.solo
Is .solo a real TLD? Who’s applying to run it?
.solo is not contested. One application for it is on ICANN’s Reveal Day list, as of 7 October 2026. It is Suffix. ShortDot named .solo as a backup string for its .goat application. ICANN deactivated it, because another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup.
A niche TLD for solopreneurs, freelancers, independent creators and solo artists wanting a personal-brand address (yourname.solo), plus solo-travel and single-player niche projects.
Who is applying, and how much each already runs
One of the 2 is tied to a registry that runs TLDs today. ShortDot and Suffix filed 64 applications between them across the round.
The nearest 2012 strings, and how many names each holds today
The closest 2012 string, .guru, held 60,916 names, June 2026. .ninja held 25,488; .expert held 28,534. Chosen by AI from every string in the 2012 round, without being told what happened to any of them.
Same bet: an unrestricted, colloquial self-descriptor sold retail to individual practitioners who put their own working identity — not a company or category — on the right of the dot.
Same informal identity-word bet aimed at the independent one-person operator, relying on personality and self-labelling rather than any industry vertical to drive registrations.
Also a person-noun sold to individual professionals for a personal-practice identity, though it asserts a credential claim where the target asserts a mode of working alone.
solopreneurs, freelancers, independent creators and solo artists wanting a personal-brand address (yourname.solo), plus solo-travel and single-player niche projects
What a .solo domain is
.solo is not a TLD yet. It is a string on our record of the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round, in our Culture category. One application for it is on ICANN’s Reveal Day list.
Is the .solo domain extension real yet?
.solo 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 .solo domain?
You can’t yet. A .solo 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 .solo was .guru, delegated on 6 November 2013.
Is .solo a real TLD?
Not yet. .solo is not in the DNS root, so nothing resolves under it. It’s here because .solo is on ICANN’s Reveal Day list of applied-for strings. Every entry on this page links to its source.
- ShortDot · now deactivated backupICANN
- ShortDot · now abandonedICANN
- Suffix · first recordedICANN
- ShortDot · now announced
- ShortDot · first recordedShortDot (Ireland) Limited
“NA2626T-T75131 · ShortDot (Ireland) Limited · replacement string of .goat · Deactivated SI2639T-T74123 · Suffix Inc. · primary”ICANN
“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
- Band chosen: usable but limited (30-49). The string is a genuine, short, cross-language word (English, Spanish, Italian) with a coherent buyer group in the one-person-business and creator segment, which keeps it above the vanity/joke band: a freelancer or solo founder could plausibly use name.solo as a primary identity without embarrassment. It stays below the strong-niche band because there is no demonstrated sustained demand on the record, the string's meaning is a persona descriptor rather than a category or product noun, and by analogy with personal-identity TLDs (.me being the closest established comparison, flagged as analogy) the identity use case tends to concentrate in one well-marketed TLD rather than spreading to new entrants, leaving newcomers with thin aftermarket value. Adoption likelihood is informed neutrally by the applicant profile: an operator already running several gTLDs since 2018, which by analogy suggests distribution capacity through registrar channels but says nothing about whether this string would be positioned on price or on brand. My main market uncertainty is whether .solo registrations would be dominated by intentional personal-brand identity use (which would lift it toward 50) or by volume/promotional registrations with little end-use, which would keep the brand signal weak.