.note
Is .note a real TLD? Who’s applying to run it?
.note is contested: 2 applications for it are on ICANN’s Reveal Day list, as of 7 October 2026. They are Xiaohongshu (RedNote) and Identity Digital. Automattic named .note as a backup string for its .human application. ICANN deactivated it, because another applicant applied for the same string. Intercap named .note as a backup string for its .list application. ICANN deactivated it, because another applicant applied for the same string.
A short, meaningful word that fits note-taking, writing and publishing tools well, but buyers will still need to explain why not .com.
note-taking, writing, memo and knowledge-tool makers, plus indie publishers and creators who want a short second-level name that reads as a product ("my.note", "daily.note")
Named on the ICANN gTLD application list, 7 October 2026 as a replacement (backup) string of the applicant's .list 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 .human 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 almost exactly: a short, plain English word for the act/artifact of capturing a quick piece of writing, where the string only works if a writing-capture product (or its users) is willing to make that everyday word its primary identity rather than a brand.
Also a generic noun for a written artifact that document-and-notes software would stake its identity on, but it skews to formal, enterprise-sized files and institutional publishers rather than the personal, lightweight capture that .note implies.
The same wager that a universally understood content-format noun can carry identity for both the platforms that host the format and the individuals producing it, differing mainly in that blogging was already a mass public-publishing habit while note-keeping is private.
What a .note domain is
.note 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 .note domain extension real yet?
.note 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 .note domain?
You can’t yet. ICANN publishes every applied-for string on Reveal Day, 7 October 2026 at 18:00 UTC. A .note name can only be registered after that, once the string is delegated and its registry opens. Last round's closest parallel to .note was .jot, delegated on 5 December 2015.
Is .note a real TLD?
Not yet. .note is not in the DNS root, so nothing resolves under it. It’s here because .note is on ICANN’s Reveal Day list of applied-for strings. Every entry on this page links to its source.
“IRI2679T-T65063 · Intercap Registry Inc. · replacement string of .list · Deactivated KKWT2621T-T12029 · Knock Knock WHOIS There, LLC · replacement string of .human · Deactivated OD2692T-T24089 · Oyster Dream, LLC · primary · contention set 2026-167 XITS2684T-T48217 · Xingyin Information Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. · primary · contention set 2026-167”ICANN
“OD2692T-T24089 · Oyster Dream, LLC · primary · contention set 2026-167 XITS2684T-T48217 · Xingyin Information Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. · primary · contention set 2026-167”ICANN
- Band chosen: strong niche (50-69), at its floor. .note is a common, globally understood English word with a clear semantic lane: note-taking apps, writing and publishing, memos, personal knowledge tools, and music/finance side-meanings that widen the pool slightly. By analogy (flagged as analogy) with earlier generic-word strings in the publishing lane such as .blog, .page and .wiki, which found genuine primary-identity use among writers and small tools but did not become a default anywhere, .note should attract real, sustained demand from a definable buyer group rather than purely price-driven volume, which is why it sits above the 30-49 band. It is not in the 70-89 band because no major category is likely to adopt .note as its primary-identity default within 5 years; most serious note or writing products will still anchor on .com or .app and treat a .note name as a redirect or product sub-brand, and the aftermarket is likely to be thin outside a handful of one-word and verb-like names. The verified record shows two confirmed standard applicants in one contention set, Identity Digital and Xiaohongshu (RedNote), plus two deactivated applications (Intercap, Automattic) whose primary strings were .list and .human; the number of applicants, including a portfolio registry and a consumer platform whose English name contains the word, suggests the string was judged commercially meaningful by more than one party, but the record gives no registration, pricing or demand figures, so all of that is unknown. Main market uncertainty: how the eventual operator positions the string. If it is run as a broadly marketed open generic with ordinary retail pricing, adoption by small tools and writers is plausible and the score holds or rises; if it is positioned mainly as a namespace tied to one platform's ecosystem, outside demand could stay shallow and the string would read closer to the usable-but-limited band.