.real
Is .real a real TLD? Who’s applying to run it?
.real is contested: 4 applications for it are on ICANN’s Reveal Day list, as of 7 October 2026. They are Identity Digital, Innovation Service, Intercap and Link Freedom Group. GoDaddy Registry named .real as a backup string for its .bbq application. ICANN deactivated it, because another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup. Automattic named .real as a backup string for its .make 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
Three of the four already run TLDs, 15.04M names between them. Two run one of .real's closest 2012 strings: Identity Digital .live and Identity Digital .cool. Link Freedom Group runs none.
Will names sell?
A catchy word ending for authenticity-minded brands and slang phrases, but a niche choice that needs explaining rather than a default.
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. .real’s closest 2012 strings hold .best 54K, .cool 23K and .live 672K.
The nearest 2012 strings, and how many names each holds today
The closest 2012 string, .best, held 54,475 names, June 2026. .cool held 23,197; .live held 671,869. Chosen by AI from every string in the 2012 round, without being told what happened to any of them.
Same bet as .real: a one-syllable open English adjective with no defined registrant class, sold not for what it categorizes but for the quality claim the registrant makes about itself, which only works if enough buyers will put their primary identity behind a bare assertion rather than a category.
Another unrestricted adjective-as-vibe string whose entire value is connotation and phrase-completion rather than any vertical, so like .real it must be sold to everyone, belongs to no one, and retains on brand affinity instead of professional necessity.
A short adjective asserting authenticity and immediacy (live versus recorded, as .real is genuine versus synthetic) marketed horizontally as a meaning-suffix, though it has a more concrete anchor use case than a pure quality word does.
Where they meet elsewhere
Identity Digital and Link Freedom Group face each other in 68 contests this round, .real included.
- Identity Digital × Link Freedom Group
- Identity Digital × GoDaddy Registry
- Identity Digital × Intercap
- Link Freedom Group × GoDaddy Registry
- Link Freedom Group × Intercap
lifestyle and personal brands wanting an authenticity signal, plus creators and products positioning against fakes and AI-generated content; secondary appeal to phrase-domain hobbyists (for.real, keep.it style plays).
What a .real domain is
.real 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 .real domain extension real yet?
.real 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 .real domain?
You can’t yet. A .real 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 .real was .best, delegated on 27 February 2014.
Is .real a real TLD?
Not yet. .real is not in the DNS root, so nothing resolves under it. It’s here because .real is on ICANN’s Reveal Day list of applied-for strings. Every entry on this page links to its source.
- 2 applicants · first recordedICANN
- 3 applicants · first recordedICANN
- Link Freedom Group · now confirmedICANN
- Link Freedom Group · first recordedLink Freedom Group
The source’s 6 linesHide the lines
IRI2679T-T65321 · Intercap Registry Inc. · primary · contention set 2026-198 ISL2626T-T59031 · Innovation Service Limited · primary · contention set 2026-198 KKWT2621T-T27867 · Knock Knock WHOIS There, LLC · replacement string of .make · Deactivated LFGL2683T-T93469 · Link Freedom Group Ltd · primary · contention set 2026-198 NA2631T-T48096 · Registry Services, LLC · replacement string of .bbq · Deactivated OD2692T-T71603 · Oyster Dream, LLC · primary · contention set 2026-198
The source’s 4 linesHide the lines
IRI2679T-T65321 · Intercap Registry Inc. · primary · contention set 2026-198 ISL2626T-T59031 · Innovation Service Limited · primary · contention set 2026-198 LFGL2683T-T93469 · Link Freedom Group Ltd · primary · contention set 2026-198 OD2692T-T71603 · Oyster Dream, LLC · primary · contention set 2026-198
“.real · Lifestyle · “The real thing, no imitations.””Link Freedom Group
- Band chosen: 30-49 (usable but limited). By analogy with adjective and vibe TLDs such as .cool, .best, and .life, single-adjective strings tend to register at volume on price promotions but rarely become a serious project's primary identity, and their aftermarkets stay thin; that analogy anchors .real in this band. It is not in the 50-69 band because there is no evident sustained category where .real is the expected address, and adoption would need explaining to almost any stakeholder. It is not in the 10-29 band because 'real' is a broad, positive English word with genuine phrase potential and a live cultural tailwind: as AI-generated content spreads, 'real' as an authenticity claim is a plausible branding hook for creators, media, and verification-adjacent products over the next 5 years. The applicant is Link Freedom Group, which filed more than 300 strings in the ICANN 2026 round and published its full list ahead of Reveal Day; a large-portfolio applicant suggests broad-distribution economics rather than a single-category push, which fits a volume/price posture more than a category-standard one. Main market uncertainty: whether the authenticity-vs-AI-fakes moment converts into actual domain demand (people proving realness via a web address) or stays a platform-level feature that never touches naming.