.source
Is .source a real TLD? Who’s applying to run it?
.source is not contested. One application for it is on ICANN’s Reveal Day list, as of 7 October 2026. It is Identity Digital. XYZ Registry named .source as a backup string for its .hvac application. ICANN deactivated it, because another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup. Radix named .source as a backup string for its .neo application. ICANN deactivated it, because another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup. Intercap named .source as a backup string for its .brain application. ICANN deactivated it, because another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup. CORE Association named .source as a backup string for its .src application. ICANN deactivated it, because another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup. Link Freedom Group named .source as a backup string for its .btc 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
Five of the 6 are tied to a registry that runs TLDs today. Identity Digital, Link Freedom Group and XYZ Registry filed 513 applications between them across the round.
Will names sell?
A clever word for developers, open-source projects, and data publishers, but existing developer domains already fill that role, so demand stays modest.
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. .source’s closest 2012 strings hold .data 4, .dev 713K and .supply 9K.
The nearest 2012 strings, and how many names each holds today
The closest 2012 string, .data, held 4 names, June 2026. .dev held 712,600; .supply held 8,623. Chosen by AI from every string in the 2012 round, without being told what happened to any of them.
Same bet as .source: an abstract, tech-inflected common noun that no single industry owns, sold as a concept namespace to technical organizations that want the word itself rather than a category label.
Same buyer as the open-source reading of .source, namely builders putting a project's primary identity on a short builder-vocabulary word, which only works if developer culture adopts the namespace instead of defensively parking in it.
Covers the procurement sense of the target: a generic B2B function noun betting that suppliers and sourcing firms will brand on the function they perform.
Where they meet elsewhere
Identity Digital and XYZ Registry face each other in 77 contests this round, .source included.
- Identity Digital × XYZ Registry
- Identity Digital × Link Freedom Group
- Link Freedom Group × XYZ Registry
- Identity Digital × Radix
- Identity Digital × Intercap
open-source maintainers, developer-tool companies, and data/AI provenance projects wanting a name that literally says 'source'; secondarily journalism and research outlets branding themselves as a trusted source
What a .source domain is
.source is not a TLD yet. It is a string on our record of the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round, in our AI & tech category. One application for it is on ICANN’s Reveal Day list.
Is the .source domain extension real yet?
.source 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 .source domain?
You can’t yet. A .source 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 .source was .data, delegated on 20 December 2016.
Is .source a real TLD?
Not yet. .source is not in the DNS root, so nothing resolves under it. It’s here because .source is on ICANN’s Reveal Day list of applied-for strings. Every entry on this page links to its source.
The source’s 6 linesHide the lines
CA2682T-T18182 · CORE Association · replacement string of .src · Deactivated HS2699T-T37790 · Heir Superiority, LLC · primary IRI2679T-T97493 · Intercap Registry Inc. · replacement string of .brain · Deactivated LFGL2683T-T12896 · Link Freedom Group Ltd · replacement string of .btc · Deactivated RTIS2674T-T18686 · Radix Technologies Inc SEZC · replacement string of .neo · Deactivated XL2625T-T65446 · XYZ.COM LLC · replacement string of .hvac · Deactivated
“.source · AI & Tech · “The root of it all.””Link Freedom Group
- Band: usable but limited (30-49). The string is a genuinely meaningful English word with strong semantic fit for software (source code, open source), AI-era provenance ('the source of this claim'), and media ('a trusted source'), which puts it above the vanity/joke band: real projects could plausibly register names here for descriptive value, and some hack-style names (project.source, open.source-style phrasing) are memorable. It does not reach the strong-niche band because, by analogy, developer identity is already concentrated in incumbent developer-oriented TLDs, and generic-word tech TLDs of similar shape have historically settled into volume-and-price registrations rather than primary-identity use with a liquid aftermarket; nothing in the verified facts suggests an anchor community, registry marketing muscle, or category where .source would become the expected choice rather than a choice that needs explaining twice (once for the TLD, once for why not the incumbent). The applicant, Link Freedom Group, filed more than 300 strings in the ICANN 2026 round (the largest applicant of the round, per its voluntarily published list, press-corroborated by Domain Name Wire, 2026-08-13), and lists this string under 'AI & Tech' with the tagline 'The root of it all.'; a large-portfolio applicant is a neutral fact, but it implies this string is one of many rather than a single-string community bid, which tempers expectations of dedicated ecosystem-building. Main market uncertainty: whether AI-content provenance/attribution becomes a distinct commercial category over the next 5 years that wants a namespace of its own — if 'cite your .source' style infrastructure emerges, this string is unusually well positioned and could jump a band; if not, it likely trades as a mid-tail descriptive TLD.