.out
Is .out a real TLD? Who’s applying to run it?
.out is not contested. One application for it is on ICANN’s Reveal Day list, as of 7 October 2026. It is Suffix. GoDaddy Registry named .out as a backup string for its .air application. ICANN deactivated it, because another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup. Link Freedom Group named .out as a backup string for its .dao application. ICANN deactivated it, because another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup.
Who is applying, and what they run today
One of the 3 is tied to a registry that runs TLDs today. Link Freedom Group, GoDaddy Registry and Suffix filed 259 applications between them across the round.
Will names sell?
A clever ending for names like work.out or sold.out, but rarely a serious main web address; mostly campaign and vanity purchases.
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. .out’s closest 2012 strings hold .off 2, .now 27K and .here 4.
The nearest 2012 strings, and how many names each holds today
The closest 2012 string, .off, held 2 names, November 2021. .now held 27,481; .here held 4. Chosen by AI from every string in the 2012 round, without being told what happened to any of them.
Same bet exactly: a short English directional particle with no category or audience of its own, monetized as the back half of verb phrases and domain hacks sold to anyone, so its value rests entirely on registrants supplying the meaning the string lacks.
Another one-syllable English function word bought as a phrase-completion suffix rather than a topic, betting that generic grammar plus a call-to-action reading will pull volume across unrelated industries.
Same class of adverbial particle playing on a stock English phrase, but it skews toward a single location/presence reading, which narrows the open-ended construct-anything bet that .out and .off make.
Where they meet elsewhere
Link Freedom Group and GoDaddy Registry face each other in 32 contests this round, .out included.
- Link Freedom Group × GoDaddy Registry
- Link Freedom Group × Suffix
- GoDaddy Registry × Suffix
marketers, fitness and nightlife brands, and campaign builders who want a playful domain hack (work.out, night.out, check.out) rather than a long-term primary identity; secondarily domain investors speculating on the handful of premium left-of-dot phrases
What a .out domain is
.out is not a TLD yet. It is a string on our record of the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round, in our Commerce category. One application for it is on ICANN’s Reveal Day list.
Is the .out domain extension real yet?
.out 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 .out domain?
You can’t yet. A .out 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 .out was .off, delegated on 21 July 2016.
Is .out a real TLD?
Not yet. .out is not in the DNS root, so nothing resolves under it. It’s here because .out is on ICANN’s Reveal Day list of applied-for strings. Every entry on this page links to its source.
- GoDaddy Registry · first recordedICANN
- Link Freedom Group · now deactivated backupICANN
- Link Freedom Group · now abandonedICANN
- Suffix · now confirmedICANN
- Suffix · now announced
- Suffix · first recordedSuffix Inc.
- Link Freedom Group · first recordedLink Freedom Group
“LFGL2683T-T17924 · Link Freedom Group Ltd · replacement string of .dao · Deactivated NA2631T-T14658 · Registry Services, LLC · replacement string of .air · Deactivated SI2639T-T58285 · Suffix Inc. · primary”ICANN
“Catalog lists: .asap .create .future .lfg .mvp .out .pal .planet .research .share .tag .this .visit”Suffix Inc.
“.out · Commerce · “Into the open.””Link Freedom Group
- Band chosen: usable but limited (30-49). The string's core appeal is the domain hack: English phrases ending in 'out' are plentiful (work.out, check.out, hang.out, sold.out, shout.out, night.out), which gives it more genuine registrable surface than a pure vanity string, and the applicant positions it as commerce ('Into the open.'), which plausibly fits checkout- and outreach-flavored uses. But hack-driven demand is historically shallow: by analogy, preposition- and particle-like strings and hack-friendly ccTLDs tend to see campaign, redirect, and novelty use rather than primary-identity adoption, and serious projects generally must explain (or apologize for) such an address, which caps brand signal. It is not in the band above (50-69) because there is no visible sustained community or vertical for which .out is a natural home; demand is a scatter of clever phrases, not a niche with repeat buyers, and the aftermarket beyond a few premium phrases is likely thin (analogy-based inference). It is not in the band below (10-29) because the hack inventory is broad and commercially usable enough that real registrations at volume or on price are plausible, unlike a joke string with one punchline. The word also carries ambivalent connotations (outage, opt-out, logged out, coming out) that cut both ways for brands. Main market uncertainty: whether the best two-word hacks convert into sustained, renewing use and resale, or remain one-off campaign buys that churn after the promotion ends. Applicant facts: the string is one of more than 300 filed by Link Freedom Group in the ICANN 2026 round, tagged Commerce with the tagline 'Into the open.'; a large-portfolio applicant suggests standardized rather than string-specific go-to-market, which tempers expectations for dedicated demand development (neutral observation, adoption-likelihood only).