.lab
Is .lab a real TLD? Who’s applying to run it?
.lab is contested: 7 applications for it are on ICANN’s Reveal Day list, as of 8 October 2026. They are Starlight (Namecheap), Squarespace, Make A Difference Institute, Interlink Systems Innovation Institute, Hostinger UAB, Aruba and ShortDot. Intercap named .lab as a backup string for its .vibe application. ICANN deactivated it, because another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup.
A crisp word for research, AI, and innovation teams; real niche appeal, though most brands say "labs," not "lab."
tech and AI startups, research groups, university and corporate innovation teams, and makers who brand projects as a "lab" and want a short, evocative primary address
One of the 80 strings ShortDot published for the ICANN 2026 round. ShortDot states it has submitted 40 applications, but publishes the 80 strings without revealing which 40 are applications and which 40 are designated replacements. The submission claim is therefore applicant-level, not string-level: nothing in the source says ShortDot applied for THIS string. Catalogued, not announced.
Aruba S.p.A. told Domain Name Wire it applied for 39 strings in the 2026 round 'as primary or replacement', listing .lab among them without saying which strings are primary. The claim is the applicant's own, post-filing, relayed by the publication. Founder ruling 2026-09-09: recorded as announced. Already on the record from another applicant, so this adds to the contention set.
Named on the ICANN gTLD application list, 7 October 2026 as a replacement (backup) string of the applicant's .vibe application, shown as deactivated: another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup
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: a short, generic English workplace noun that doubles as a self-applied brand suffix, sold to any small outfit that already calls itself one, so it wins only if the naming habit ('X Studio' / 'X Labs') is strong enough to pull primary identity off .com.
Same bet on a facility noun with a credentialed, semi-professional connotation — the registry is selling the implied legitimacy of the place-word, and needs practitioners rather than consumers to register.
Same bet on a research-organization noun aimed at bodies whose whole identity is the word itself, but the buyer pool skews to conservative institutions with entrenched .org/.edu addresses, which is the same ceiling .lab faces on its scientific side.
What a .lab domain is
.lab is not a TLD yet. It is a string on our record of the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round, filed under AI & tech. 7 applications for it are on ICANN’s Reveal Day list.
Is the .lab domain extension real yet?
.lab 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 .lab domain?
You can’t yet. A .lab 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 .lab was .studio, delegated on 8 July 2015.
Is .lab a real TLD?
Not yet. .lab is not in the DNS root, so nothing resolves under it. It’s here because .lab 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
- Intercap · first recordedICANN
- Starlight (Namecheap) · first recordedICANN
- Squarespace · first recordedICANN
- Make A Difference Institute · first recordedICANN
- Interlink Systems Innovation Institute · first recordedICANN
- Hostinger UAB · first recordedICANN
- ShortDot · now confirmedICANN
- Aruba · now confirmedICANN
- ShortDot · now announced
- Aruba · first recordedDomain Name Wire (Andrew Allemann), quoting Aruba S.p.A.
- ShortDot · first recordedShortDot (Ireland) Limited
“APEC2611T-T95731 · Aruba PEC S.P.A. · primary · contention set 2026-130 HU2684T-T81042 · Hostinger UAB · primary · contention set 2026-130 ISII2617T-T57898 · Interlink Systems Innovation Institute K.K. · primary · contention set 2026-130 MADI2580-T89840 · Make A Difference Institute Limited · primary · contention set 2026-130 NA2626T-T54761 · ShortDot (Ireland) Limited · primary · contention set 2026-130 SRL2616T-T44072 · Squarespace Registry LLC · primary · contention set 2026-130 WEI2642T-T36415 · Wezen Exploration, Inc. · primary · contention set 2026-130”ICANN
“APEC2611T-T95731 · Aruba PEC S.P.A. · primary · contention set 2026-130 HU2684T-T81042 · Hostinger UAB · primary · contention set 2026-130 IRI2679T-T24714 · Intercap Registry Inc. · replacement string of .vibe · Deactivated ISII2617T-T57898 · Interlink Systems Innovation Institute K.K. · primary · contention set 2026-130 MADI2580-T89840 · Make A Difference Institute Limited · primary · contention set 2026-130 NA2626T-T54761 · ShortDot (Ireland) Limited · primary · contention set 2026-130 SRL2616T-T44072 · Squarespace Registry LLC · primary · contention set 2026-130 WEI2642T-T36415 · Wezen Exploration, Inc. · primary · contention set 2026-130”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.
“ShortDot (Ireland) Limited has submitted 40 applications to ICANN's 2026 New gTLD Program. The 80 strings shown include applied-for and designated replacement strings across ShortDot's 40 ICANN applications, presented without revealing their status or pairing.”ShortDot (Ireland) Limited
“For us, moving into the registry side is a natural extension of what we have been building.”Domain Name Wire
- The string is a short, universally understood English word with heavy resonance in tech and AI, where naming things 'X Labs' is a pervasive convention; that gives .lab genuine primary-identity potential for experiment sites, skunkworks, and research groups. By analogy to .studio and .works (flagged as analogy), a well-distributed dictionary-word TLD in this vein sustains real registrations and some serious primary use, but stays a niche choice needing explanation rather than a category default like .dev or .ai. The applicant is Starlight Registry, a registry venture established by Namecheap, one of the largest domain registrars, which applied for 40 strings in the 2026 round; registrar-side distribution plausibly aids adoption. I place it in the 50-69 band: above 30-49 because the word is broadly meaningful with a strong distribution path, below 70-89 because the dominant branding convention is plural ('labs'), and tech/AI identity defaults already belong to other TLDs. Main market uncertainty: whether the singular form actually captures the 'labs' naming wave as a primary identity, or is mostly relegated to side-project and defensive registrations.