.log
Is .log a real TLD? Who’s applying to run it?
.log is contested: 2 applications for it are on ICANN’s Reveal Day list, as of 7 October 2026. They are .TOP Registry and Identity Digital. XYZ named .log as a backup string for its .bay application. ICANN deactivated it, because another applicant applied for the same string. GoDaddy Registry named .log as a backup string for its .flow application. ICANN deactivated it, because another applicant applied for the same string. Intercap named .log as a backup string for its .nft application. ICANN deactivated it, because another applicant applied for the same string.
A clever address for logging, journaling and developer-tool projects; memorable and useful, but most will keep it as a side domain.
developer-tooling and observability companies, journaling and personal-log apps, and domain-hack buyers wanting names like change.log or build.log
Named on the ICANN gTLD application list, 7 October 2026 as a replacement (backup) string of the applicant's .nft application, shown as deactivated: another applicant applied for the same string
Named on the ICANN gTLD application list, 7 October 2026 as a replacement (backup) string of the applicant's .flow application, shown as deactivated: another applicant applied for the same string
Named on the ICANN gTLD application list, 7 October 2026 as a replacement (backup) string of the applicant's .bay application, shown as deactivated: another applicant applied for the same string
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 exactly: a short, unowned everyday English word that is also a ubiquitous file format, sold as a generic utility namespace whose value depends on the file/tech reading being understood and on nobody mistaking it for a brand.
Also a three-letter file-extension string offered as an open generic, so the mechanics match, but its format sense points at media playback for consumer/creative buyers rather than at the machine-record, infrastructure-tooling buyer .log is aimed at.
The same bet one notch more abstract: a bare generic infrastructure noun that only works if engineering and platform companies are willing to hang primary identity on a plumbing word instead of their own name.
What a .log domain is
.log is not a TLD yet. It is a string on our record of the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round, filed under AI & tech. 2 applications for it are on ICANN’s Reveal Day list.
Is the .log domain extension real yet?
.log 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 .log domain?
You can’t yet. ICANN publishes every applied-for string on Reveal Day, 7 October 2026 at 18:00 UTC. A .log name can only be registered after that, once the string is delegated and its registry opens. Last round's closest parallel to .log was .zip, delegated on 15 September 2014.
Is .log a real TLD?
Not yet. .log is not in the DNS root, so nothing resolves under it. It’s here because .log is on ICANN’s Reveal Day list of applied-for strings. Every entry on this page links to its source.
“FCL2632T-T60164 · Fore Course, LLC · primary · contention set 2026-139 IRI2679T-T68974 · Intercap Registry Inc. · replacement string of .nft · Deactivated NA2631T-T55640 · Registry Services, LLC · replacement string of .flow · Deactivated NPL2622T-T46713 · NETDREAM PTE. LTD. · primary · contention set 2026-139 XL2625T-T97876 · XYZ.COM LLC · replacement string of .bay · Deactivated”ICANN
“FCL2632T-T60164 · Fore Course, LLC · primary · contention set 2026-139 NPL2622T-T46713 · NETDREAM PTE. LTD. · primary · contention set 2026-139”ICANN
- Band chosen: 30-49 (usable but limited), near its top. The string carries two real meanings: software logs and observability (the devops world lives on log files, log pipelines, changelogs, audit logs) and the diary or journal sense (logbook, captain's log, weblog). Both are coherent, and the three-letter string is short and readable, which supports domain-hack names (change.log, build.log, error.log, ship.log) that developers find charming. On the record, five applications were filed and two remain confirmed in contention set 2026-139 (Identity Digital and .TOP Registry), with three other registries having filed and later deactivated backup applications; read neutrally, that breadth of registry interest suggests operators see a commercial market, and the two confirmed applicants are experienced operators, which raises the likelihood of competent distribution. By analogy (flagged as analogy), developer-word TLDs such as .dev, .app and .io have built genuine primary-identity use inside the developer category, while narrower tech-word strings such as .cloud and .tech have found steady but explanation-needed adoption with thin aftermarkets; .log sits closer to the narrower group because its meaning points at a sub-activity (logging) rather than at the whole category of software. Why not 50-69: for a serious logging or observability company, a .log address reads as cute rather than authoritative, and the word also evokes the .log file extension, so I expect most buyers to use it as a secondary, redirect or product-feature domain rather than the primary identity, and I do not see sustained aftermarket demand beyond a short list of dictionary hacks. Why not 10-29: the string has concrete end-use utility in a large, growing category (observability, AI-agent tracing, audit trails) plus a second consumer meaning (journals, trip and training logs), so demand is not purely event-driven or joke-driven, and registration at volume on price is plausible given an operator with broad registrar reach. Main market uncertainty: whether developer-tool and observability brands will adopt .log as a primary identity at any meaningful rate, or whether usage settles into hack names and redirects; that single behaviour decides whether this is a mid-40s or a mid-50s TLD. Launch and contention outcome are assumed resolved and not discounted.