.orb
Is .orb a real TLD? Who’s applying to run it?
.orb is not contested. One application for it is on ICANN’s Reveal Day list, as of 7 October 2026. It is Link Freedom Group.
Who is applying, and what they run today
Link Freedom Group filed 158 applications across the round.
Will names sell?
A short, dreamy word without a clear job; fun for quirky brands and hobby projects, but few serious ventures would build their name on it.
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. .orb’s closest 2012 strings hold .zero 2, .circle 2 and .box 3K.
The nearest 2012 strings, and how many names each holds today
The closest 2012 string, .zero, held 2 names, June 2026. .circle held 2; .box held 2,752. Chosen by AI from every string in the 2012 round, without being told what happened to any of them.
Same bet as .orb: a short, meaning-light English word with no industry, no community and no profession behind it, where the registry has to manufacture demand by selling evocation and brevity to whoever wants a distinctive brand string.
A shape/form noun that nobody's sector owns — like .orb it attracts registrants for its geometric-abstract feel rather than because a class of buyers already calls itself that, so success depends on brandable pull, not category fit.
A plain concrete-object noun repurposed as a metaphor-brandable, the same job .orb has to do: it has no natural registrant population and only works if the object image reads as tech-shorthand to startups and product teams.
indie creators, quirky lifestyle and wellness brands, game studios and art projects that want a round, mystical-sounding name; secondarily a handful of tech or crypto projects drawn to sphere or eye imagery
What a .orb domain is
.orb is not a TLD yet. It is a string on our record of the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round, in our Culture category. One application for it is on ICANN’s Reveal Day list.
Is the .orb domain extension real yet?
.orb 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 .orb domain?
You can’t yet. A .orb 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 .orb was .zero, delegated on 5 December 2015.
Is .orb a real TLD?
Not yet. .orb is not in the DNS root, so nothing resolves under it. It’s here because .orb is on ICANN’s Reveal Day list of applied-for strings. Every entry on this page links to its source.
- Link Freedom Group · now confirmedICANN
- Link Freedom Group · first recordedLink Freedom Group
“LFGL2683T-T70341 · Link Freedom Group Ltd · primary”ICANN
“.orb · Lifestyle · “Always rolling, never still.””Link Freedom Group
- Band chosen: 10-29 (vanity/narrow). The string is a real, short, evocative English word, which keeps it out of the 1-9 no-market band: it is pronounceable, spellable, and plausible as a suffix in playful brand names (name.orb constructions). But it does not reach the 30-49 usable-but-limited band because there is no identifiable buyer group that needs it: 'orb' names no product category, profession, place, or activity, so demand over the next 5 years is likely to be sporadic novelty registrations rather than volume or price-driven adoption. The applicant's own catalog entry frames it as 'Lifestyle' with the tagline 'Always rolling, never still.', which signals a mood rather than a market; that positioning is consistent with a curiosity string inside a very large portfolio (LFG filed more than 300 strings in the 2026 round, the largest applicant, per its published list). By analogy (flagged as analogy), abstract-noun and whimsical TLDs such as .ink, .lol, and .wtf have historically found memorable-at-best niches: some genuine creative-brand use, thin aftermarkets, and little primary-identity adoption by funded projects; .orb is likely weaker than .ink because 'ink' at least names a craft community while 'orb' names nothing actionable. The main market uncertainty is whether the current tech/crypto fashion for sphere- and eye-themed branding (an analogy from general naming trends, not a verified fact) converts into real brandable demand, which could pull a subset of registrations toward serious tech identities and lift the score toward the top of the band or just above it.