Also called ICANN 2026 round · next round · 2026 round
New gTLD round, explained
According to ICANN, 1,616 applications will proceed. Reveal Day, when ICANN publishes the applied-for strings and who applied, is set for October 7, 2026. String Confirmation Day follows on November 17, 2026, with a community input and objections period from then until March 16, 2027, and a prioritization draw in the first half of 2027. ICANN has not yet announced dates for evaluation results, and no extension from the round has a launch date. For comparison, the 2012 round introduced more than 1,200 new gTLDs.
For investors, the effects arrive in stages. Each new extension will bring its own sunrise, early-access and general availability phases with registry premium pricing; brand extensions let some companies build on their own TLD; and applied-for strings that match words in your portfolio are worth tracking. Judge any new extension by end-user demand and renewal pricing, not launch publicity.
Example. An investor who holds a keyword .com checks the Reveal Day list to see whether the same word was applied for as a new extension.
Free to read, no signup. The list is for news of the course itself.
Join the waitlistSources
- ICANN — ICANN opens application window for new generic top-level domains (Apr 30, 2026)
- ICANN — 2026 round closes with more than 1,600 new gTLD applications (Aug 13, 2026)
- CircleID — ICANN confirms 1,616 applications will proceed in 2026 new gTLD round (Sept 23, 2026)
- ICANN — ICANN announces date for Reveal Day and other 2026 round milestones (Sept 29, 2026)
Education, not financial, legal or tax advice. Domain investing is speculative and most domain names never sell. Read the disclaimer.