.sub
Is .sub a real TLD? Who’s applying to run it?
Nobody has applied for .sub in its own right, as of 7 October 2026. ShortDot named .sub as a backup string for its .fab application. ICANN deactivated it, because another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup. Link Freedom Group named .sub as a backup string for its .mine application. ICANN deactivated it, because another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup.
Nobody has applied for .sub in its own right.
Will names sell?
A catchy word for subscriptions and creator perks, but most businesses will keep their main domain, so demand stays cheap and 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. .sub’s closest 2012 strings hold .app 1.48M, .club 570K and .fans 10K.
The nearest 2012 strings, and how many names each holds today
The closest 2012 string, .app, held 1,478,674 names, June 2026. .club held 569,871; .fans held 10,454. Chosen by AI from every string in the 2012 round, without being told what happened to any of them.
Same structural bet: a three-letter clipped shorthand for a whole commercial category that nobody owns and everybody in that category would want as their primary identity, sold on the strength of the abbreviation being instantly decodable rather than on any brand or community behind it.
Same buyer and same job as the subscription reading of the target — a generic membership word bought by operators selling recurring paid access, where the string only works if 'you are a member here' is the identity the registrant wants to lead with.
Overlaps on the recurring-audience bet (creators monetizing a subscriber base) but it is a plural audience noun claimed from the audience's side, whereas the target is business-side billing vocabulary, and it carries none of the target's clipped-abbreviation ambiguity.
creator-economy platforms, membership and subscription businesses, newsletter writers, and fan communities that want a short 'subscribe here' address; secondarily kink and community subcultures where 'sub' is identity vocabulary
What a .sub domain is
.sub is not a TLD yet. It is a string on our record of the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round, in our Commerce category. Nobody has applied for .sub in its own right. It is named on ICANN’s list as part of an application for another string.
Is the .sub domain extension real yet?
.sub is not yet a domain extension you can register: nothing resolves under it, and no registrar sells names in it. Nobody has applied for it on the public record; the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round is the process that would decide whether it becomes one.
When can you buy a .sub domain?
You can’t yet. A .sub 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 .sub was .app, delegated on 2 July 2015.
Is .sub a real TLD?
Not yet. .sub is not in the DNS root, so nothing resolves under it. It’s here because ICANN’s list names .sub as part of an application for another string. Every entry on this page links to its source.
- ShortDot · now deactivated backupICANN
- Link Freedom Group · now deactivated backupICANN
- ShortDot · now abandonedICANN
- Link Freedom Group · now abandonedICANN
- ShortDot · now announced
- ShortDot · first recordedShortDot (Ireland) Limited
- Link Freedom Group · first recordedLink Freedom Group
“LFGL2683T-T65313 · Link Freedom Group Ltd · replacement string of .mine · Deactivated NA2626T-T70103 · ShortDot (Ireland) Limited · replacement string of .fab · Deactivated”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
“.sub · Infra · “Your all-access digital pass.””Link Freedom Group
- Band: 30-49, usable but limited. The string is a short, real English word with several live semantic hooks: subscriptions (the dominant one, matching the applicant's 'all-access digital pass' framing), creator-platform 'subs', subdomains/substitution in tech vocabulary, and a subculture identity meaning. That gives it genuine registerability on price and some memorable creator-facing use, which keeps it above the 10-29 vanity band. It does not reach 50-69 because there is no visible pattern of subscription businesses adopting a dedicated TLD as a primary identity: subscription commerce lives on the seller's main brand domain or inside platforms, so a .sub address is more likely a redirect, campaign page, or link-in-bio style pointer than a serious primary identity, and the word's ambiguity (sandwiches, submarines, subordinate) dilutes the brand signal. By analogy (flagged as analogy), word-TLDs aimed at a behavior rather than an industry, such as .club, .vip, and .live, tended to move volume at low promotional pricing while producing thin aftermarkets and limited primary-identity use; .sub looks closer to that pattern than to a category standard like a true industry TLD. Main market uncertainty over the next 5 years: whether the subscription/creator economy produces a platform-level adoption moment, i.e., a major platform or link-tool issuing handle.sub pages at scale, which would convert the string from a redirect novelty into a recognized address pattern. Applicant facts, stated neutrally: Link Freedom Group filed more than 300 strings in the ICANN 2026 round, published its full list ahead of Reveal Day, and catalogs .sub under 'Infra' with the tagline 'Your all-access digital pass.'; a large-portfolio applicant suggests standardized registry marketing rather than a dedicated single-TLD adoption push, which tempers expected category evangelism.