.list
Is .list a real TLD? Who’s applying to run it?
.list is contested: 5 applications for it are on ICANN’s Reveal Day list, as of 7 October 2026. They are XYZ Registry, GoDaddy Registry, Mux Registry, Intercap and Identity Digital. EchoStar named .list as a backup string for its .user application. ICANN deactivated it, because another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup. Link Freedom Group named .list as a backup string for its .jet 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 five already run TLDs, 33.99M names between them. Two run one of .list's closest 2012 strings: Identity Digital .directory and Identity Digital .guide. Mux Registry runs none.
Will names sell?
A plain-word ending that fits directories, rankings, and wishlist-style names, but few serious projects would make it their main 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. .list’s closest 2012 strings hold .directory 16K, .guide 21K and .blog 390K.
The nearest 2012 strings, and how many names each holds today
The closest 2012 string, .directory, held 16,309 names, June 2026. .guide held 21,059; .blog held 389,860. Chosen by AI from every string in the 2012 round, without being told what happened to any of them.
Same bet exactly: a plain-English noun for an organized compilation of entries, open to anyone publishing collections, where the value depends on the word reading as a self-describing content format rather than on any industry, community, or brand behind it.
Also a short generic content-format noun sold to curators and publishers who want the domain to announce what the page contains, though 'guide' carries an editorial-authority connotation that 'list' does not.
Same bet on a publication-format word that everyone already uses as a common noun, betting that the format label itself is the identity, though 'blog' had a far larger installed base of self-identifying users than a list-maker cohort ever forms.
Where they meet elsewhere
Identity Digital and XYZ Registry face each other in 77 contests this round, .list included.
- Identity Digital × XYZ Registry
- Identity Digital × Link Freedom Group
- Identity Digital × GoDaddy Registry
- Link Freedom Group × XYZ Registry
- Identity Digital × Intercap
builders of directories, curated recommendation sites, listing marketplaces, and newsletter or wishlist products who want a literal name or a wordplay domain (e.g. a name that reads as a natural English phrase ending in 'list')
What a .list domain is
.list is not a TLD yet. It is a string on our record of the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round, in our Commerce category. 5 applications for it are on ICANN’s Reveal Day list.
Is the .list domain extension real yet?
.list 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 .list domain?
You can’t yet. A .list 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 .list was .directory, delegated on 19 November 2013.
Is .list a real TLD?
Not yet. .list is not in the DNS root, so nothing resolves under it. It’s here because .list is on ICANN’s Reveal Day list of applied-for strings. Every entry on this page links to its source.
- Link Freedom Group · now deactivated backupICANN
- EchoStar · first recordedICANN
- Link Freedom Group · now abandonedICANN
- 5 applicants · first recordedICANN
- Link Freedom Group · first recordedLink Freedom Group
The source’s 7 linesHide the lines
A2619T-T84675 · Berth Order, LLC · primary · contention set 2026-137 EDCL2689T-T52882 · ECHO Domain Co L.L.C. · replacement string of .user · Deactivated IRI2679T-T65063 · Intercap Registry Inc. · primary · contention set 2026-137 LFGL2683T-T94852 · Link Freedom Group Ltd · replacement string of .jet · Deactivated MRL2648T-T18053 · Mux Registry L.L.C-FZ · primary · contention set 2026-137 NA2631T-T12521 · Registry Services, LLC · primary · contention set 2026-137 XL2625T-T88449 · XYZ.COM LLC · primary · contention set 2026-137
The source’s 5 linesHide the lines
A2619T-T84675 · Berth Order, LLC · primary · contention set 2026-137 IRI2679T-T65063 · Intercap Registry Inc. · primary · contention set 2026-137 MRL2648T-T18053 · Mux Registry L.L.C-FZ · primary · contention set 2026-137 NA2631T-T12521 · Registry Services, LLC · primary · contention set 2026-137 XL2625T-T88449 · XYZ.COM LLC · primary · contention set 2026-137
“.list · AI & Tech · “Where everything comes together.””Link Freedom Group
- Band chosen: 30-49, usable but limited. The string is a common English noun with genuine semantic fit: directories, top-N rankings, real-estate and job listings, waitlists, wishlists, and mailing lists all end naturally in the word, giving it stronger left-of-dot pairing than most descriptive generics. That keeps it out of the 10-29 vanity band: demand here is functional, not joke-driven, and some products could plausibly carry a .list name as a campaign or secondary identity. It does not reach the 50-69 strong-niche band because, by analogy (flagged as analogy), comparable descriptive suffix generics such as .guide, .directory, .reviews, and .best have tended toward low registration bases, price-driven demand, and thin aftermarkets rather than becoming primary-identity defaults in any category; there is no verified evidence of a category where .list is the expected address. The applicant's catalog places it under 'AI & Tech' with the tagline 'Where everything comes together.', but the string itself carries no AI meaning, so I do not score it as an AI-category asset. Volume and pricing figures for analogous TLDs are unknown, so this judgment is qualitative. Main market uncertainty over the next 5 years: whether listing-heavy verticals (marketplaces, curation newsletters, waitlist tooling) adopt .list names as real primary identities rather than redirects, which would move it toward the top of this band or into the niche band.