.user
Is .user a real TLD? Who’s applying to run it?
.user is not contested. One application for it is on ICANN’s Reveal Day list, as of 7 October 2026. It is EchoStar.
A generic system word for personal handles; usable for usernames but weak as a brand and unlikely to be a serious primary address.
people and platforms wanting username-style personal handles (name.user), plus identity or social apps that assign addresses to members
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 .user: an unqualified role noun that defines a person purely by their relationship to some product or platform rather than by profession, place or craft, so the registry has to convince ordinary individuals to brand themselves by that relationship.
The same mass-individual-identity bet in pronoun form — a contentless word addressed at any single person, where value depends entirely on everyday people wanting a personal handle rather than on any category of business needing one.
Also a generic person-noun sold to individuals as a personal namespace, but it carries a craft and an implied credential, so its natural registrant is a creator with something to sell rather than the anonymous account-holder .user addresses.
What a .user domain is
.user 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 .user domain extension real yet?
.user 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 .user domain?
You can’t yet. ICANN publishes every applied-for string on Reveal Day, 7 October 2026 at 18:00 UTC. A .user name can only be registered after that, once the string is delegated and its registry opens. Last round's closest parallel to .user was .fan, delegated on 16 March 2015.
Is .user a real TLD?
Not yet. .user is not in the DNS root, so nothing resolves under it. It’s here because .user is on ICANN’s Reveal Day list of applied-for strings. Every entry on this page links to its source.
- EchoStar · first recordedICANN
“EDCL2689T-T94739 · ECHO Domain Co L.L.C. · replacement string of .agent · Deactivated XI2694T-T39173 · XRegistry Incorporated · replacement string of .xn--6oqv20b1zgzxr · Deactivated XI2694T-T41185 · XRegistry Incorporated · replacement string of .get · Deactivated”ICANN
- Band chosen: 10-29 (vanity/narrow). The string reads as a software placeholder rather than an identity people aspire to: 'user' is what a system calls you, not what you call yourself. The natural reading is a personal-handle namespace (alice.user), which puts it in the family of personal-identity TLDs. By analogy (flagged as analogy), the earlier personal-name TLD .name became a thin, low-visibility namespace with little primary-identity use and a weak aftermarket, while .me achieved more only through heavy marketing and a far warmer word; .user has the colder word and no inherent country or brand backing. It is not in the 30-49 band because there is no category where registrations would plausibly happen at volume on utility: individuals tend to prefer .me, .name-style or social handles, and businesses have no reason to brand on 'user'. It is not in the 1-9 band because a real, if narrow, use exists: an identity provider, social platform or decentralized-identity project could assign member addresses under it, and short common-word TLDs attract some vanity and defensive registrations. Applicant facts, stated neutrally from the record: one confirmed standard application by EchoStar (ECHO Domain Co L.L.C.), with no contention on the record, and a separate .list application by the same applicant that named .user as primary and is now deactivated; this is consistent with a portfolio-style application whose go-to-market intent is not known from the record. Registry pricing, launch policy and any platform partnership are unknown. Main market uncertainty: whether any identity or social platform adopts the string as its member-handle namespace within 5 years; without such an anchor, demand would likely stay at the vanity and defensive level.