.share
Is .share a real TLD? Who’s applying to run it?
.share is contested: 6 applications for it are on ICANN’s Reveal Day list, as of 7 October 2026. They are NextGEN TLDs, Ningbo Lingjie Technology, Intercap, Google Registry, Suffix and Link Freedom Group. XYZ Registry named .share as a backup string for its .sea application. ICANN deactivated it, because another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup. GoDaddy Registry named .share as a backup string for its .connect 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
Two of the six already run TLDs, 2.34M names between them. Four run none.
Will names sell?
A friendly generic word good for links you pass around, but few serious projects would make .share their main 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. .share’s closest 2012 strings hold .download 9K, .chat 58K and .link 310K.
The nearest 2012 strings, and how many names each holds today
The closest 2012 string, .download, held 8,808 names, June 2026. .chat held 58,104; .link held 310,085. Chosen by AI from every string in the 2012 round, without being told what happened to any of them.
Same bet: a short, everyday English action-verb for moving files and content between people, sold as an open generic whose registrants' product literally is that verb, so it lives or dies on call-to-action usage rather than on any vertical.
Same bet: a plain consumer verb-noun naming an interpersonal action, aimed at collaboration and social startups putting their primary identity on the thing users do, valuable only because the word is universally understood and unowned by an incumbent.
Same shape of bet — a generic, verb-ish utility word for passing something along, attractive as a short URL/CTA namespace — but it skews to technical link-shortening infrastructure rather than the social and sharing-economy connotations that carry .share.
Where they meet elsewhere
XYZ Registry and Link Freedom Group face each other in 49 contests this round, .share included.
- Link Freedom Group × XYZ Registry
- Link Freedom Group × GoDaddy Registry
- Link Freedom Group × Intercap
- XYZ Registry × GoDaddy Registry
- GoDaddy Registry × Intercap
sharing-economy startups, referral and affiliate programs, file-transfer and link-shortening tools, and social or community projects that want a call-to-action address for content people pass along.
What a .share domain is
.share is not a TLD yet. It is a string on our record of the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round, in our Commerce category. 6 applications for it are on ICANN’s Reveal Day list.
Is the .share domain extension real yet?
.share 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 .share domain?
You can’t yet. A .share 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 .share was .download, delegated on 25 March 2015.
Is .share a real TLD?
Not yet. .share is not in the DNS root, so nothing resolves under it. It’s here because .share is on ICANN’s Reveal Day list of applied-for strings. Every entry on this page links to its source.
- 2 applicants · first recordedICANN
- 4 applicants · first recordedICANN
- 2 applicants · now confirmedICANN
- Suffix · now announced
- Suffix · first recordedSuffix Inc.
- Link Freedom Group · first recordedLink Freedom Group
The source’s 8 linesHide the lines
CRRI2564-T63180 · Charleston Road Registry Inc. · primary · contention set 2026-210 IRI2679T-T75119 · Intercap Registry Inc. · primary · contention set 2026-210 LFGL2683T-T66821 · Link Freedom Group Ltd · primary · contention set 2026-210 NA2631T-T87316 · Registry Services, LLC · replacement string of .connect · Deactivated NLTC2529-T64442 · Ningbo Lingjie Technology Co., Ltd. · primary · contention set 2026-210 NTG2671T-T12150 · NextGEN TLDs GmbH · primary · contention set 2026-210 SI2639T-T42447 · Suffix Inc. · primary · contention set 2026-210 XL2625T-T21452 · XYZ.COM LLC · replacement string of .sea · Deactivated
The source’s 6 linesHide the lines
CRRI2564-T63180 · Charleston Road Registry Inc. · primary · contention set 2026-210 IRI2679T-T75119 · Intercap Registry Inc. · primary · contention set 2026-210 LFGL2683T-T66821 · Link Freedom Group Ltd · primary · contention set 2026-210 NLTC2529-T64442 · Ningbo Lingjie Technology Co., Ltd. · primary · contention set 2026-210 NTG2671T-T12150 · NextGEN TLDs GmbH · primary · contention set 2026-210 SI2639T-T42447 · Suffix Inc. · primary · contention set 2026-210
“Catalog lists: .asap .create .future .lfg .mvp .out .pal .planet .research .share .tag .this .visit”Suffix Inc.
“.share · Commerce · “Spread the word, share the news.””Link Freedom Group
- Band 30-49 (usable but limited). The string is a common English verb with warm connotations and obvious call-to-action semantics: acme.share as a referral or content link reads naturally, and the applicant's own catalog positions it as Commerce with a spread-the-word framing. But verb TLDs of this shape have, by analogy, tended to become secondary utility namespaces rather than primary identities: strings like .link and .click (analogy, outcomes here unknown in specifics) see volume driven by price and redirect use, with weak brand signal and a thin aftermarket concentrated in a handful of dictionary-word SLDs. It is not in the 50-69 band because there is no single category where .share is plausibly the default primary identity in the next 5 years; sharing-economy and file-transfer companies overwhelmingly brand on legacy TLDs by analogy with prior new-gTLD adoption patterns, and the string describes an action, not a durable identity. It is above the 10-29 band because demand is not merely event-driven or joke-driven: the call-to-action use case (referral links, share pages, campaign URLs) is a real, repeatable commercial need that can sustain steady registrations and some end-use, similar to how action-word TLDs have found genuine secondary-domain utility. Applicant facts are neutral context: LFG filed more than 300 strings in the 2026 round, the largest applicant, which suggests a portfolio play where per-string marketing investment may be spread thin, tempering adoption expectations. Main market uncertainty: whether any major consumer platform or link-infrastructure product adopts .share for user-facing share URLs, which would convert it from a utility namespace into a recognized convention and could lift it a full band.