The 2026 gTLD Round Decoded: What 1,615 Applications Say

ICANN published the full list of applications for the 2026 round of new top level domains on 7 October 2026: 1,615 applications, of which 333 are brand applications. Nothing on that list is live yet. No one can register a name under any of these endings, and most of the process still lies ahead. What follows is a plain reading of ICANN's own numbers, a category breakdown, the sequence of steps between now and the first delegations, and a short checklist for founders, brand managers and marketers who want to know whether any of this touches them.

What ICANN published on Reveal Day

Reveal Day is the point where the round stops being private. On 7 October 2026, ICANN published the list of applications received in the New gTLD Program: 2026 Round. That means the applied-for strings, the names of the applying entities, any variant or replacement strings, a list of contention sets in CSV format, and the public portions of each application.

A contention set, in case the term is new, is a group of applications for the same string. Two companies want .something, so they sit in one set until it is resolved.

CircleID reported that the records went public at 18:00 UTC through ICANN's Application Publication and Statistics system, which is searchable. That database is where you should go for any string you care about. Forum threads and trackers are fine for colour, but the database is the record.

One detail on the data itself. ICANN's snapshot reflects primary string application data as of 7 October 2026, and ICANN says the final number and types of applications will be confirmed on String Confirmation Day. So treat every figure below as a snapshot, not a final count.

Where the 1,615 came from

The application window ran from 30 April 2026 to 12 August 2026, per ICANN's round page. ICANNWiki records 1,663 submitted applications at close, and ICANN confirming on 22 September that payment had arrived for 1,616. The active total on Reveal Day is 1,615. CircleID notes that one application, .wdo, is still under administrative review, which accounts for the gap. ICANN had not said whether or when it would join the count.

Why bring this up? Because it's exactly why third-party trackers disagree with each other. Different cut-off times, different treatment of pending applications. Every headline figure here is ICANN's, and I'll say so when a number comes from somewhere else.

The numbers that matter

Here are ICANN's published figures from the Reveal Day announcement.

• 1,615 applications in total
• 333 brand applications
• 16 community-based applications
• 15 self-identified geographic name applications
• 51 applications from Applicant Support Program applicants
• 21 applications for Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs)
• 9 applications for variants (the same string in other scripts, such as Arabic or Chinese)

The regional split of applications, again from ICANN: 864 from North America, 506 from Europe, 218 from Asia/Australia/Pacific, 16 from Africa and 11 from Latin America and the Caribbean. Those add up to 1,615.

Applicants versus applications

These are different counts, and people mix them up. Applications are the strings. Applicants are the entities filing them, and one entity can file several. CircleID, quoting ICANN's published statistics, puts the figure at 1,615 active applications from 481 applicants. By region, that is 198 applicants from North America, 156 from Asia-Pacific, 111 from Europe, nine from Latin America and the Caribbean, and seven from Africa.

Put the two tables side by side and you notice something. Europe files 506 applications from 111 applicants. North America files 864 from 198. A smaller number of organisations are filing many strings each, which tends to mean portfolio applicants rather than one-off brands.

Contention sets

You'd expect a clean number here for how many strings sit in contention. I don't have one from ICANN's announcement text, and I'm not going to guess or borrow a tracker's figure. ICANN publishes the contention set list as a CSV, and counting rows there is a five-minute job in any spreadsheet. If you only care about one string, filter for it and see whether it shares a set with anyone.

The categories that stand out

The table below is my grouping of ICANN's published figures. The first four rows are ICANN's own counts. The last row is simple subtraction, not an ICANN category, and the groups can overlap (an IDN string can also be a brand, for instance), so don't add the rows and expect 1,615.

That last row is the interesting one, and the one ICANN doesn't label. Most of the round is neither brand, community nor self-declared geographic. Generic words, in other words, plus whatever else applicants didn't tick a box for.

Brands

333 of 1,615 is about 21%, which one commentator on Substack calculated and called lower than they expected. That's an opinion, and I'd treat it as one. The figure itself is ICANN's. A brand string is a name a company runs for itself, the way .google was in the 2012 round.

What does a brand application tell you? That the company decided a top level domain was worth a significant fee. A 101domain guide to the applicant journey puts the evaluation fee at $227,000, payable on submission. That alone filters out casual interest.

Generic words

This is the bulk of the round, by subtraction. Generic strings are ordinary dictionary words and sector terms. The rules matter here. Under the guidebook, as summarised by CMS law firm, an applicant cannot obtain a generic term and reserve it solely for themselves unless the application is later shown to serve the public interest. Singular and plural versions of the same word are also not both allowed: .horses would be refused if .horse is already delegated.

Cities and regions

Only 15 applications self-identify as geographic names. That's a small number for a round of this size. I'd add the caveat that it's self-identification, so a string that is also a place name might not be flagged by its applicant. If your business is named after a city, check the list by eye rather than relying on the label.

Technology and AI strings

ICANN's announcement doesn't break out a technology or AI category, so I can't give you a count, and I won't pretend a keyword search by me amounts to one. What I can say: forum chatter after Reveal Day mentioned strings like .metaglasses and .superintelligence, and those names are the sort of thing a search of the public database will confirm or deny. Search the database yourself for the terms your sector uses. Don't rely on someone else's screenshot.

What happens after Reveal Day, step by step

The process between a published list and a live domain has several gates. Sources describe them slightly differently, and ICANN's page says the schedule drives the milestones, so I'll mark which source says what.

1. Replacement period. Applicants who named a backup string can switch to it if their first choice is in contention. BrandShelter's guidebook summary places this 14 days after Reveal Day and calls it new for the 2026 round. Check ICANN's page for the exact dates.
2. Withdrawals. Applicants can pull out. Some will, once they see who else applied for the same string.
3. String Confirmation Day: 17 November 2026. ICANN's date. After the String Replacement Period, a final list of applications is fixed. This is the day the headline numbers stop being a snapshot.
4. Community input and objections. Per BrandShelter, these come after String Confirmation Day. This is when third parties can comment on or formally object to a string.
5. String and applicant evaluation. ICANN reviews the string itself and then the applicant: organisation, finances, technical plan.
6. Contention resolution. Where more than one applicant still wants the same string, the set has to be settled before that string moves on.
7. Delegation. The string is added to the root zone and the registry can begin operating.

I'm not going to tell you which applications will clear these steps. Nobody can know yet, and the ones making confident calls are guessing.

The timeline in one place

Dates can move. ICANN's own 22 September notice gave Reveal Day as "expected no later than October 14", and it landed earlier. That's a reminder that the schedule is a plan, not a promise.

When can the public actually register one?

Honest answer: not soon, and the sources I used don't give a delegation date. Evaluation and contention resolution come after String Confirmation Day, and strings that need objection or contention handling will take longer than ones that don't. Some strings will be delegated well before others. A registry that gets through quietly could be live while a contested set is still waiting.

So don't plan a launch around a rumoured month. Plan around ICANN's published milestones and revisit after String Confirmation Day.

Endings you'll never be able to register

Many of the 333 brand strings will be closed. A .brand ending is run by one company for its own use: staff addresses, product sites, campaigns. There's no public sale. If you see your competitor's name in the list, that doesn't mean you'll be able to buy a name under it, or that anyone else can.

Closed generics are the other restricted case. As covered above, a generic word can't simply be reserved for one company's exclusive use without a public interest showing. Everything else, the open generic and community-style endings, is where public registration is likely to happen eventually, through registrars. When it does, a comparison like our registrar guide is where to start. And if you're curious how the last wave of unusual endings turned out for real sites, this roundup of fun domain extensions gives a sense.

What a business should do now

Don't panic. Don't rush to buy anything either. Three jobs, in this order.

1. Check for strings that match your brand

Search the ICANN application database for your brand name, your product names and any obvious misspellings. Look for exact matches and near ones. A string identical to your trademark, applied for by someone else, is the case that needs attention. If you're unsure how strong your position is, the brand identity and trademark page covers it. And if you haven't settled whether the name or the domain comes first, this piece on trademark or domain first is relevant background.

2. Decide whether to comment or object

Comments and objections open after String Confirmation Day, per BrandShelter's summary. You don't have to decide today. But decide who decides: a name, a budget, a deadline. An objection is a formal step, not an email to ICANN, and the grounds are set by the guidebook. If you think you have a case, get counsel who has handled one. Plenty of matches will turn out to be harmless, a generic word that happens to look like your name, and not worth a fight.

3. Pick a date to revisit

Put two dates in the calendar. One just after String Confirmation Day on 17 November 2026, when the list is final and the objection window is the thing to watch. A second when ICANN publishes delegation dates for any string you care about. Until then, the endings you already use keep working exactly as they do now. Nothing about this round changes .com.

FAQ

Can I still apply for a new ending in this round?

No. The application window closed on 12 August 2026, according to ICANN's round page. What's left is objection, evaluation and contention for applications already in. Whether another round follows is a question for ICANN's future announcements.

How much did it cost to apply?

A 101domain guide to the applicant journey states a $227,000 evaluation fee, due at submission. That's a third-party description of ICANN's fee, so confirm it in the Applicant Guidebook if the number matters to you. There were also costs beyond the fee, such as running a registry, but the research I used doesn't quantify them.

Does the Applicant Support Program mean smaller applicants got in?

ICANN reports 51 applications from Applicant Support Program applicants. That's the whole of what I can tell you from the published figures. They are part of the 1,615 and go through the same evaluation steps.

Will there be an ending for my industry?

Possibly, but you can't know from headlines. Search the public list for the words your sector uses. If a string exists, it still has to clear the process, and even then it may be a closed brand ending, not an open one.

ICANN's Reveal Day list is a snapshot, and the number to remember is that 1,615 applications become final only on String Confirmation Day, 17 November 2026. Until delegation dates are published, nothing in the list is registrable, and the closed brand endings never will be.