.research
Is .research a real TLD? Who’s applying to run it?
.research is contested: 3 applicants have said publicly that they applied to run it, as of 27 August 2026. They are Radix, Suffix Inc. and Link Freedom Group.
A clear, serious word that fits labs and AI teams, but most research groups already brand under .org, .edu, or .ai, so demand stays niche.
independent labs, AI research teams, think tanks, market-research and UX-research consultancies, and universities or companies wanting a dedicated home for their research arm alongside their main domain.
In LFG's published list of 300+ strings submitted before the ICANN window closed on 2026-08-12. Their catalog tagline: “Discover, learn, decide.”
Listed in Suffix Inc.'s public catalog at suffix.domains. No first-party application statement is on the record yet; every string in the catalog overlaps Link Freedom Group's published list.
One of 46 ICANN 2026-round applications Radix announced on its own applications page. Radix states it intends to build and operate each TLD it wins.
The 2012 applications making the most similar bet. Chosen by AI from every string in that round, without being told what happened to any of them.
Same bet: a generic professional-activity noun that firms already carry inside their legal name ("X Consulting" / "X Research"), so the buyer is an established services firm moving an existing identity to the right of the dot, not a new category being invented.
Same bet: a broad abstract field-of-inquiry noun aimed at institutions, labs and publishers, whose value rests on the string reading as a credential of seriousness rather than on any one company owning it.
Same knowledge-work bet — an activity noun bought by firms whose entire product is producing findings — but it skews to a commercial software/services niche, where .research spans academic, institutional and commercial identity.
What a .research domain is
.research is not a TLD yet. It is a string on our record of the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round, filed under AI & tech. 3 applicants have said publicly that they applied for .research.
Is the .research domain extension real yet?
.research 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 .research domain?
You can’t yet. ICANN publishes every applied-for string on Reveal Day, 7 October 2026 at 18:00 UTC. A .research name can only be registered after that, once the string is delegated and its registry opens. Last round's closest parallel to .research was .consulting, delegated on .
Is .research a real TLD?
Not yet. .research is not in the DNS root, so nothing resolves under it. It’s here because an applicant said publicly that it applied for .research in the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round. Every claim on this page links to its source.
- Radix · first recordedRadix
- Suffix Inc. · now announced
- Suffix Inc. · first recordedSuffix Inc.
- Link Freedom Group · first recordedLink Freedom Group
“Radix has applied for these TLDs; we do not own or operate them today.”Radix
“Catalog lists: .asap .create .future .lfg .mvp .out .pal .planet .research .share .tag .this .visit”Suffix Inc.
“.research · AI & Tech · “Discover, learn, decide.””Link Freedom Group
“LFG voluntarily published its full list of submissions ahead of ICANN’s official Reveal Day.”PR Newswire (Link Freedom Group)
“Top level domain registry Link Freedom Group (LFG) has disclosed more than 300 strings submitted as part of the ICANN new top level domain name program.”Domain Name Wire (Andrew Allemann)
- Band chosen: usable but limited (30-49), at the upper edge. The string is a real, high-trust dictionary word with genuine semantic fit for a visible buyer group: AI labs, think tanks, academic groups, and corporate research arms. By analogy (flagged as such), semantically adjacent academic TLDs such as .science, .study, .institute, and .education have historically leaned on low pricing and volume rather than primary-identity adoption, with thin aftermarkets and weak brand signal; there is little sign serious projects treat any of them as a default identity. The incumbent namespaces for this audience are entrenched: universities sit on .edu, nonprofits and labs on .org, and AI-adjacent teams increasingly on .ai, leaving .research as a secondary or campaign namespace in most realistic uses over the next 5 years. It is not in the band below (10-29) because the word is not a joke or event string; it carries real credibility, and 'brand.research' redirect or research-arm use is a plausible sustained trickle of paid demand. It is not in the band above (50-69) because there is no visible pattern of research organizations wanting a new TLD as their primary identity, and every adoption would need explaining against .org/.edu/.ai defaults; the length (eight letters) also weakens it against shorter identity strings. The applicant context is neutral: LFG filed more than 300 strings in the ICANN 2026 round and lists this one under 'AI & Tech' with the tagline 'Discover, learn, decide.'; a large-portfolio applicant suggests standardized rather than category-specialist go-to-market, which I weigh mildly against deep vertical adoption but not against availability. Main market uncertainty: whether the current wave of AI-lab formation creates a naming convention (e.g., a lab's public-papers site on .research) that this string could ride, versus that demand continuing to consolidate on .ai.