TLD Radar

.pod

Is .pod a real TLD? Who’s applying to run it?

.pod is contested: 8 applications for it are on ICANN’s Reveal Day list, as of 7 October 2026. They are XYZ Registry, Squarespace, Identity Digital, GoDaddy Registry, Automattic, Intercap, Radix and Link Freedom Group. ShortDot named .pod as a backup string for its .fix application. ICANN deactivated it, because another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup.

Generic applications · Culture · on the record since Aug 15, 2026, updated Oct 7, 2026
applicants
8 applications · 1 deactivated backup

Who is applying, and what they run today

Six of the eight already run TLDs, 44.80M names between them. Three run one of .pod's closest 2012 strings: Identity Digital .show, XYZ Registry .audio and Automattic .blog. Link Freedom Group and Squarespace run none.

  • Paws Button, LLC

    Identity Digital

    controlled by Ethos Capital Digital Infrastructure UGP LLC

    277 TLDs · 14.80M names: .info 5.63M, .pro 1.25M, .live 672K, .show 19K (2012 comp)

    backup .playlist

  • XYZ.COM LLC

    XYZ Registry

    controlled by Daniel Negari, Michael Ambrose

    35 TLDs · 11.96M names: .xyz 9.15M, .lol 1.13M, .autos 290K, .audio 6K (2012 comp)

    backup .guard

  • Radix Technologies Inc SEZC

    Radix

    controlled by Bhavin Turakhia

    10 TLDs · 10.43M names: .online 3.96M, .store 2.34M, .site 2.10M

    backup .retro, disallowed

  • Registry Services, LLC

    GoDaddy Registry

    controlled by GoDaddy Inc.

    36 TLDs · 7.22M names: .vip 1.96M, .us 1.88M, .biz 1.30M

    backup .verse, disallowed

  • Knock Knock WHOIS There, LLC

    Automattic

    controlled by Automattic Inc.

    1 TLDs · 390K names: .blog 390K (2012 comp)

    backup .podcast, disallowed

  • Intercap Registry Inc.

    Intercap

    controlled by Jason Adam Chapnik

    4 TLDs · 11K names: .inc 8K, .box 3K, .dealer 222

    backup .board, disallowed

  • Link Freedom Group Ltd

    Link Freedom Group

    controlled by Vandelay Investments Ltd, Yonatan Belousov

    runs no TLD today

    backup .hard

  • Squarespace Registry LLC

    Squarespace

    runs no TLD today

    backup .story, disallowed

runs TLDs today; the larger, the more namesruns none.tld in orange: one of this string’s closest 2012 stringsbackup .x usable · backup .x ✕ disallowed

Applications are counted by company, across its legal entities, from ICANN’s list. Names are from the registries’ June 2026 reports to ICANN. “None on record” means no public source in our record ties the company to a registry operator that runs TLDs today. Control: each application’s own answer to ICANN (question 108). Largest TLDs and names: the registries’ monthly reports to ICANN.

backups
  • ShortDotDeactivated backupshortdot.bond ↗

    One of the 80 strings ShortDot published for the ICANN 2026 round. ShortDot states it has submitted 40 applications, but publishes the 80 strings without revealing which 40 are applications and which 40 are designated replacements. The submission claim is therefore applicant-level, not string-level: nothing in the source says ShortDot applied for THIS string. Catalogued, not announced.

    listed in a catalog Sep 8, 2026 · announced Sep 9, 2026 · abandoned Oct 7, 2026 · named as a backup for .fix, deactivated by ICANN Oct 7, 2026

    Deactivated backup for .fixGenericICANN NA2626T-T48225ShortDot (Ireland) Limited ↗

Will names sell?

◈AI score
46/ 100
Usable but limited

A catchy short word for podcasts and cloud-tech projects, but most buyers will still default to .com or their platform's page.

assessed by claude-fable-5 · Aug 15, 2026

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. .pod’s closest 2012 strings hold .blog 390K, .audio 6K and .show 19K.

AI score 46 of 100. .com scores 96, .ai scores 84.

For comparison, .com scores 96 and .ai scores 84 on the same rubric.

How the AI’s blind 2012 read held up: its score of each 2012 string against the names it holds today808 2012-round TLDs. Scored 60 or more: median 27168 names. Scored under 30: median 30 names. .pod's closest 2012 strings: .blog scored 70, 389860 names; .audio scored 40, 5974 names; .show scored 42, 18933 names.101001K10K100K1M020406080100scored 60+: median 27Kunder 30: median 30.blog · 70 · 390K.audio · 40 · 6K.show · 42 · 19Kthe AI’s blind 2012 score of each string (its own scale) →names held today (log) →

a 2012-round TLD.pod’s closest 2012 strings: score · names

The 2012 read is a separate, time-locked score on its own scale, so .pod’s score above is not placed on it. Names: the registries’ reports to ICANN, 2026-10. Non-brand 2012 TLDs in the root.

closest 2012 strings
3 of 1,408

The nearest 2012 strings, and how many names each holds today

The closest 2012 string, .blog, held 389,860 names, June 2026. .audio held 5,974; .show held 18,933. Chosen by AI from every string in the 2012 round, without being told what happened to any of them.

  1. .blogstrong parallel389,860 names, June 2026live since 2016 · 9 applications in 2012 · scored 70* in 2012 · PRIMER NIVEL S.A.See .blog in Stats

    Same bet: a short, clipped, community-coined word for a self-publishing format where independent creators — not companies — put their primary identity on the medium itself, and it only works if "being a [format]" is a durable identity rather than a passing distribution habit.

  2. .audiomoderate5,974 names, June 2026live since 2014 · 2 applications in 2012 · scored 40* in 2012 · Uniregistry, Corp.See .audio in Stats

    The medium-category noun underneath the same space, but it sells to audio businesses and pro-gear/service sellers rather than to individual show-makers claiming a creator identity.

  3. .showmoderate18,933 names, June 2026live since 2015 · 4 applications in 2012 · scored 42* in 2012 · Snow Beach, LLCSee .show in Stats

    Same unit-of-programming bet — the serialized thing a creator makes and asks an audience to subscribe to — but it is a broad open-category noun spanning TV, theater and events instead of one format's insider shorthand.

Names are from the registries’ monthly reports to ICANN. Each name opens the TLD’s stats page: how it grew, who sells it, and the 2026 strings compared with it. * A separate 2012-only read, time-locked to what was public that year, on a different scale from this page’s score.

Where they meet elsewhere

Identity Digital and XYZ Registry face each other in 77 contests this round, .pod included.

  • Identity Digital × XYZ Registry
    77
  • Identity Digital × Link Freedom Group
    68
  • Identity Digital × GoDaddy Registry
    51
  • Link Freedom Group × XYZ Registry
    49
  • Identity Digital × Radix
    36

Shared contests: strings where both companies hold an application on ICANN’s list. Companies that meet another here in fewer than three are left out.

who it’s for

podcasters and podcast-tooling startups wanting a name that says what they are, plus cloud-native and container-tech projects playing on the Kubernetes 'pod' term.

What a .pod domain is

.pod is not a TLD yet. It is a string on our record of the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round, in our Culture category. 8 applications for it are on ICANN’s Reveal Day list.

Is the .pod domain extension real yet?

.pod 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 .pod domain?

You can’t yet. A .pod 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 .pod was .blog, delegated on 18 May 2016.

Is .pod a real TLD?

Not yet. .pod is not in the DNS root, so nothing resolves under it. It’s here because .pod is on ICANN’s Reveal Day list of applied-for strings. Every entry on this page links to its source.

Considering a name on .pod?Appraise a name on this TLD →

This record is corrected in the open. See the changelog and methodology.