.pal
Is .pal a real TLD? Who’s applying to run it?
.pal is contested: 4 applications for it are on ICANN’s Reveal Day list, as of 8 October 2026. They are XYZ Registry, Intercap, Suffix and Link Freedom Group. Intercap named .pal as a backup string for its .ask 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
Two of the four already run TLDs, 11.97M names between them. Link Freedom Group and Suffix run none.
Will names sell?
A friendly word that suits apps, pets, and AI companions, but few serious projects would make .pal their main address in the next 5 years.
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. .pal’s closest 2012 strings hold .love 69K, .fan 10K and .smile 2.
The nearest 2012 strings, and how many names each holds today
The closest 2012 string, .love, held 68,867 names, June 2026. .fan held 9,611; .smile held 2. Chosen by AI from every string in the 2012 round, without being told what happened to any of them.
Same bet: a short, warm, unowned English relationship word with no industry vertical underneath it, sold at retail to individuals and small brands who want the emotional connotation to be the entire value proposition.
Same bet on a one-syllable affinity noun naming a role a person plays toward someone else, monetized by getting individuals and communities to wear it as identity rather than by any commercial category demand.
Same bet on a friendly everyday word chosen for tone rather than category, so it has to win on likeability and suffix-play ('x.smile' / 'x.pal') because no defined buyer segment is obligated to register it.
Where they meet elsewhere
XYZ Registry and Link Freedom Group face each other in 49 contests this round, .pal included.
- Link Freedom Group × XYZ Registry
- Link Freedom Group × Intercap
- XYZ Registry × Intercap
- Link Freedom Group × Suffix
- Intercap × Suffix
consumer app builders and AI-companion startups wanting a warm name-suffix hack (something.pal), plus pet brands, fan communities, and hobbyists buying on charm rather than authority.
What a .pal domain is
.pal is not a TLD yet. It is a string on our record of the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round, in our Culture category. 4 applications for it are on ICANN’s Reveal Day list.
Is the .pal domain extension real yet?
.pal 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 .pal domain?
You can’t yet. A .pal 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 .pal was .love, delegated on 2 April 2015.
Is .pal a real TLD?
Not yet. .pal is not in the DNS root, so nothing resolves under it. It’s here because .pal is on ICANN’s Reveal Day list of applied-for strings. Every entry on this page links to its source.
- Intercap · first recordedICANN
- 2 applicants · first recordedICANN
- 2 applicants · now confirmedICANN
- Suffix · now announced
- Suffix · first recordedSuffix Inc.
- Link Freedom Group · first recordedLink Freedom Group
The source’s 4 linesHide the lines
IRI2679T-T18569 · Intercap Registry Inc. · primary · contention set 2026-177 LFGL2683T-T72603 · Link Freedom Group Ltd · primary · contention set 2026-177 SI2639T-T92852 · Suffix Inc. · primary · contention set 2026-177 XL2625T-T58910 · XYZ.COM LLC · primary · contention set 2026-177
The source’s 5 linesHide the lines
IRI2679T-T18569 · Intercap Registry Inc. · primary · contention set 2026-177 IRI2679T-T73736 · Intercap Registry Inc. · replacement string of .ask · Deactivated LFGL2683T-T72603 · Link Freedom Group Ltd · primary · contention set 2026-177 SI2639T-T92852 · Suffix Inc. · primary · contention set 2026-177 XL2625T-T58910 · XYZ.COM LLC · primary · contention set 2026-177
“Catalog lists: .asap .create .future .lfg .mvp .out .pal .planet .research .share .tag .this .visit”Suffix Inc.
“.pal · Culture · “For every companion, old or new.””Link Freedom Group
- Band chosen: usable but limited (30-49). The string is a common, warm English word, and the '-pal' suffix pattern is familiar in consumer app naming, so name.pal domain hacks (study.pal, chat.pal) give it a real if modest registration base; the current wave of AI-companion products is the one demand pocket where the word maps directly to the product category, which fits the applicant's own 'companion' framing. It is not in the band above (strong niche, 50-69) because no category treats .pal as a default identity: an AI-companion startup still has to explain the choice, the word carries no authority signal, and by analogy with other friendly dictionary-word TLDs such as .fun and .lol (analogy, exact outcomes unknown), such strings have tended toward price-driven, novelty registrations rather than sustained primary-identity use with a functioning aftermarket. It is not in the band below (vanity/joke, 10-29) because 'pal' is a genuine naming component with plausible everyday use across apps, pets, and community projects, not merely event-driven or joke demand. Applicant facts, stated neutrally: Link Freedom Group filed more than 300 strings in the ICANN 2026 round and published its list ahead of Reveal Day; a very large portfolio suggests standardized rather than string-specific go-to-market, which tempers adoption expectations but does not change the string's intrinsic merit. Main market uncertainty: whether AI-companion naming conventions converge on 'pal' (which would concentrate real primary-identity demand) or scatter across other affection words, leaving .pal as loose novelty inventory. Pricing, registration volumes, and comparable TLD figures: unknown.