.url

Is .url a real TLD? Who’s applying to run it?

.url is contested: 3 applications for it are on ICANN’s Reveal Day list, as of 7 October 2026. They are Identity Digital, Intercap and Link Freedom Group. XYZ Registry named .url as a backup string for its .uni application. ICANN deactivated it, because another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup.

Generic applications · AI & tech · on the record since Aug 15, 2026, updated Oct 7, 2026

applicants

3 applications · 1 deactivated backup

Who is applying, and what they run today

Two of the three already run TLDs, 14.81M names between them. Link Freedom Group runs none.

Toddler Logic, LLC
Identity Digital
controlled by Ethos Capital Digital Infrastructure UGP LLC
277 TLDs · 14.80M names: .info 5.63M, .pro 1.25M, .live 672K
backup .craps
Intercap Registry Inc.
Intercap
controlled by Jason Adam Chapnik
4 TLDs · 11K names: .inc 8K, .box 3K, .dealer 222
backup .goto
Link Freedom Group Ltd
Link Freedom Group
controlled by Vandelay Investments Ltd, Yonatan Belousov
runs no TLD today
backup .nano, disallowed

runs TLDs today; the larger, the more namesruns none.tld in orange: one of this string’s closest 2012 stringsbackup .x usable · backup .x ✕ disallowed

Applications are counted by company, across its legal entities, from ICANN’s list. Names are from the registries’ June 2026 reports to ICANN. “None on record” means no public source in our record ties the company to a registry operator that runs TLDs today. Control: each application’s own answer to ICANN (question 108). Largest TLDs and names: the registries’ monthly reports to ICANN.

backups

XYZ RegistryDeactivated backupxyz.xyz ↗
Named on the ICANN gTLD application list, 7 October 2026 as a replacement (backup) string of the applicant's .uni application, shown as deactivated: another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup
Deactivated backup for .uniGenericICANN XL2625T-T10642ICANN ↗

Will names sell?

◈AI score

38/ 100

Usable but limited

Instantly understood shorthand for a web link, useful for link tools and redirects, but too literal and generic to be a strong brand.

assessed by claude-fable-5 · Aug 15, 2026

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. .url’s closest 2012 strings hold .link 310K and .xn--ses554g 84K.

For comparison, .com scores 96 and .ai scores 84 on the same rubric.

a 2012-round TLD.url’s closest 2012 strings: score · names

The 2012 read is a separate, time-locked score on its own scale, so .url’s score above is not placed on it. Names: the registries’ reports to ICANN, 2026-10. Non-brand 2012 TLDs in the root.

closest 2012 strings

3 of 1,408

The nearest 2012 strings, and how many names each holds today

The closest 2012 string, .link, held 310,085 names, June 2026. .网址 held 84,389. Chosen by AI from every string in the 2012 round, without being told what happened to any of them.

.webstrong paralleldelegated · 7 applications in 2012 · scored 85* in 2012 · NU DOT CO LLC
Same bet: an unowned generic primitive of the web itself, betting that a universal, ownerless address-word can be sold to everyone as a .com alternative rather than serving any category, brand, or community.
.linkstrong parallel310,085 names, June 2026live since 2014 · uncontested in 2012 · scored 58* in 2012 · Uniregistry, Corp.See .link in Stats
Same bet on the mechanic rather than the place — a short, technical-vernacular noun for the pointer to a page, sold open-registry to anyone who wants a redirect or a shortener identity, with no natural single owner.
.网址moderate84,389 names, June 2026live since 2014 · 2 applications in 2012 · scored 50* in 2012 · HU YI GLOBAL INFORMATION RESOURCES (HOLDING) COMPANY. HONGKONG LIMITEDSee .网址 in Stats
Literally 'web address,' so it is the same semantic bet as .url — an ownerless infrastructure word positioned as the generic place any site can be reached — differing only in serving the Chinese-script market rather than the ASCII one.

Names are from the registries’ monthly reports to ICANN. Each name opens the TLD’s stats page: how it grew, who sells it, and the 2026 strings compared with it. * A separate 2012-only read, time-locked to what was public that year, on a different scale from this page’s score.

Where they meet elsewhere

Identity Digital and XYZ Registry face each other in 77 contests this round, .url included.

Identity Digital × XYZ Registry
77
Identity Digital × Link Freedom Group
68
Link Freedom Group × XYZ Registry
49
Identity Digital × Intercap
34
Link Freedom Group × Intercap
31

Shared contests: strings where both companies hold an application on ICANN’s list. Companies that meet another here in fewer than three are left out.

who it’s for

link-shortener and redirect services, link-in-bio tools, and developers building URL utilities (previews, QR resolvers, tracking links) who want a self-describing address

What a .url domain is

.url is not a TLD yet. It is a string on our record of the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round, in our AI & tech category. 3 applications for it are on ICANN’s Reveal Day list.

Is the .url domain extension real yet?

.url 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 .url domain?

You can’t yet. A .url name can only be registered once the string is delegated (added to the DNS root) and its registry opens.

Is .url a real TLD?

Not yet. .url is not in the DNS root, so nothing resolves under it. It’s here because .url is on ICANN’s Reveal Day list of applied-for strings. Every entry on this page links to its source.

Band chosen: 30-49 (usable but limited). The string is universally recognized and semantically self-describing: something.url literally reads as 'a web link', which fits redirect services, link-in-bio pages, QR-code resolvers, and campaign links. That functional fit is real, and volume registrations at accessible price points are plausible over the next 5 years. It does not reach the 50-69 band because sustained primary-identity use is doubtful: the term is redundant when spoken as an address (every domain is already a URL), and the buyers who most plausibly want it, link-tool operators, have historically favored ultra-short ccTLD hacks and compact strings over descriptive endings (inference from analogy to how shortener brands are typically named); the aftermarket for a generic-utility string like this tends to be thin. It sits above the 10-29 band because demand is not merely vanity or event-driven: there is a genuine, durable functional niche (link infrastructure and marketing links) where a .url address communicates purpose with zero explanation, unlike joke or novelty strings. Analogy: descriptive link-adjacent TLDs such as .link and .click have found budget-volume registration markets with weak per-name brand equity rather than category-standard status; .url likely lands in the same pattern, possibly stronger on comprehension but weaker on brevity. The applicant, Link Freedom Group, filed more than 300 strings in the ICANN 2026 round and lists this string under 'AI & Tech' with the tagline 'Find it, click it, go.'; a large-portfolio applicant profile suggests broad retail distribution rather than a single-category cultivation strategy, which fits a volume/utility outcome. Main market uncertainty: whether link-management and link-in-bio platforms treat a descriptive ending as an asset (clarity, trust in what the link is) or a liability (length, redundancy) when choosing customer-facing link domains; that choice determines whether .url gets anchor tenants or stays a long-tail utility namespace.

Considering a name on .url?Appraise a name on this TLD →

This record is corrected in the open. See the changelog and methodology.