.project
Is .project a real TLD? Who’s applying to run it?
.project is contested: 5 applications for it are on ICANN’s Reveal Day list, as of 7 October 2026. They are XYZ Registry, Identity Digital, Intercap, Radix and Link Freedom Group. CamConnecting named .project as a backup string for its .aio 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
Four of the five already run TLDs, 37.20M names between them. Three run one of .project's closest 2012 strings: Identity Digital .team, Identity Digital .ventures and Identity Digital .works. Link Freedom Group runs none.
Will names sell?
A clear everyday word that suits side projects and portfolios, but few serious ventures would make it their main web address.
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. .project’s closest 2012 strings hold .team 67K, .ventures 25K and .works 39K.
The nearest 2012 strings, and how many names each holds today
The closest 2012 string, .team, held 67,162 names, June 2026. .ventures held 24,546; .works held 38,635. Chosen by AI from every string in the 2012 round, without being told what happened to any of them.
Same bet: an unrestricted, industry-agnostic abstract noun for a unit of collective effort, where the registry sells nothing but the frame and the second level carries all the meaning, to any group anywhere willing to hang its primary identity on a common word.
Literally the same kind of word — a generic noun meaning 'an undertaking' sold to whoever is undertaking one — though its finance/startup connotation narrows the buyer pool relative to the target's open, anyone-with-an-initiative appeal.
Another portfolio-style generic work noun betting that teams and makers will brand an output or effort rather than a company entity, but it leans on shop/craft phrasing and reads as a suffix trick more than a standalone category.
Where they meet elsewhere
Identity Digital and XYZ Registry face each other in 77 contests this round, .project included.
- Identity Digital × XYZ Registry
- Identity Digital × Link Freedom Group
- Link Freedom Group × XYZ Registry
- Identity Digital × Radix
- Identity Digital × Intercap
developers, freelancers, studios, and agencies naming side projects, portfolios, and product showcases; project-management and collaboration tool makers as a secondary or campaign address rather than a primary identity.
What a .project domain is
.project is not a TLD yet. It is a string on our record of the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round, in our AI & tech category. 5 applications for it are on ICANN’s Reveal Day list.
Is the .project domain extension real yet?
.project 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 .project domain?
You can’t yet. A .project 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 .project was .team, delegated on 16 April 2015.
Is .project a real TLD?
Not yet. .project is not in the DNS root, so nothing resolves under it. It’s here because .project is on ICANN’s Reveal Day list of applied-for strings. Every entry on this page links to its source.
- CamConnecting · first recordedICANN
- 3 applicants · first recordedICANN
- 2 applicants · now confirmedICANN
- Radix · first recordedRadix
- Link Freedom Group · first recordedLink Freedom Group
The source’s 5 linesHide the lines
IRI2679T-T57402 · Intercap Registry Inc. · primary · contention set 2026-196 LFGL2683T-T61793 · Link Freedom Group Ltd · primary · contention set 2026-196 OD2692T-T55765 · Oyster Dream, LLC · primary · contention set 2026-196 RTIS2674T-T84929 · Radix Technologies Inc SEZC · primary · contention set 2026-196 XL2625T-T48100 · XYZ.COM LLC · primary · contention set 2026-196
The source’s 6 linesHide the lines
CCS2640T-T19940 · Cam Connecting SARL · replacement string of .aio · Deactivated IRI2679T-T57402 · Intercap Registry Inc. · primary · contention set 2026-196 LFGL2683T-T61793 · Link Freedom Group Ltd · primary · contention set 2026-196 OD2692T-T55765 · Oyster Dream, LLC · primary · contention set 2026-196 RTIS2674T-T84929 · Radix Technologies Inc SEZC · primary · contention set 2026-196 XL2625T-T48100 · XYZ.COM LLC · primary · contention set 2026-196
“Radix has applied for these TLDs; we do not own or operate them today.”Radix
“.project · AI & Tech · “Every project, every step.””Link Freedom Group
- Band chosen: 30-49, usable but limited. The word is universally understood and maps naturally to a huge activity (people building and showing projects), so hobbyist and portfolio registrations at volume are plausible, which keeps it above the 10-29 vanity band. It stays below the 50-69 strong-niche band because 'project' functions as a descriptor rather than an identity: a name.project address reads like a label for something provisional or secondary, and serious companies in the adjacent space (dev tools, project management) have tended, by analogy with how such firms treated descriptor TLDs like .work, .website, and .build, to keep their primary identity on established namespaces and use descriptor strings for microsites at best. The applicant's own catalog places it in AI & Tech with the tagline 'Every project, every step.', consistent with a dev/maker positioning, but the string itself carries no AI signal. Aftermarket value is likely thin: the left-of-dot does the branding work and the TLD adds little credibility, again reasoning by analogy from generic descriptor TLDs whose resale markets stayed shallow. My main market uncertainty: whether the maker/portfolio culture treats 'my X.project' as a proud showcase convention (which could push it toward strong-niche) or as a signal of something unfinished, which would cap it at price-driven volume registrations.