About & the 2026 round
A transparent public tracker for the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round. Every entry is linked directly to its verified primary source. Published by RapidWombat.
Why this exists
The application window closed on 12 August 2026 ( ICANN announcement ). For the eight weeks that followed, ICANN's list of applied-for strings was not public, and the only record was what applicants disclosed themselves. This site collected those claims and linked each one back to its origin.
ICANN published the list on 7 October 2026, Reveal Day ( ICANN announcement ). That list is the official record of who applied for what. The claims collected here are kept as history and shown next to it.
ICANN's published data
Everything this tracker says ICANN lists comes from ICANN's own publication, as read on 7 October 2026. ICANN's records change as the round moves on, so its site is the place to check the current state of any application.
- Applications: every application, its applicant, its status and its public portions.
- Statistics: ICANN's totals for the round, 1,615 applications from 481 applicants on Reveal Day.
- Reveal Day contention sets (CSV): 263 sets. ICANN says contention sets will not appear on its statistics site until after String Evaluation.
- ICANN's Reveal Day announcement: what was published and the milestones that follow.
How claims are read against ICANN's list
Each row of the tracker is one string. ICANN's applicants for it are shown in two columns, primary and replacement, because ICANN lists an application that names a replacement string as two records and only primary strings can form a contention set.
- A tick means an applicant claimed the string in public before Reveal Day, and ICANN lists it for an entity this tracker has tied to that applicant.
- Not matched means no entry in ICANN's list has been tied to the claim. Either ICANN lists nobody for the string, or the applicant has not been tied to any listed entity. It is not a statement that the applicant did not apply.
- A struck-through name is a record ICANN shows with the status Deactivated. The word is ICANN's.
ICANN lists legal entities, and applicants are often known by a different name. An applicant is tied to a listed entity only where the listed name is the applicant's own, or where the applicant or ICANN's own record connects the two. Two portfolios that happen to hold the same strings are not treated as evidence.
Two rule changes that decide where money goes
1. Private settlements are prohibited
In the 2012 round, contention sets cleared primarily through private auctions where winners paid losers to withdraw. The 2026 Applicant Guidebook strictly prohibits private resolution and bans communication between competing applicants from Reveal Day onward. Contention resolves only via replacement strings, Community Priority Evaluation (CPE), or ICANN auctions. Applicant Guidebook §5.2.3
2. The replacement window
ICANN's list holds 1,169 replacement strings. In the Replacement Period, 8 to 21 October 2026, an applicant that named one may switch to it from its primary string, and only if the replacement is eligible. ICANN says a replacement that is identical to another applied-for primary string, or to another replacement string, cannot be used. ICANN announcement
Round milestones
- 7 October 2026 (Reveal Day): ICANN published the applications and its Reveal Day contention sets.
- 8 to 21 October 2026: Replacement Period for unilateral string switches.
- 17 November 2026: String Confirmation Day. ICANN publishes the final list of applied-for strings and an updated list of contention sets.
- 17 November 2026 to 16 March 2027: Community Input and Objections Period.
- 2027: Prioritization Draw.
How facts are verified
Every claim on this site is classified by evidence strength with an automated check that the source URL remains online:
Contention notice
The contention sets shown on this tracker are ICANN's, taken from its Reveal Day contention set file. ICANN publishes an updated list on String Confirmation Day. A count of public claims on a string is not a contention set. This tracker grades no applications and predicts no outcomes.
Corrections
To request a correction or update for a recorded claim, contact us at rapidwombat.com. All changes are recorded transparently.