.kit
Is .kit a real TLD? Who’s applying to run it?
.kit is contested: 3 applications for it are on ICANN’s Reveal Day list, as of 8 October 2026. They are XYZ Registry, Starlight (Namecheap) and Identity Digital. GoDaddy Registry named .kit as a backup string for its .gear application. ICANN deactivated it, because another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup. Mux Registry named .kit as a backup string for its .cli application. ICANN deactivated it, because another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup. Aruba named .kit as a backup string for its .aid application. ICANN deactivated it, because another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup. Link Freedom Group named .kit as a backup string for its .hub 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, 26.76M names between them. Two run one of .kit's closest 2012 strings: Identity Digital .supplies and Identity Digital .tools. Starlight (Namecheap) runs none.
Will names sell?
A catchy ending for toolkits and product kits (press.kit, meal.kit), but most serious projects would still need to explain the choice.
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. .kit’s closest 2012 strings hold .tools 30K, .box 3K and .supplies 3K.
The nearest 2012 strings, and how many names each holds today
The closest 2012 string, .tools, held 30,491 names, June 2026. .box held 2,752; .supplies held 3,151. Chosen by AI from every string in the 2012 round, without being told what happened to any of them.
Same bet: an unowned generic noun for implements-assembled-for-a-job, sold open-registry to both literal hardware/DIY sellers and software makers who read it figuratively, with no single constituency able to claim it as their identity.
Same bet on a short, punchy, polysemous container word whose value is brandability and left-of-dot phrasing rather than a defined vertical, so it must win on memorability against .com rather than by serving a class of registrant.
Same generic goods-for-a-purpose commerce bet aimed at retailers and B2B sellers, though it is a purely descriptive shelf label where .kit also carries brandable coined-name upside.
Where they meet elsewhere
Identity Digital and XYZ Registry face each other in 77 contests this round, .kit included.
- Identity Digital × XYZ Registry
- Identity Digital × Link Freedom Group
- Identity Digital × GoDaddy Registry
- XYZ Registry × Link Freedom Group
- Link Freedom Group × GoDaddy Registry
makers and product companies selling kits or toolkits (DIY, meal, starter, dev), plus marketers wanting hacks like press.kit or media.kit
What a .kit domain is
.kit is not a TLD yet. It is a string on our record of the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round, in our Commerce category. 3 applications for it are on ICANN’s Reveal Day list.
Is the .kit domain extension real yet?
.kit 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 .kit domain?
You can’t yet. A .kit 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 .kit was .tools, delegated on 23 January 2014.
Is .kit a real TLD?
Not yet. .kit is not in the DNS root, so nothing resolves under it. It’s here because .kit 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
- 2 applicants · first recordedICANN
- Link Freedom Group · now deactivated backupICANN
- Aruba · now deactivated backupICANN
- Aruba · now abandonedICANN
- Link Freedom Group · now abandonedICANN
- 3 applicants · first recordedICANN
- Aruba · first recordedDomain Name Wire (Andrew Allemann), quoting Aruba S.p.A.
- Link Freedom Group · first recordedLink Freedom Group
The source’s 7 linesHide the lines
APEC2611T-T69337 · Aruba PEC S.P.A. · replacement string of .aid · Deactivated CD2694T-T18432 · Coffee Danger, LLC · primary · contention set 2026-129 GEI2639T-T18440 · Gacrux Exploration, Inc · primary · contention set 2026-129 LFGL2683T-T31500 · Link Freedom Group Ltd · replacement string of .hub · Deactivated MRL2648T-T84296 · Mux Registry L.L.C-FZ · replacement string of .cli · Deactivated NA2631T-T42060 · Registry Services, LLC · replacement string of .gear · Deactivated XL2625T-T72611 · XYZ.COM LLC · primary · contention set 2026-129
“CD2694T-T18432 · Coffee Danger, LLC · primary · contention set 2026-129 GEI2639T-T18440 · Gacrux Exploration, Inc · primary · contention set 2026-129 XL2625T-T72611 · XYZ.COM LLC · primary · contention set 2026-129”ICANN
“Aruba S.p.A., which operates the .cloud top level domain, is expanding its domain portfolio. The company told Domain Name Wire that it applied for 39 top level domains in this year's new TLD round. That number includes replacement strings. [...] The company applied for the following strings as primary or replacement: aid, all, ask, beta, bit, bnb, cart, ciao, daily, demo, easy, fix, gaming, gen, genius, gym, happy, hello, hola, human, kit, lab, mars, max, moon, omg, pec, pop, rem, roma, sign, sito, super, tag, tex, vps, yes, zen, zzz”Domain Name Wire (Andrew Allemann), quoting Aruba S.p.A.
“For us, moving into the registry side is a natural extension of what we have been building.”Domain Name Wire
“.kit · Lifestyle · “Tools for every task.””Link Freedom Group
- Band chosen: 30-49 (usable but limited). 'Kit' is a genuinely common English word with strong product-suffix energy: it appears at the end of many product and brand names (developer kits, starter kits, media kits), which gives the string natural domain-hack appeal (press.kit, dev.kit, starter.kit) and a plausible commerce angle for kit-based products. It is not in the 50-69 band because, by analogy with other short generic product-word TLDs such as .tools and .build (analogy: those saw real registrations but little sustained primary-identity use and thin aftermarkets), demand for .kit is likely to be scattered across use cases rather than concentrated in one category where it becomes a default; a brand ending in 'kit' still tends to want the .com. It is not in the 10-29 band because the word is short, universally understood, and maps to real recurring purchase categories (subscription kits, toolkits, SDK-adjacent branding), so registrations at volume and some genuine end-use are likely over the next 5 years rather than purely event-driven vanity demand. The applicant is Link Freedom Group, which filed more than 300 strings in the 2026 round and published its list ahead of Reveal Day; a large-portfolio applicant suggests the string would likely be marketed broadly rather than cultivated for one vertical, which fits a volume/price adoption pattern. Pricing, launch positioning, and contention outcomes are unknown. Main market uncertainty: whether the suffix-hack pattern (brands named '<word>kit' adopting <word>.kit as primary identity) materializes at meaningful scale or stays a redirect/vanity behavior.