.panda
Is .panda a real TLD? Who’s applying to run it?
.panda is not contested. One application for it is on ICANN’s Reveal Day list, as of 7 October 2026. It is Oinkadot.
Who is applying, and what they run today
None of the two runs a TLD today.
Will names sell?
A cute collectible web address for panda-themed brands, mascots, and fan projects, not a name serious companies build on.
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. .panda’s closest 2012 strings hold .duck 2 and .monster 41K.
The nearest 2012 strings, and how many names each holds today
The closest 2012 string, .duck, held 2 names, November 2021. .monster held 41,040. Chosen by AI from every string in the 2012 round, without being told what happened to any of them.
- .unicorn
Same bet: a charismatic creature noun with no underlying industry or registrant vertical behind it, so the case rests entirely on the word being memorable and brandable enough for startups and mascot-driven brands to put their primary identity on a pure vibe word.
Same bet: a short, warm, universally recognized animal noun that no profession or business category is named after, whose value comes from mascot and brand connotation rather than from anyone who self-describes with the word.
Same evocative-creature-as-brandable-namespace bet, but it carries a dominant single-company association that pulls it partway toward a corporate string rather than a clean open mascot word.
mascot-driven consumer brands, panda-themed fan and conservation projects, meme and community sites, and hobbyists who want a playful memorable address
What a .panda domain is
.panda 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 .panda domain extension real yet?
.panda 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 .panda domain?
You can’t yet. A .panda name can only be registered once the string is delegated (added to the DNS root) and its registry opens.
Is .panda a real TLD?
Not yet. .panda is not in the DNS root, so nothing resolves under it. It’s here because .panda is on ICANN’s Reveal Day list of applied-for strings. Every entry on this page links to its source.
- Journey To The West · now abandonedICANN
- Oinkadot · now confirmedICANN
- Journey To The West · first recordedJourney To The West Corporation
- Oinkadot · first recordedDomain Name Wire (Andrew Allemann)
“.panda · Flagship · “China's most beloved icon, adored the world over.””Journey To The West Corporation
“A new partnership has applied for 25 top level domain names in this year's ICANN TLD expansion round.”Domain Name Wire (Andrew Allemann)
- Band 10-29 (vanity/narrow). It sits above 1-9 because a real, if shallow, market exists: pandas carry unusually broad positive affinity, several well-known consumer brands use panda mascots, and by analogy with other single-animal TLDs a registrar-promoted cute-animal string can sustain a modest hobbyist and gift-registration base. It stays below 30-49 because, again by analogy with existing animal-word TLDs, registration volumes for such strings have tended to be small and renewal-driven demand thin; an animal noun is not a semantic category any industry needs, so almost no serious project would choose it as primary identity over a .com or a category TLD, and the aftermarket for second-level names under it would likely be near zero outside a handful of dictionary words. The applicant context is a partnership between two consumer-registrar CEOs (Oinkadot, per the verified facts), which plausibly improves retail distribution and storefront placement relative to a typical portfolio applicant, and that channel advantage is why the score sits at the top of the vanity band rather than the middle. Registration counts for comparable animal TLDs are unknown; pricing strategy is unknown; both are reasoned from analogy. Main market uncertainty: whether cute-animal affinity converts into renewing registrations at all, or only into one-off novelty buys that churn.