.llm
Is .llm a real TLD? Who’s applying to run it?
.llm is contested: 2 applications for it are on ICANN’s Reveal Day list, as of 7 October 2026. They are Identity Digital and Link Freedom Group.
Who is applying, and what they run today
One of the two already run TLDs, 14.80M names between them. Link Freedom Group runs none.
Will names sell?
A niche address for AI-model builders; the term is hot today, but .ai already owns that identity and the jargon could age quickly.
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. .llm’s closest 2012 strings hold .cloud 552K, .bot 23K and .ott 4.
The nearest 2012 strings, and how many names each holds today
The closest 2012 string, .cloud, held 551,867 names, June 2026. .bot held 23,099; .ott held 4. Chosen by AI from every string in the 2012 round, without being told what happened to any of them.
Same bet: take the era-defining infrastructure-paradigm term at the peak of its hype wave and sell it as the home address for every vendor building in that category, wagering that the paradigm outlives the buzzword.
Same bet one wave earlier in the same industry: a short generic noun for a class of autonomous software agents whose buyers are the vendors shipping them, working only if the category hardens into a durable identity rather than a passing interface fad.
Same bet in acronym form: an industry-internal initialism for a technology delivery category that is instantly legible to insiders and opaque to consumers, so its value rests entirely on the trade continuing to call itself that.
developers and startups building or wrapping large language models: model hosts, fine-tuning shops, eval and tooling vendors, plus speculative registrants chasing the AI wave
What a .llm domain is
.llm is not a TLD yet. It is a string on our record of the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round, in our AI & tech category. 2 applications for it are on ICANN’s Reveal Day list.
Is the .llm domain extension real yet?
.llm 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 .llm domain?
You can’t yet. A .llm 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 .llm was .cloud, delegated on 26 June 2015.
Is .llm a real TLD?
Not yet. .llm is not in the DNS root, so nothing resolves under it. It’s here because .llm is on ICANN’s Reveal Day list of applied-for strings. Every entry on this page links to its source.
- Identity Digital · first recordedICANN
- Link Freedom Group · now confirmedICANN
- Link Freedom Group · first recordedLink Freedom Group
“LFGL2683T-T68204 · Link Freedom Group Ltd · primary · contention set 2026-138 SS2654T-T62301 · Hair Apparent, LLC · primary · contention set 2026-138”ICANN
“.llm · AI & Tech · “Words that work for you.””Link Freedom Group
- Band chosen: 30-49, usable but limited. Not the band above (50-69) because the buyer pool that .llm targets already has a settled default: .ai functions as the category-standard identity for AI companies, and by analogy with second-string tech TLDs (.cloud, .tech) that arrived after .io/.ai were entrenched, a jargon-specific newcomer tends to get volume registrations and defensive buys rather than genuine primary-identity use. Not the band below (10-29) because the string maps to a large, well-funded, actively naming buyer population, and hyper-relevant tech-term strings tend to see real registration volume and some end use, not just event-driven vanity demand. Two structural drags cap it: 'LLM' is insider jargon a general audience does not parse, which weakens brand signal outside the developer niche, and the term is tied to a specific technology generation, so its salience over the next 5 years is not assured. The main market uncertainty: whether 'LLM' remains the industry's identity word over the next 5 years or is displaced in common usage (for example by agent- or model-generic framing), which would decide whether this is a durable niche or a dated one. Applicant context, stated neutrally: the string is announced by Link Freedom Group, which filed more than 300 strings in the ICANN 2026 round and published its catalog (entry categorized 'AI & Tech', tagline 'Words that work for you.'); a large-portfolio applicant profile is consistent with volume-oriented rather than single-string community marketing, which tempers expectations for concentrated adoption push. Specific pricing, volume, and adoption figures for this string: unknown.