For the first time since 2012, ICANN — the organization that coordinates the global domain name system — has opened a new application process for generic top-level domains. The Register reports that the application window opened Thursday, with organizations now able to apply for new gTLD suffixes to add to the internet’s address structure.
The domain name system traces back to RFC 920, written by internet pioneers Jon Postel and Joyce Reynolds, which first proposed categorizing the internet’s address space into .gov, .edu, .com, .mil, and .org. The internet you browse today is built on that foundational structure, which has been extended gradually over the decades. The 2012 gTLD expansion round was the last major opening of the application window, and it resulted in the creation of hundreds of new domain suffixes — things like .app, .shop, .cloud, .tech, and countless others that you probably encounter regularly and may not even notice.
The 2026 round is expected to follow a similar pattern. Any organization willing to pay the application fee (around $230,000 USD in the previous round, likely higher now) and meet ICANN’s technical and operational requirements can apply for a new TLD. That creates obvious opportunities for brands seeking to operate their own top-level domains (.google, .apple, and similar arrangements already exist from the last round) as well as community and geographic interests.
The gTLD expansion rarely changes where you go to find the content you care about, and the proliferation of new suffixes in the last round didn’t meaningfully displace .com as the dominant namespace for commercial and consumer web presences. The bigger picture is what this signals about the internet’s ongoing administration and governance — ICANN opening the application window suggests a degree of institutional confidence in managing the resulting technical and legal complexity.
If you’re building something on the web and have ever wanted a truly custom domain suffix, this is your window. The process is long, expensive, and complicated, but it exists.