.research
Is .research a real TLD? Who’s applying to run it?
.research is contested: 4 applications for it are on ICANN’s Reveal Day list, as of 7 October 2026. They are XYZ Registry, Radix, Suffix and Link Freedom Group.
Who is applying, and what they run today
Two of the four already run TLDs, 22.38M names between them. Link Freedom Group and Suffix run none.
Will names sell?
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.
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. .research’s closest 2012 strings hold .consulting 41K, .science 12K and .analytics 4.
The nearest 2012 strings, and how many names each holds today
The closest 2012 string, .consulting, held 41,255 names, June 2026. .science held 12,113; .analytics held 4. Chosen by AI from every string in the 2012 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.
Where they meet elsewhere
XYZ Registry and Link Freedom Group face each other in 49 contests this round, .research included.
- Link Freedom Group × XYZ Registry
- Link Freedom Group × Radix
- XYZ Registry × Radix
- Link Freedom Group × Suffix
- XYZ Registry × Suffix
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.
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, in our AI & tech category. 4 applications for it are on ICANN’s Reveal Day list.
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. A .research 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 .research was .consulting, delegated on 1 April 2014.
Is .research a real TLD?
Not yet. .research is not in the DNS root, so nothing resolves under it. It’s here because .research is on ICANN’s Reveal Day list of applied-for strings. Every entry on this page links to its source.
- XYZ Registry · first recordedICANN
- 3 applicants · now confirmedICANN
- Radix · first recordedRadix
- Suffix · now announced
- Suffix · first recordedSuffix Inc.
- Link Freedom Group · first recordedLink Freedom Group
The source’s 4 linesHide the lines
LFGL2683T-T11388 · Link Freedom Group Ltd · primary · contention set 2026-200 RTIS2674T-T92598 · Radix Technologies Inc SEZC · primary · contention set 2026-200 SI2639T-T37419 · Suffix Inc. · primary · contention set 2026-200 XL2625T-T71857 · XYZ.COM LLC · primary · contention set 2026-200
“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
- 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.