.know
Is .know a real TLD? Who’s applying to run it?
Nobody has applied for .know in its own right, as of 7 October 2026. Link Freedom Group named .know as the backup string of its .truth application.
Nobody has applied for .know in its own right.
Will names sell?
A catchy word for knowledge, learning, and how-to projects, but similar idea-word endings have stayed niche rather than becoming standards.
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. .know’s closest 2012 strings hold .read 2, .how 4K and .search 1.
The nearest 2012 strings, and how many names each holds today
The closest 2012 string, .read, held 2 names, June 2026. .how held 3,596; .search held 1. Chosen by AI from every string in the 2012 round, without being told what happened to any of them.
Same bet: a plain, common English cognitive verb with no industry or category behind it, so it only earns money if registrants buy the phrase/verb construction rather than a defined vertical of buyers who already self-identify with the word.
Also an abstract knowledge-seeking function word rather than a goods-or-services category, sold on the promise that instructional and answer-style content will anchor identity on the right-hand side of the dot, though it reads as a question stem rather than a claimable noun-verb.
A verb of information retrieval whose registry thesis is the same knowledge-access use case, but it is closer to naming an established industry with incumbent players than .know's undefined cognitive-verb space.
knowledge-product builders: wiki and Q&A tools, online course creators, newsletters and media brands playing on 'in the know', plus AI knowledge-base startups wanting a verb-forward name.
What a .know domain is
.know is not a TLD yet. It is a string on our record of the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round, in our AI & tech category. Nobody has applied for .know in its own right. It is named on ICANN’s list as part of an application for another string.
Is the .know domain extension real yet?
.know is not yet a domain extension you can register: nothing resolves under it, and no registrar sells names in it. Nobody has applied for it on the public record; the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round is the process that would decide whether it becomes one.
When can you buy a .know domain?
You can’t yet. A .know 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 .know was .read, delegated on 5 December 2015.
Is .know a real TLD?
Not yet. .know is not in the DNS root, so nothing resolves under it. It’s here because ICANN’s list names .know as part of an application for another string. Every entry on this page links to its source.
- Link Freedom Group · now replacementICANN
- Link Freedom Group · first recordedLink Freedom Group
“LFGL2683T-T37282 · Link Freedom Group Ltd · replacement string of .truth”ICANN
“.know · Lifestyle · “Shine bright, stand out.””Link Freedom Group
- Band: usable but limited (30-49). The string is a common, high-recognition English verb, which gives it more semantic reach than invented strings: it completes natural phrases (inthe.know, goodto.know, needto.know) and fits knowledge bases, education, how-to content, and AI answer tools. But as a right-of-dot identity it reads as a slogan fragment rather than an address, so most serious projects would need to explain the choice. By analogy (flagged as analogy): knowledge-adjacent endings such as .how, .wiki, .guru, and .expert generated early registration interest but did not, in my knowledge, become primary-identity defaults for any major category, and their aftermarkets stayed thin; .know has no obvious structural advantage over them. It is not in the 50-69 band because there is no visible sustained demand pool that treats a knowledge-verb ending as its home namespace; it is above the 10-29 band because the word's breadth supports genuine volume registrations, phrase-hack branding, and occasional serious use by education and AI-knowledge products rather than purely joke or event-driven demand. The applicant, Link Freedom Group, filed more than 300 strings in the ICANN 2026 round and lists this one under 'Lifestyle' with the tagline 'Shine bright, stand out.', suggesting broad-portfolio positioning rather than a focused knowledge-vertical strategy, which tempers expectations of category-building marketing. Main market uncertainty: whether the AI-era wave of knowledge and answer-engine products adopts any verb TLD as a naming convention, or continues defaulting to .com and .ai.