2026 Round Applicant Guidebook

The 2026 Round Applicant Guidebook is the guide to ICANN's New gTLD Program: Next Round, providing interested parties the information they need to apply for new gTLDs. It consists of seven modules and 12 appendices, laying out the requirements to lead readers through application submission and evaluation processes.

The 2026 Round Applicant Guidebook is based on over 300 outputs (Affirmations, Affirmations with Modification, Recommendations, and Implementation Guidance) from the Final Report on the New gTLD Subsequent Procedures Policy Development Process (SubPro Final Report) as well as the outputs of the Expedited Policy Development Process (EPDP) on Internationalized Domain Names, Policy Development Process (PDP) Review of All Rights Protection Mechanisms in All gTLDs, PDP IGO-INGO Access to Curative Rights Protection Mechanisms, and PDP Protection of IGO and INGO Identifiers in All gTLDs.

Content

Applicant Journey

Pre-Submission Information

Only legal entities such as corporations, organizations, and institutions as well as governmental, non-governmental, and inter-governmental entities may apply for a new gTLD.

Applicants are required to pay the full gTLD evaluation fee of USD 227,000 for each application, with exceptions for those that qualify for the Applicant Support Program (ASP) and applicants for variant applications that meet the criteria below:

Applicants are required to pay the full gTLD evaluation fee of USD 227,000 for each application, with exceptions for those that qualify for the Applicant Support Program (ASP) and applicants for variant applications.

In the case of qualified ASP applicants, we have that they will receive a 75-85% reduction of the gTLD evaluation fee. Therefore, the discounted gTLD evaluation fee for a qualified ASP applicant will range between USD 34,500 and USD 56,750 (including the USD 2,500 deposit submitted to confirm ASP financial viability). The exact amount will depend on the final number of qualified ASP applicants.

Considering variant applications, we have that:

• The gTLD evaluation fee covers one application for a primary gTLD and up to four variant strings. If an applicant wants to apply for more than four variant strings under one primary string, the applicant must pay the USD 227,000 evaluation fee for each additional allocatable variant.
• A gTLD registry operator from the 2012 Round may apply for up to four variant strings of its existing gTLD with its application fee waived as a one-time exception. If applying for more than four variant strings, it will pay the full gTLD evaluation fee for each additional allocatable variant.

In addition to the required evaluations covered by the gTLD evaluation fee, there are a number of conditional evaluations that applicants may elect or are required to undergo to obtain a specific status or exemption.

Generic Top-level Domain

Generic Top-level Domain