.labs
Is .labs a real TLD? Who’s applying to run it?
.labs is contested: 6 applications for it are on ICANN’s Reveal Day list, as of 7 October 2026. They are XYZ Registry, Identity Digital, GoDaddy Registry, Dot Digital Networks, Radix and Link Freedom Group. Phoenix Domain Partners named .labs as a backup string for its .pool 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
Four of the six already run TLDs, 44.40M names between them. Three run one of .labs's closest 2012 strings: Identity Digital .industries, Identity Digital .studio and Identity Digital .works. Dot Digital Networks and Link Freedom Group run none.
Will names sell?
A natural home for the many startups and research teams that call themselves 'labs', but it must pull them away from .com and .ai.
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. .labs’s closest 2012 strings hold .works 39K, .industries 8K and .studio 197K.
The nearest 2012 strings, and how many names each holds today
The closest 2012 string, .works, held 38,635 names, June 2026. .industries held 7,519; .studio held 196,756. Chosen by AI from every string in the 2012 round, without being told what happened to any of them.
Same bet: a plural generic that exists almost entirely as the trailing word of a firm's own name ("Acme Works" / "Acme Labs"), so the registry is selling identity to entities that already carry the word, not to a topic audience.
Also a corporate-suffix noun whose whole demand thesis is companies whose legal/brand name ends in it putting primary identity there, differing only in era and sector flavor (heavy industry vs R&D/tech).
Near-synonymous naming convention for the same buyer class — small creative and technical shops branding themselves as a workshop rather than a corporation — though it is singular and skews design/media where labs skews engineering and research.
Where they meet elsewhere
Identity Digital and XYZ Registry face each other in 77 contests this round, .labs included.
- Identity Digital × XYZ Registry
- Identity Digital × Link Freedom Group
- Identity Digital × GoDaddy Registry
- XYZ Registry × Link Freedom Group
- Identity Digital × Radix
startups, AI research groups, and corporate R&D or innovation units that already brand themselves as 'Something Labs', plus dev-tool and science-adjacent teams wanting a builder-flavored identity
What a .labs domain is
.labs is not a TLD yet. It is a string on our record of the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round, in our AI & tech category. 6 applications for it are on ICANN’s Reveal Day list.
Is the .labs domain extension real yet?
.labs 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 .labs domain?
You can’t yet. A .labs 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 .labs was .works, delegated on 23 January 2014.
Is .labs a real TLD?
Not yet. .labs is not in the DNS root, so nothing resolves under it. It’s here because .labs is on ICANN’s Reveal Day list of applied-for strings. Every entry on this page links to its source.
- Phoenix Domain Partners · first recordedICANN
- 4 applicants · first recordedICANN
- 2 applicants · now confirmedICANN
- Radix · first recordedRadix
- Link Freedom Group · first recordedLink Freedom Group
The source’s 6 linesHide the lines
DDNP2635T-T57777 · Dot Digital Networks Pte. Ltd. · primary · contention set 2026-131 LFGL2683T-T36528 · Link Freedom Group Ltd · primary · contention set 2026-131 NA2631T-T99126 · Registry Services, LLC · primary · contention set 2026-131 RTIS2674T-T67708 · Radix Technologies Inc SEZC · primary · contention set 2026-131 SS2654T-T60797 · Hair Apparent, LLC · primary · contention set 2026-131 XL2625T-T80530 · XYZ.COM LLC · primary · contention set 2026-131
The source’s 7 linesHide the lines
DDNP2635T-T57777 · Dot Digital Networks Pte. Ltd. · primary · contention set 2026-131 LFGL2683T-T36528 · Link Freedom Group Ltd · primary · contention set 2026-131 MLG2688T-T69603 · 101130013 Saskatchewan Ltd. · replacement string of .pool · Deactivated NA2631T-T99126 · Registry Services, LLC · primary · contention set 2026-131 RTIS2674T-T67708 · Radix Technologies Inc SEZC · primary · contention set 2026-131 SS2654T-T60797 · Hair Apparent, LLC · primary · contention set 2026-131 XL2625T-T80530 · XYZ.COM LLC · primary · contention set 2026-131
“Radix has applied for these TLDs; we do not own or operate them today.”Radix
“.labs · AI & Tech · “Where breakthroughs begin.””Link Freedom Group
- Band chosen: strong niche TLD (50-69). 'Labs' is one of the most pervasive brand suffixes in tech and AI naming, so name.labs reads as a complete, credible identity rather than a hack; that suggests genuine primary-identity demand from teams whose brand already ends in the word. By analogy (flagged as analogy), semantically-matched suffix TLDs like .studio and .agency found real but modest sustained registration bases, while .dev and .app show that a builder-culture string can climb toward category-standard status when a strong channel pushes it. It stays below the 70-89 band because there is no evidence within the next 5 years that .labs displaces .com, .ai, or .io as the default for lab-branded companies, and its aftermarket is unproven; adoption still needs explaining to a mainstream buyer. It sits above the 30-49 band because demand is not merely price-driven volume: the suffix maps to an enormous, growing naming convention, and a serious project plausibly uses name.labs as its primary identity without embarrassment. Applicant facts: the string was announced by Link Freedom Group, which filed more than 300 strings in the ICANN 2026 round and published its list before Reveal Day; a portfolio applicant of that breadth may market many strings broadly rather than building one deep channel, which tempers (neutrally) expectations of concentrated go-to-market push. Main market uncertainty: whether companies already named 'X Labs' will convert to name.labs as their primary domain, or treat it as a defensive/redirect registration while keeping incumbent extensions.