a natural extension of what we have been building.”Domain Name Wire
“.intelligence · Lifestyle · “Smarts that make a difference.””Link Freedom Group
- Band: usable but limited (30-49). The string is semantically strong for the AI era and for business-intelligence and analytics positioning, so some genuine registrations and end-use are plausible over the next 5 years. But at twelve characters it is long to type and say, and by analogy with other long descriptive gTLDs such as .technology and .solutions, long dictionary endings tend to attract volume- or price-driven registrations with weak brand signal and a thin aftermarket, while the short country-code .ai has, by analogy, absorbed most premium AI-identity demand. It is not in the 50-69 band because there is little sign of sustained primary-identity demand for long descriptive strings even in hot categories, and it is not in the 10-29 band because the AI and intelligence semantics give it real, non-joke utility for descriptive and campaign use. Applicant facts: Link Freedom Group filed more than 300 strings in the ICANN 2026 round, published its list before Reveal Day, and catalogs this string under 'Lifestyle' with the tagline 'Smarts that make a difference.'; a large-portfolio applicant suggests a broad-catalog retail play rather than a dedicated vertical registry, which typically implies generic marketing rather than category-building (analogy). Pricing, marketing plans, and comparable-TLD registration performance are unknown. Main market uncertainty: whether AI-sector naming demand spills over from short AI-branded endings into long descriptive strings at all, or stays concentrated where it is.