.tag
Is .tag a real TLD? Who’s applying to run it?
.tag is contested: 4 applications for it are on ICANN’s Reveal Day list, as of 7 October 2026. They are Aruba, ShortDot, Suffix and Link Freedom Group. XYZ Registry named .tag as a backup string for its .robotics 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 four already run TLDs, 5.10M names between them. Link Freedom Group and Suffix run none.
Will names sell?
A catchy word for tagging and tracking tools, but most serious projects will treat a .tag address as a side domain, not their main one.
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. .tag’s closest 2012 strings hold .link 310K, .click 873K and .page 41K.
The nearest 2012 strings, and how many names each holds today
The closest 2012 string, .link, held 310,085 names, June 2026. .click held 873,213; .page held 40,684. 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 noun that is also core internet vocabulary, sold as an open general-purpose utility namespace where the value comes from the word's web-primitive meaning and phrase-completion rather than from any industry putting its primary identity on it.
Same bet: a generic web-action word with no defined registrant class, monetized as a broad low-friction volume registry that lives or dies on whether people accept internet-native vocabulary as a right-of-dot.
Same kind of string — a common noun naming a unit of web content — and the same open-utility bet, but it reads as a slightly more literal container word than .tag's label/metadata wordplay, so the registrant story is narrower.
Where they meet elsewhere
XYZ Registry and Link Freedom Group face each other in 49 contests this round, .tag included.
- Link Freedom Group × XYZ Registry
- Link Freedom Group × ShortDot
- XYZ Registry × ShortDot
- Link Freedom Group × Aruba
- Link Freedom Group × Suffix
makers of tagging, tracking, and labeling products (asset trackers, NFC/QR tag makers, pet-tag and social-tagging tools), plus brands whose names end in 'tag' looking for a domain hack
What a .tag domain is
.tag is not a TLD yet. It is a string on our record of the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round, in our AI & tech category. 4 applications for it are on ICANN’s Reveal Day list.
Is the .tag domain extension real yet?
.tag 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 .tag domain?
You can’t yet. A .tag 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 .tag was .link, delegated on 18 January 2014.
Is .tag a real TLD?
Not yet. .tag is not in the DNS root, so nothing resolves under it. It’s here because .tag is on ICANN’s Reveal Day list of applied-for strings. Every entry on this page links to its source.
- XYZ Registry · first recordedICANN
- 4 applicants · now confirmedICANN
- ShortDot · now announced
- Aruba · first recordedDomain Name Wire (Andrew Allemann), quoting Aruba S.p.A.
- ShortDot · first recordedShortDot (Ireland) Limited
- Suffix · now announced
- Suffix · first recordedSuffix Inc.
- Link Freedom Group · first recordedLink Freedom Group
The source’s 5 linesHide the lines
APEC2611T-T53753 · Aruba PEC S.P.A. · primary · contention set 2026-228 LFGL2683T-T56011 · Link Freedom Group Ltd · primary · contention set 2026-228 NA2626T-T55140 · ShortDot (Ireland) Limited · primary · contention set 2026-228 SI2639T-T97880 · Suffix Inc. · primary · contention set 2026-228 XL2625T-T82417 · XYZ.COM LLC · replacement string of .robotics · Deactivated
The source’s 4 linesHide the lines
APEC2611T-T53753 · Aruba PEC S.P.A. · primary · contention set 2026-228 LFGL2683T-T56011 · Link Freedom Group Ltd · primary · contention set 2026-228 NA2626T-T55140 · ShortDot (Ireland) Limited · primary · contention set 2026-228 SI2639T-T97880 · Suffix Inc. · primary · contention set 2026-228
“Aruba S.p.A., which operates the .cloud top level domain, is expanding its domain portfolio. The company told Domain Name Wire that it applied for 39 top level domains in this year's new TLD round. That number includes replacement strings. [...] The company applied for the following strings as primary or replacement: aid, all, ask, beta, bit, bnb, cart, ciao, daily, demo, easy, fix, gaming, gen, genius, gym, happy, hello, hola, human, kit, lab, mars, max, moon, omg, pec, pop, rem, roma, sign, sito, super, tag, tex, vps, yes, zen, zzz”Domain Name Wire (Andrew Allemann), quoting Aruba S.p.A.
“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
“Catalog lists: .asap .create .future .lfg .mvp .out .pal .planet .research .share .tag .this .visit”Suffix Inc.
“.tag · AI & Tech · “Tag it, track it, know it.””Link Freedom Group
- Band chosen: usable but limited (30-49). The string is a short, common English word with several live meanings: metadata and hashtag tagging, physical asset tracking (the applicant's own tagline, 'Tag it, track it, know it.', leans this way), price tags in retail, and graffiti or gaming culture. That semantic spread cuts both ways: many products could plausibly use it, but no single category treats 'tag' as its identity, so a .tag address explains a feature rather than a company. By analogy (flagged as analogy), single-verb and single-noun generics like .link and .click have historically driven volume registrations and redirect or utility use rather than primary brand identities, while category-defining strings like .app earned primary-identity use; .tag looks closer to the former. It is not in the 50-69 band because there is no visible niche where projects adopt it as their main address with a real aftermarket, and demand would need explaining to almost any buyer. It is not in the 10-29 band because the word is genuinely short, memorable, and product-relevant: a meaningful number of hardware and software products are named '-tag' style, which supports domain-hack and secondary-brand registrations over the next 5 years. Applicant context, stated neutrally: the applicant, Link Freedom Group, filed more than 300 strings in the ICANN 2026 round and published its list ahead of Reveal Day; a portfolio applicant of that breadth suggests standardized rather than category-dedicated marketing for this string, which tempers adoption upside but does not change the string's intrinsic fit. Main market uncertainty: whether the tracking and IoT tagging segment coalesces around web identities at all, or continues to brand under .com and app stores, leaving .tag as redirect and campaign inventory.