ICANN Reveals 1,615 New Domain Extension Bids: What to Check

On October 7, 2026 ICANN published the list of applications for new domain extensions in its 2026 round: 1,615 of them, including .agent, .chatgpt, .claude and .bsky. None has been approved and none can be registered yet. Nothing changes for a business website today, but it helps to know what to check and which offers to avoid.

What we know

What was published: on October 7, 2026 ICANN, the body that coordinates domain names, revealed which extensions were applied for and by whom. According to its announcement, the data covers primary strings, replacement strings, variants and contention sets.
How many: 1,615 applications, according to the announcement. On September 22 ICANN had confirmed 1,616. Its statistics site counts 481 applicants.
What kind: 333 are brand applications, 16 are community-based, 15 self-identify as geographic names (such as .roma or .vienna) and 21 are internationalized domain names, according to ICANN.
Where from: 864 from North America, 506 from Europe, 218 from Asia, Australia and the Pacific, 16 from Africa and 11 from Latin America and the Caribbean, according to ICANN.
Who wants what: the list shows .chatgpt, .openai and .codex (OpenAI), .claude and .anthropic (Anthropic), .copilot (Microsoft), .instagram and .whatsapp (Meta), plus .shopify, .stripe, .wix, .cloudflare and .tiktok, each filed by its own company. Bluesky applied for .bsky as a brand.
The most contested: .agent has 13 applications, including those from OpenAI and Meta. Next come .bit with 11 and .api, .brand and .hub with 10 each. This is this article's count from ICANN's contention-set file, which holds 263 sets and 891 applications.
Few applicants, many applications: Link Freedom Group (158) and XYZ.COM (139) account for almost one in five, by this article's count.
What it costs to apply: the evaluation fee is USD 227,000 per application, according to ICANN.
What comes next: from October 8 to 21 applicants may switch to their replacement string. On November 17, 2026 the final list comes out and the comment and objection period opens, running until March 16, 2027. String evaluation is expected to take 180 days, and the draw that sets the processing order will be held in the first half of 2027, according to ICANN.

What changes and what doesn't

What changes is that the extensions that may arrive, and who wants them, are now public. One in five is a brand application.

Nothing changes for the domain you already have. And no name can be registered under these extensions yet. ICANN's statistics site shows zero applications contracted and zero delegated, and the milestones after the 2027 draw have no dates.

The list is not final. ICANN says the number and types of applications will be confirmed on November 17. Contested strings have several applicants for a single extension, and those contests are unresolved.

SEO does not change either. Google said in 2015 that it treats new extensions like any other generic one and that a keyword in the extension gives no advantage or disadvantage in search. Google flags that post as old and possibly outdated.

How to tell if it affects you

Search the list for your brand. ICANN's site has an "Applications" tab with search and filters by applicant, region and type. Check whether someone applied for your brand name, or something easily confused with it, as an extension.
If it is there, note two dates. From November 17, 2026 to March 16, 2027 the public can submit comments and there is an objection process, according to ICANN. Talk to a trademark lawyer before then.
Do not pay for a "guaranteed pre-registration". In the previous round, ICANN warned in 2013 that nobody can guarantee a registration under a new extension and that some may never be delegated. With zero extensions delegated, an offer like that can only be a waiting list: that is this article's reading.
If an extension would suit your business, for example .agent for an AI service, do not plan around it yet. Note the string, check the list again on November 17 and assume its arrival has no date.
Do not move your site over this. Google treats a domain change like any other site move, warns that it takes time to process and recommends choosing a domain that fits your long-term needs. If your current domain works, today's list is no reason to change it.

This article is not legal advice: for an objection or a trademark dispute, consult a lawyer.

Sources

Updates: the final list ICANN publishes on November 17, 2026 will be added here.