.mod

Is .mod a real TLD? Who’s applying to run it?

Culture
applicants
  • Starlight RegistryAnnounced
on the record since Aug 19, 2026 · updated Aug 19, 2026
AI score
36/ 100
Usable but limited

Catchy for game mods and modular products, but most modding lives on big platforms, so few projects would make it their main address.

assessed by claude-fable-5 · Aug 19, 2026
AI score 36 of 100. .com scores 96, .ai scores 84.
who it’s for

game modders, modding-tool and mod-hosting projects, plus makers of modular/customizable products and community moderation services looking for a short thematic address

CulturetechBrandCommerce
applicants
1 on file
Starlight RegistryAnnounced
Aug 19, 2026

One of 40 strings Starlight Registry (established by registrar Namecheap) applied for in the ICANN 2026 round, reported by Domain Name Wire on 2026-08-19.

closest 2012 bets
3 of 1,408

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.

.diystrong parallel
delegated 2016 · live

Same bet: a short hobbyist-practice abbreviation a maker subculture already uses about itself, sold to enthusiasts and their communities rather than to businesses, so it only works if the culture's self-identifier is worth a primary address.

2 applicants contested it · scored 40* in 2012 · run by Lifestyle Domain Holdings, Inc.

.appmoderate
delegated 2015 · live

Same bet at a different scale: a short generic noun naming the software artifact its registrants produce, where the buyer is the individual maker publishing a build, not a company claiming a category.

13 applicants contested it · scored 85* in 2012 · run by Charleston Road Registry Inc.

.hiphopmoderate
delegated 2014 · live

Same bet of buying a scene's own vernacular word as an ownerless identity namespace, riding entirely on whether members of the culture will re-home their primary identity onto the culture's name.

uncontested · scored 30* in 2012 · run by Uniregistry, Corp.

* A separate 2012-only read, time-locked to what was public that year. Different scale from this page’s score — the two are not comparable.

history
  1. Starlight Registry · first recordedAug 19, 2026
    Domain Name Wire
news & sources
NewsNamecheap's Starlight Registry applies for 40 TLDs
Aug 19, 2026
For us, moving into the registry side is a natural extension of what we have been building.
Domain Name Wire
Considering a name on .mod?Appraise a name on this TLD →

This record is corrected in the open. See the changelog and methodology.