ICANN publishes the 2026 round: 1,615 applications, 263 contention sets

ICANN published the applications received in the 2026 new gTLD round on 7 October 2026, Reveal Day. The publication names the applying entities and the applied-for strings. It includes replacement and variant strings, the public portions of each application and a list of contention sets, and it is hosted on ICANN’s Application Publication and Statistics website.

ICANN’s data snapshot counts 1,615 applications, and its statistics page lists 481 applicants. The snapshot also gives:

• 333 brand applications
• 16 community-based applications
• 15 self-identified geographic name applications
• 51 applications submitted by Applicant Support Program applicants
• 21 applications for Internationalized Domain Names, and 9 for variants
• 864 applications from North America, 506 from Europe, 218 from Asia, Australia and the Pacific, 16 from Africa, and 11 from Latin America and the Caribbean

ICANN says the snapshot reflects primary string application data as of 7 October, and that the final number and types of applications will be confirmed on String Confirmation Day. Its announcement of 22 September had put the number of applications proceeding at 1,616.

Replacement strings. An application that names a replacement string appears in ICANN’s list as two records, one for each string, and counts once in the statistics. The list as read on 7 October holds 2,783 records: 1,614 for primary strings and 1,169 for replacement strings. ICANN shows 727 of the replacement records with the status Deactivated and 442 as Active. ICANN notes that one application was still undergoing an administrative check and was not yet in the list.

Contention sets. ICANN published its Reveal Day contention sets as a separate file, and says they will not appear on the statistics website until after String Evaluation. The file lists 263 sets covering 891 applications. The largest set holds 13 applications, all for .agent.

The dates ICANN set on 29 September stand. The Replacement Period runs from 8 October (00:01 UTC) to 21 October (23:59 UTC). An applicant that named a replacement string may switch to it during these two weeks, 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. String Confirmation Day follows on 17 November, when ICANN publishes the final list of applied-for strings and an updated list of contention sets.

This tracker now shows ICANN’s list next to the public claims made before it.