After the first round of “new gTLDs” (new top-level domains) in 2012 and years of discussions, ICANN is now ready to launch a new round of applications. What is this about? In addition to the registration of country code TLDs (ccTLDs: .de, .ch, .fr, etc.) and old generic endings (com/net/org), there was a window in 2012 during which applicants could apply for:
- generic TLDs (e.g., .shop or .tennis)
- 26 IDN TLDs (e.g., in Chinese or Cyrillic character sets)
- regional TLDs (e.g., .bayern or .tokyo), or
- corporate TLDs (.bmw or .google).
As a result, more than 1,200 new extensions came onto the market. While these TLDs were introduced, ICANN launched a multi-stakeholder process to optimize the program and enable a new application round. Now the time has come. ICANN is opening a new application window from April to June 2026. A TLD must consist of at least three letters without special characters and can also be generic in nature.
A “corporate TLD” is typically secured by a company as an exclusive namespace, meaning all domains have the same owner and use is reserved for that organization or its subsidiaries. From a user perspective, it offers the security that name.brand will always be an address of that company. This strengthens online identity. A PDF flyer “Understanding the gTLD Opportunity for Brands” is available for interested companies and ICANN has illustrated several use cases of well-known brands and generic TLDs to illustrate this.
The detailed Applicant Guidebook (T&Cs) has also been published in draft form (running to a slim 395 pages consiting of 7 modules and 12 appendices). New to this round is, among other things, that providers undergo a one-time certification for technical operations, and applicants can then select a provider (list published ~Dec25). In the first round, providers were reviewed anew with each application.
The costs of owning your own top-level domain are not insignificant and are roughly as follows:
- ICANN application fee: USD 227,000 (one-time)
- plus consulting for the application (approx. EUR 20,000-50,000)
- Ongoing costs:
- Registry operation by a technical provider: EUR 10,000-25,000
- ICANN fees: approximately USD 26,000
- Support by service providers
Additional fees may apply for any necessary evaluations e.g. Brand TLD Eligibility Evaluation at 500 USD.
This is the timeline
Source: ICANNICANN expects the review process to take between 13 (~500 applications) to over 18 months (3000+ applications), depending on the number of applications.