Fifty-six applicants qualified for up to 85% off the USD 227,000 evaluation fee

The evaluation fee for a single application in this round is expected to be USD 227,000. ICANN’s Applicant Support Program takes 75-85% off that figure for organisations that qualify, and on 21 August 2026 ICANN published what it calls the final results: 56 applications fully approved.

What the support is worth

ICANN states the fee as “expected to be USD 227,000”, with the final figure to appear in the 2026 Round Applicant Guidebook. A supported applicant receives “a 75-85% reduction in New gTLD Program evaluation fees”. Applied to the expected fee, that leaves roughly USD 34,000 to 57,000 to pay, and saves roughly USD 170,000 to 193,000 per application. Both ranges are arithmetic on a fee ICANN has not yet fixed.

The fee cut is the largest item, not the only one. ICANN also lists a bid credit for supported applicants that end up in a contention set, reduced base registry operator fees should the applicant prevail and reach contracting and delegation, access to pro bono professional service providers, a capacity development programme, and an applicant counsellor. ICANN notes that the pro bono providers are independent of it and are neither endorsed nor contracted by it.

How many used it

• 177 organisations initiated the process. 78 submitted an ASP application; the other 99 initiated and did not submit one.
• Of the 78 submitted: 56 fully approved, 15 terminated, 4 withdrawn, 3 not eligible for support.
• “Terminated” is ICANN’s label for applications that “remained incomplete when the ASP System closed”, in line with the closure of the gTLD application submission period.

That is 56 of 78 submitted applications approved, and 56 of the 177 processes that were started.

Who qualified

The 56 approvals by region, in ICANN’s own order: Africa 7, Asia / Australia / Pacific 30, Europe 4, Latin America / Caribbean 1, North America 14.

By eligible entity type: indigenous or tribal peoples’ organisation 1, micro or small sized business from a less-developed economy 25, nonprofit, charity or equivalent 24, social impact or public benefit micro or small sized business 6. Where an applicant qualified under more than one type, ICANN counts it under the one it qualified through.

To be eligible, an applicant had to meet financial need and financial viability criteria and fall into at least one of five entity categories, the four above plus intergovernmental organisations.

The window has closed

ASP applications opened on 19 November 2024 and closed on 19 December 2025, after a four-week extension for organisations that had already entered their details. The round’s own application submission period opened later, on 30 April 2026. Support for this round is settled.

Approval is eligibility for support, not an application for a string. ICANN runs the two processes separately, and the statistics it publishes are counts that name no organisation.