.line
Is .line a real TLD? Who’s applying to run it?
.line is contested: 2 applications for it are on ICANN’s Reveal Day list, as of 7 October 2026. They are Identity Digital and GoDaddy Registry. XYZ Registry named .line as a backup string for its .corporation application. ICANN deactivated it, because another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup. Link Freedom Group named .line as a backup string for its .fab 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 two already run TLDs, 22.02M names between them. One runs one of .line's closest 2012 strings: Identity Digital .zone.
Will names sell?
A short common word with clever pairings like product or fashion lines, but few businesses would make it their main web address.
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. .line’s closest 2012 strings hold .link 310K, .zone 53K and .one 284K.
The nearest 2012 strings, and how many names each holds today
The closest 2012 string, .link, held 310,085 names, June 2026. .zone held 52,525; .one held 283,638. Chosen by AI from every string in the 2012 round, without being told what happened to any of them.
Same bet: a four-letter everyday English noun carrying a connection/communication sense that no industry owns, sold by a portfolio registry to anyone who can complete a phrase with it, winning on universal readability rather than on serving a defined vertical.
Same structural bet if not the same sense: a short, deliberately unspecific common noun with no natural constituency, monetized as a general-purpose suffix whose success depends on many small unrelated niches adopting it rather than one anchor buyer.
Another blank-slate generic-word bet where value comes from polysemy and phrase-completion versatility rather than a defined registrant category, giving it the same risk profile: broad appeal, no core community, no defensible vertical.
Where they meet elsewhere
Identity Digital and XYZ Registry face each other in 77 contests this round, .line included.
- Identity Digital × XYZ Registry
- Identity Digital × Link Freedom Group
- Identity Digital × GoDaddy Registry
- XYZ Registry × Link Freedom Group
- Link Freedom Group × GoDaddy Registry
fashion labels, product and apparel brands naming a collection, transit and logistics services, and domain investors chasing word-completion hacks (on.line, finish.line style names)
What a .line domain is
.line is not a TLD yet. It is a string on our record of the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round, in our Commerce category. 2 applications for it are on ICANN’s Reveal Day list.
Is the .line domain extension real yet?
.line 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 .line domain?
You can’t yet. A .line 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 .line was .link, delegated on 18 January 2014.
Is .line a real TLD?
Not yet. .line is not in the DNS root, so nothing resolves under it. It’s here because .line is on ICANN’s Reveal Day list of applied-for strings. Every entry on this page links to its source.
- XYZ Registry · first recordedICANN
- Link Freedom Group · now deactivated backupICANN
- Link Freedom Group · now abandonedICANN
- 2 applicants · first recordedICANN
- Link Freedom Group · first recordedLink Freedom Group
The source’s 4 linesHide the lines
LFGL2683T-T89195 · Link Freedom Group Ltd · replacement string of .fab · Deactivated NA2631T-T90328 · Registry Services, LLC · primary · contention set 2026-136 SS2654T-T46463 · Hair Apparent, LLC · primary · contention set 2026-136 XL2625T-T85062 · XYZ.COM LLC · replacement string of .corporation · Deactivated
“NA2631T-T90328 · Registry Services, LLC · primary · contention set 2026-136 SS2654T-T46463 · Hair Apparent, LLC · primary · contention set 2026-136”ICANN
“.line · Lifestyle · “From start to finish.””Link Freedom Group
- Band chosen: 30-49, usable but limited. The string is a short, universally understood English word, which puts it above the 10-29 vanity band: real registrations are plausible at volume because 'line' completes many natural phrases (product line, fashion line, hot line, on-line) and left-of-dot pairings read cleanly, so demand should be broader than event-driven novelty. It falls short of the 50-69 strong-niche band because 'line' does not anchor a single community or industry the way stronger niche generics do; a company adopting name.line as its primary identity would still need to explain the choice, and the word's many meanings dilute rather than concentrate brand signal. By analogy (flagged as such), broad lifestyle-word TLDs have historically leaned on price-driven volume rather than premium primary-identity use, and the closely related longer form already occupies much of the same semantic space, capping what the shorter fragment adds. The applicant, Link Freedom Group, filed more than 300 strings in the ICANN 2026 round and lists this one under category 'Lifestyle' with the tagline 'From start to finish.', which suggests portfolio-style positioning rather than a focused category push; that is a neutral adoption input, and portfolio-run generics have (by analogy) tended toward registrar-channel volume plays. A further qualitative note: the string coincides with the name of a widely known messaging platform brand, which could either chill third-party adoption or concentrate perceived meaning away from the lifestyle framing; I assert no specifics about that company. Main market uncertainty: whether phrase-completion demand (names ending naturally in 'line') is deep enough to sustain renewals and any aftermarket, or whether it collapses to first-year discount churn as many broad generics have (analogy).