.time
Is .time a real TLD? Who’s applying to run it?
.time is contested: 3 applications for it are on ICANN’s Reveal Day list, as of 7 October 2026. They are XYZ Registry, TLD 3D and Identity Digital. XServer named .time as a backup string for its .brand application. ICANN deactivated it, because another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup. GoDaddy Registry named .time as a backup string for its .wear application. ICANN deactivated it, because another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup. Link Freedom Group named .time as a backup string for its .true 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 three already run TLDs, 26.76M names between them. One runs one of .time's closest 2012 strings: Identity Digital .life. TLD 3D runs none.
Will names sell?
A catchy word great for wordplay names like prime.time, but few serious businesses would make .time their primary address.
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. .time’s closest 2012 strings hold .life 474K, .day 13K and .space 635K.
The nearest 2012 strings, and how many names each holds today
The closest 2012 string, .life, held 474,179 names, June 2026. .day held 13,094; .space held 634,547. Chosen by AI from every string in the 2012 round, without being told what happened to any of them.
The same bet as .time: a short, abstract, universally-applicable English noun with no vertical attached, sold on evocative breadth to anyone who can bend it to their meaning, which works only if registrants supply the meaning the string itself never carries.
A one-syllable common temporal noun offered as an open namespace where the value sits entirely in the phrase the registrant completes (wedding.day the way show.time works), the same left-of-dot-does-the-work bet rather than a category buyers search for.
Another abstract dimension-word generic whose commercial case rests on metaphorical uses rather than any defined buyer segment, so it lives or dies on the same elastic-meaning premise, though it pulls harder toward tech and workspace than .time's fully open field.
Where they meet elsewhere
Identity Digital and XYZ Registry face each other in 77 contests this round, .time included.
- Identity Digital × XYZ Registry
- Identity Digital × Link Freedom Group
- Identity Digital × GoDaddy Registry
- XYZ Registry × Link Freedom Group
- Link Freedom Group × GoDaddy Registry
watch and horology brands, scheduling and productivity apps, event and media projects, plus hobbyists chasing wordplay names (any.time, story.time) rather than long-term primary identities
What a .time domain is
.time is not a TLD yet. It is a string on our record of the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round, in our Culture category. 3 applications for it are on ICANN’s Reveal Day list.
Is the .time domain extension real yet?
.time 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 .time domain?
You can’t yet. A .time 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 .time was .life, delegated on 15 May 2014.
Is .time a real TLD?
Not yet. .time is not in the DNS root, so nothing resolves under it. It’s here because .time is on ICANN’s Reveal Day list of applied-for strings. Every entry on this page links to its source.
- 2 applicants · first recordedICANN
- Link Freedom Group · now deactivated backupICANN
- Link Freedom Group · now abandonedICANN
- 3 applicants · first recordedICANN
- Link Freedom Group · first recordedLink Freedom Group
“FCL2632T-T99759 · Fore Course, LLC · primary · contention set 2026-232 T3PB2538-T94985 · TLD 3D Public Benefit Corporation · primary · contention set 2026-232 XL2625T-T92723 · XYZ.COM LLC · primary · contention set 2026-232”ICANN
The source’s 6 linesHide the lines
FCL2632T-T99759 · Fore Course, LLC · primary · contention set 2026-232 LFGL2683T-T29363 · Link Freedom Group Ltd · replacement string of .true · Deactivated NA2631T-T98247 · Registry Services, LLC · replacement string of .wear · Deactivated T3PB2538-T94985 · TLD 3D Public Benefit Corporation · primary · contention set 2026-232 XCI2688T-T81155 · XServer Cloud Incorporated · replacement string of .brand · Deactivated XL2625T-T92723 · XYZ.COM LLC · primary · contention set 2026-232
“.time · Lifestyle · “Yesterday fades, tomorrow calls.””Link Freedom Group
- Band: usable but limited (30-49). The string is a universally understood dictionary word with strong natural-phrase potential (prime.time, tea.time, over.time, bed.time), which by analogy with other phrase-friendly generics tends to drive registration volume and occasional clever branding rather than durable primary-identity use. It is not in the 50-69 band because no single vertical treats a time-word suffix as its home: horology brands, scheduling SaaS, and media outlets all have established naming habits elsewhere, and 'a .time site' answers no obvious question about what the project is; by analogy, broad temporal generics like .today have seen registrations without becoming a category default. It is not in the 10-29 band because the word is short, positive, globally legible, and maps to several real commercial verticals (timekeeping, scheduling, events), so demand should be broader and steadier than a pure joke or event-driven string. Applicant facts are neutral context only: the applicant filed a very large portfolio in the 2026 round and slotted this string under a lifestyle theme, which suggests generic-portfolio positioning rather than a vertical anchor tenant, informing adoption likelihood modestly downward. Main market uncertainty: whether any anchor vertical (most plausibly watchmakers or scheduling apps) adopts .time as an identity convention within 5 years, versus the namespace settling into low-price hack and vanity registrations. Exact registration or pricing figures for analogous TLDs: unknown; all comparisons here are analogy, not data.