.sync
Is .sync a real TLD? Who’s applying to run it?
.sync is not contested. One application for it is on ICANN’s Reveal Day list, as of 8 October 2026. It is Starlight (Namecheap). GoDaddy Registry named .sync as a backup string for its .bit application. ICANN deactivated it, because another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup.
A catchy tech word for collaboration and data tools, but a niche choice a startup must explain, not a default address.
saas and developer-tool startups building collaboration, file-sync, data-pipeline, or real-time products, plus a smaller pool of brandable-name hunters wanting a product-suffix domain
Named on the ICANN gTLD application list, 7 October 2026 as a replacement (backup) string of the applicant's .bit application, shown as deactivated: another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup
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.
Same bet as .sync: an unowned, generic infrastructure word that names a technical capability rather than a market or company, sold to the whole population of software/data vendors who want their identity to assert what their product does.
Like .sync, it is a short everyday verb that got a second, load-bearing technical meaning, so the registry is betting the tech reading beats the ordinary-English reading for the people who register it.
Another bare generic noun of the software-plumbing layer whose buyers are tooling and integration vendors, though it is the substance rather than the action and so is broader and less self-selecting than .sync.
What a .sync domain is
.sync is not a TLD yet. It is a string on our record of the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round, filed under AI & tech. One application for it is on ICANN’s Reveal Day list.
Is the .sync domain extension real yet?
.sync 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 .sync domain?
You can’t yet. A .sync 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 .sync was .cloud, delegated on 26 June 2015.
Is .sync a real TLD?
Not yet. .sync is not in the DNS root, so nothing resolves under it. It’s here because .sync is on ICANN’s Reveal Day list of applied-for strings. Every entry on this page links to its source.
- Starlight (Namecheap) · noteDomain Name Wire
- GoDaddy Registry · first recordedICANN
- Starlight (Namecheap) · first recordedICANN
“PEI2685T-T70982 · Procyon Exploration, Inc. · primary”ICANN
“NA2631T-T45584 · Registry Services, LLC · replacement string of .bit · Deactivated PEI2685T-T70982 · Procyon Exploration, Inc. · primary”ICANN
“For us, moving into the registry side is a natural extension of what we have been building.”Domain Name Wire
- "Sync" is a genuine tech vocabulary word — file sync, real-time collaboration, data replication — so the string reads naturally as a product suffix (name.sync) for SaaS and developer tools. But it is a feature word, not a category: by analogy, feature-word TLDs like .cloud and .live achieved real registration volume yet only scattered primary-identity use and thin aftermarkets, while true category TLDs like .dev and .app became defaults inside their niche; .sync is narrower than .cloud, so the weaker analogy applies. The applicant is Starlight Registry, a registry venture established by Namecheap, a large registrar, which should give the string strong retail distribution and improves adoption odds at the margin. Main market uncertainty: whether real-time/collab startups adopt it as primary identity in meaningful numbers over the next 5 years or treat it as a redirect/defensive buy. Band choice: 30-49 (usable but limited) — above 10-29 because there is a real, ongoing buyer class in tech products for whom the word is on-point, but below 50-69 because there is no evidence of sustained primary-identity demand for a feature-word suffix this narrow, and adoption would need explaining.