3 ways to track new TLD applications

Three resources for tracking and reviewing new top level domain applications.

As of right now there are 1,824 active new top level domain name applications covering 1,353 different strings.

If tracking and reviewing them is important to your business, you have a few different options.

1. ICANN’s Current Application Status

ICANN obviously has an interface for tracking applications. It started to get a little unwieldy as new information (GAC objections, et al) were added to the grid, so ICANN updated the interface a couple months ago.

Unfortunately, its new interface doesn’t work well for the most common type of search that most people are likely to run: a search by string.

Search for the string “inc” and it pulls up not just the applications for .inc, but also every application tied to a company with Inc. in their names. (That’s 388 results if you’re counting at home.)

Even simple queries such as hotel, finance, and express bring up applications that aren’t relevant to the string.

I’ve also found the search filters such as “Application Status” to be buggy from time to time.

As a result, I rarely use ICANN’s tool anymore. Instead I’ve turned to two other options.

2. DotWhat.co

DotWhat.co is a web site created by domain name registrar Blacknight.

The site makes it easy to drill down by applicant, location, and type of application.

I use this site when I quickly want to see who applied for a particular new TLD string.

The site isn’t updated with the latest information about each application (such as objections), but it’s my go-to resource for quick lookups.

3. Domain Incite Pro New gTLD Application Tracker

Unlike the other two services, Domain Incite’s service is not free. It’s part of a subscription package including a number of other tools that costs $79.99 per month or $799 per year.

It may come at a price, but it’s the best way to track applications.

Search by string, filter out for GAC advice, initial evaluation result, objections, back-end provider…the list goes on and on.

It also keeps track of overall program statistics, such as the number of live applications, applications withdrawn, etc.