PIR (.org) names .Org Impact Awards winnners

Latin American organization TECHO wins .Org of the Year. Public Interest Registry (PIR), the organization behind .org domains, held its annual .Org Impact Awards ceremony last week. The nonprofit awarded $180,000 to organizations across seven categories. This year's big winner was TECHO, an organization working in Latin America's informal settlements, mobilizing volunteers and communities to overcome poverty through housing, civic engagement, and community-building programs.

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Verisign and ICANN should reverse course on third-level .name domains

The reputational damage will hurt both organizations. Over the past week, two more registrants of third-level .name domains have filed reconsideration requests with ICANN, asking the board to reverse the organization's decision to allow Verisign to eliminate their domain names. I agree with them. This is one of those cases where ICANN and Verisign should recognize their mistake and reverse course because eliminating these registrations undermines trust in both organizations.

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The ease of building web apps seems to be driving aftermarket sales in 2026

Four out of five domains I've sold this year have already been developed. One explanation for an increase in aftermarket domain sales this year is that it's become so easy for people to develop websites and apps. A couple of years ago, a complex site required hiring a developer or coding it yourself. Now, thanks to artificial intelligence, anyone can build a complex website, and they can do it quickly.

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Thirty-six end user sales from Atom

Companies are developing these thirty-six domains purchased at Atom last month. Atom had a strong sales month in September, judging by self-reported sales. Many of the buyers are artificial intelligence companies, but there was also a recycling business, a couple of billing/invoicing companies, and even a precious metals trading platform. These are end user sales I could find from the last month.

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New Atom app makes it easier to respond to domain offers

Atom Seller app provides a simpler way to complete most common tasks. Atom launched a dedicated iPhone app last month. After using it for a week, I think it has several benefits over using the atom.com website, especially while on the go. Let's face it, Atom has so many features that its website is difficult to use. The app strips things down to what you do most often and shows the most important data.

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Rick and the Beanstalk- DNW Podcast #607

How Rick Schwartz is getting his valuable domains into the hands of builders. For three decades, Rick Schwartz has been building a portfolio of super-valuable domain names, and he sells them from time to time at eye-watering prices. This year, something changed. Rick decided to put domains like property.com, tryouts.com, and stud.com into the hands of builders. He organized the…

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Twenty-eight European ccTLDs end users bought

A butcher restaurant, a crypto platform, and a skincare business bought domain names at Nameshift. Nameshift is a domain sales platform with 1.5 million domain names. Most of its domains are European ccTLDs, so its data is worth reviewing. The company shared its last few months of sales data with me so I could see what end users in Europe are buying.

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Time is running out: .com prices go up on November 1

Renew or transfer this month to postpone the price hike. .Com domain name registrants have just a few more weeks to renew at today's prices. Verisign, the registry for .com domains, will raise prices by 7% on November 1. The new wholesale price will be $10.97, plus ICANN's 20-cent fee. If your registrar is charging anything close to that, you can expect a price increase next month.

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Inside the 345 dot-brand top level domain applications

Nearly 20% of new TLD applications are for dot-brands. Here are some interesting ones. ICANN published the full list of 1,616 top level domain applications on Wednesday. Just over 20% of applications (345) are so-called "dot-brand" domains. There are a lot of interesting applications. Here are some things that stand out to me. Vibe coding platforms joined the fray: Lovable and Vercel both applied for matching domains.

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Beware of privacy issue when buying/selling a .si domain name

The seller can see the buyer's address when the domain is transferred. There has been a flood of .si domain sales lately, and domain investors should be aware of a major privacy issue. After selling a domain, the seller can see the buyer's address when the buyer transfers the domain to another registrar. I'm not sure if it's the other way around, too.

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Taylor Swift applies for her own top level domain

Music.taylorswift is coming to a browser near you. Pop star Taylor Swift is getting a new home on the web. The singer has applied for her own top level domain name, .taylorswift, as part of ICANN's 2026 expansion round of top level domains. Interestingly, had the artist applied for .swift, she would have run into a conflict. Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, the group that oversees SWIFT banking transfers, applied for .swift as a top level domain.

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.Com report: Cloudflare keeps climbing

See the top domain registrars for .com domains. ICANN has published the latest registrar-by-registrar data for the .com namespace using official data from Verisign. The data is always three months in arrears; the newest data provided is for June 2026. I added a new column this month that shows where the registrar ranked the prior month for each metric. Some observations from the latest numbers:

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University of South Carolina beats the other USC to .usc

Sorry, USC in California. Another school will operate .usc. The University of South Carolina has applied for a top level domain name: .usc. I believe this is just the second university in the United States to apply for a top level domain. Massachusetts Institute of Technology applied for .mit in the 2012 round. It seems to use it only as a forwarding address.

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Booking.yeah could become an actual domain name

The travel booking site wants to create the .yeah TLD after using it in commercials for years. It's been a joke among domain industry insiders that the company promotes the non-existent domain name. Well, the joke might end soon: the company applied for .yeah in this year's new top level domain expansion round. Did the company pay $227,000 for an entire top level domain just to use it for one second level domain?

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Link Freedom Group chooses it final TLDs, swapping 19

Company replaces 19 of its proposed strings. Well, that was quick. Less than 24 hours after ICANN revealed which top level domains companies applied for, Link Freedom Group has decided which strings it will continue to pursue. The second-largest applicant is still applying for 158 domains, but it has swapped in some replacement strings. I count 19 primary strings it abandoned in favor of replacement strings (the number in parentheses is the number of companies it would have to fight to win the domain):

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XYZ revs up with 139 top level domain name applications

Company behind .xyz and 34 other TLDs makes a big splash. Daniel Negari's new top level domain name empire is continuing to expand. XYZ.com LLC applied for 139 top level domain names, making it the third-largest applicant in the 2026 round by my count. The company currently runs 35 top level domains, including its namesake .xyz. XYZ didn't apply for most of the domains it now runs in the 2012 round; it later went on an acquisition spree, buying domains from other companies.

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.Org registry applies for eight top level domain names

Nonprofit looks to add more do-good domains to its portfolio. Public Interest Registry, the nonprofit that runs .org, is expanding its top level domain offerings. The company applied for 14 top level domains in the 2026 round: aid cause (uncontested) donate hope (uncontested) impact mission (uncontested) nonprofit (uncontested) organization It selected backup strings for six of the domains. If successful, the applications will add to the company's stable of charity-related domains.

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Surprise? Intercap registry is one of biggest new TLD applicants

Smaller registry goes big with 71 new TLD applications. Intercap Registry is one of the biggest new top level domain applicants in the 2026 round, applying for 71 strings. Until now, the company has been a smaller player in the registry business. It operates .inc, .dealer, and .box. So it was a bit surprising to see its name repeatedly in ICANN's list of applications.

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Most contested top level domains: .agent, .lab(s), .bit

Unofficially, these TLDs have the most applicants. Today, ICANN released the full list of 1,616 new top level domain name applications it received this year. The most-contested sting is no surprise: .agent is at the top of the list. But two things are immediately surprising. First, only five companies applied for .crypto. Many had that high on their list for most-contested.

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Squarespace gets into the domain registry business

Registrar applies for 15 top level domains. Domain name registrar and web presence platform Squarespace has thrown its hat into the ring for new top level domain names. The company applied for 15 top level domains with ICANN this year: brand chef class firm goods gym hub lab learn member planner pod skill trainer venue Squarespace is one of the largest domain name registrars, thanks to its…

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Amazon dials back top level domain ambitions in 2026 round

Company applies for eight dot-brand top level domain names. Tech giant Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) was one of the largest applicants for new top level domain names in the 2012 expansion round, applying for 76 extensions. It was also one of the biggest disappointments when it came to actually releasing the TLDs it won. It took years. There was lots of foot-dragging.

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Chinese new TLD applicant appears to have been fake

Why did someone create a fake applicant website? A Chinese company that said it applied for over 100 top level domain names was apparently fake. In August, Journey to the West Corporation created a website promoting what it said were 323 primary and replacement strings that it applied for in ICANN's 2026 new TLD expansion round. Most of the domains were related to China, including many IDNs.

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GoDaddy applies for 77 top level domains

World's biggest domain registrar wants to drastically expand its top level domain portfolio. Domain name registrar GoDaddy (NYSE: GDDY) has applied for 77 top level domain names through its registry subsidiary. The company largely sat out the 2012 round of new TLD expansion. In 2020, it acquired Neustar's registry business, and then rolled up several companies' TLDs through acquisition.

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Meta applies for .SuperIntelligence, 17 other top level domains

Tech giant wants .superintelligence, .agent, and other TLDs. For many people, the first time they heard the term "super intelligence" was when Donald Trump uttered the term last month. During a speech to the United Nations, Trump said that the U.S. would refer to artificial intelligence as super intelligence going forward. He later signed an executive order to that effect.

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Donald Trump applies for .trump top level domain name

President wants his own top level domain name. U.S. President Donald Trump has applied for his own top level domain name: .trump. ICANN, the organization that oversees the domain name system, opened the door to applications for new top level domains this year for the first time since 2012. Trump's application was among 1,616 submitted during the application window. ICANN revealed the applications today.

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WordPress maker Automattic applies for 16 top level domains including .matt

List includes founder's name, .matt. Automattic, the company behind WordPress, plans to expand its top level domain name portfolio by as many as 16 domains. The company already operates .blog, which has about 375,000 registrations. (For more about its thinking behind getting .blog in the 2012 expansion round, listen to Domain Name Wire's podcast with Matt Mullenweg.) This time around, the company applied for:

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Google applies for 39 top level domain names: .agent, .waymo & more

Company will face competitors for some of the domains, including .agent. Google has applied for 39 top level domain names in ICANN's 2026 expansion round. That's far fewer than the 101 it applied for last time, in 2012. From the last batch, two of its most successful open top level domains are .app and .dev. It paid $25 million in an auction to get .app.

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OpenAI, maker of ChatGPT, applies for 15 top level domain names

Company applies for five "dot brands" plus generic strings, such as .agent, .skill. Artificial intelligence company OpenAI has decided to get into the top level domain name business. The company applied for fifteen top level domain names: agent agi asi chatgpt codex daybreak deploy evals gpt mcp model oai openai skill voice The company is one of thirteen to apply for .agent.

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Identity Digital applies for whopping 216 top level domain names

Company makes massive investment in new strings, including applications for .agent and .crypto. Identity Digital hopes to add hundreds of top level domain names to its already massive portfolio. The company, which is already the largest registry in terms of top level domain names, applied for 216 strings in the 2026 round. The applications span 13 categories: AI Web3 & Crypto…

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Verisign announces Verisign Informed, applies for .pki top level domain

New security product to provide current certificate status information. Verisign (NASDAQ: VRSN) announced its long-awaited new security product today, along with its application for the .pki top level domain. Verisign Informed addresses what the company calls stale trust, where decisions are based on out-of-date certificate information. Systems can rely on old or cached information about whether a certificate is still valid.

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