.set
Is .set a real TLD? Who’s applying to run it?
.set is contested: 2 applicants have said publicly that they applied to run it, as of 9 September 2026. They are ShortDot and Link Freedom Group.
A flexible English word with clever name-hack appeal (mind.set, sun.set), but no industry treats it as a serious default address.
brandable-name hunters and hack-domain collectors chasing suffix plays like mind.set or as.set, plus lifestyle, fitness, music (DJ sets), and collectibles projects wanting a short generic word
In LFG's published list of 300+ strings submitted before the ICANN window closed on 2026-08-12. Their catalog tagline: “Grouped for greatness.”
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.
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.
Like .set, it is a short, everyday English noun-verb with several unrelated meanings and no single industry that owns it, so the bet is that registrants bring their own meaning to a blank generic word rather than the string delivering a ready-made category audience.
Same wager as .set: a common, container-ish, semantically loose word sold as a flexible open registry where value comes from short memorable phrases and brand-adjacent uses, not from a defined vertical of buyers who would put their primary identity on it.
Another generic, polysemous short word applied for as an open string whose demand has to be created by marketing and phrase-building, though it leans slightly more toward place/locator meaning than .set's fully abstract collection sense.
What a .set domain is
.set is not a TLD yet. It is a string on our record of the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round, filed under Culture. 2 applicants have said publicly that they applied for .set.
Is the .set domain extension real yet?
.set 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 .set domain?
You can’t yet. ICANN publishes every applied-for string on Reveal Day, 7 October 2026 at 18:00 UTC. A .set name can only be registered after that, once the string is delegated and its registry opens. Last round's closest parallel to .set was .case, delegated on .
Is .set a real TLD?
Not yet. .set is not in the DNS root, so nothing resolves under it. It’s here because an applicant said publicly that it applied for .set in the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round. Every claim on this page links to its source.
- ShortDot · now announced
- ShortDot · first recordedShortDot (Ireland) Limited
- Link Freedom Group · first recordedLink Freedom Group
“ShortDot (Ireland) Limited has submitted 40 applications to ICANN's 2026 New gTLD Program. The 80 strings shown include applied-for and designated replacement strings across ShortDot's 40 ICANN applications, presented without revealing their status or pairing.”ShortDot (Ireland) Limited
“.set · Lifestyle · “Grouped for greatness.””Link Freedom Group
“The company just disclosed its 40 applications and 40 replacement strings.”Domain Name Wire
“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 30-49 (usable but limited). The string is a short, universally known English word, which supports broad registration volume, and it carries an unusually rich suffix-hack surface: mind.set, sun.set, head.set, hand.set, as.set, clo.set all read as complete words, an appeal pattern analogous (flagged as analogy) to the hack-driven demand seen on verb-completing TLDs like .ing and .ly, where a handful of hacks fetched real money while the long tail stayed thin. It is not in the 50-69 band because no single buyer category needs .set as a primary identity: 'set' is semantically diffuse (collections, tennis, DJs, film sets, math), so every adoption requires explaining, and hack demand is historically shallow and event-driven rather than sustained, again by analogy to prior hack-heavy TLDs. It is above the 10-29 band because the word is genuinely versatile and brand-friendly enough that some lifestyle, fitness, music, and collectibles projects would plausibly use a .set name as a real identity, and the best hacks should command modest aftermarket interest rather than pure novelty value. Applicant facts are neutral context: LFG filed more than 300 strings in the 2026 round and lists .set under 'Lifestyle' with the tagline 'Grouped for greatness.', suggesting a broad-portfolio open registration model rather than a vertical community push, which points to volume-and-price adoption dynamics. Main market uncertainty: whether the hack inventory (especially as.set for finance/crypto and mind.set for wellness) converts into serious primary identities that anchor an aftermarket, or stays a vanity curiosity, which is the difference between the top and bottom of this band over the next 5 years.