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Cyril Frémont, CEO at web.best and .Best, has publicly revealed 10 proposed top-level domain applications for ICANN’s 2026 new gTLD round.
In a LinkedIn post, Frémont said the group behind .best is preparing applications for:
Linkedin post:
www.linkedin.com
The proposed strings are strongly focused on artificial intelligence, prompts, agents, creators, social media, content and streaming. The announcement positions the applications as part of a wider internet.best strategy, combining registry operations, website creation and an AI marketplace.
At this stage, the list should be treated as a public company announcement rather than official ICANN application data. ICANN has not yet published the official list of applied-for strings for the 2026 round.
The 10 proposed TLDs
Frémont described the proposed applications as follows:
The theme is clear: these are not traditional industry, geography or brand strings. They are aimed at the next layer of online identity, where people interact with AI agents, publish content, sell prompts, build audiences and operate across creator platforms.
Why this is notable
The 2026 application window is ICANN’s first major new gTLD round since 2012.
That previous round led to more than 1,200 new gTLDs being added to the internet namespace. The 2026 round is therefore being watched closely by registries, registrars, investors, brands, governments and domain professionals.
The .best announcement is notable for three reasons:
For domain investors, the most interesting part is not only the list of strings, but also the timing. AI, prompts, agents and creator identity are currently among the strongest themes in digital business and domain name discussions.
Who is behind .best?
The .best top-level domain is listed by IANA with BestTLD Pty Ltd as the sponsoring organisation.
IANA’s public delegation record lists:
Frémont stated in his LinkedIn post that he took over the .best top-level domain in 2018, thanks to Jodee Rich. Public background information links the earlier .best project to PeopleBrowsr, the company associated with .ceo, .kred and .best.
The current internet.best positioning described in the post appears to bring together three related businesses:
Frémont’s post says domains.best has registrar relationships across more than 300 registrar partners worldwide, including GoDaddy, Dynadot, Namecheap, Spaceship.com, OVHcloud, Gandi, NETIM, Porkbun, Squarespace and GNAME.
ICANN 2026 timeline
ICANN’s 2026 new gTLD application submission period opened on 30 April 2026 and is scheduled to close on 12 August 2026 at 23:59 UTC.
The broad timeline is:
ICANN’s Applicant Guidebook states that the evaluation, contracting and delegation processes for the 2026 round are expected to continue through approximately 30 June 2030.
That means even if the .best group submits all 10 applications in 2026, successful strings would still have to pass the ICANN process before they could become live TLDs.
Estimated costs
ICANN’s standard gTLD evaluation fee for the 2026 round is USD 227,000 per application.
For 10 standard applications, the ICANN evaluation fees alone would be:
That is only the base ICANN fee. It does not include the full cost of preparing, defending, operating and launching the TLDs.
Additional costs may include:
A practical estimate for 10 serious applications is therefore likely to be materially above USD 2.27 million.
A conservative working range could be around USD 3 million to USD 5 million or more before the TLDs become operational, depending on legal complexity, backend arrangements, objections, marketing and whether any of the strings face contention.
If one or more of the strings enters a competitive contention set, the final cost could rise significantly.
Strategic reading
The proposed strings suggest a focused portfolio strategy.
Rather than applying for unrelated generic words, the .best group appears to be building around a specific view of the future internet:
The strongest advantage of the proposed portfolio is that the strings are connected by a common theme.
The risk is that several of the proposed TLDs also overlap with existing behaviour on .com, social media platforms, app stores, marketplaces and subdomains. The commercial success of any one string would depend on pricing, distribution, positioning, registrar support, premium strategy and real end-user adoption.
Potential issues to watch
The next important milestone will be ICANN’s official Reveal Day.
Until then, the main questions are:
DNForum view
This is an early but meaningful announcement from an existing new-gTLD operator.
The strongest factual point is the public naming of the 10 proposed strings: .prompt, .chatbot, .answer, .ask, .skills, .creator, .socialmedia, .influencer, .content and .streamer.
The strongest commercial theme is AI plus creator identity.
The main caution is that these are not yet official ICANN-published applications. The real picture will emerge only after ICANN publishes the applied-for strings and applicant entities following the close of the 2026 submission window.
For now, the announcement gives the domain industry an early look at one of the more AI-focused portfolio plays being prepared for the 2026 ICANN round.
Sources
In a LinkedIn post, Frémont said the group behind .best is preparing applications for:
- .prompt
- .chatbot
- .answer
- .ask
- .skills
- .creator
- .socialmedia
- .influencer
- .content
- .streamer
Linkedin post:
#internet #ai #creator #registry #website #ai #icann #domain #domain #domainname #website #prompts #icann #prompt #content #creator #socialmedia #streamer #influencer #ask #skills #chatbot #answer… | Cyril Frémont | 14 comments
ICANN Here we go! In 2018, thanks to Jodee Rich, I took over the .Best top-level domain. Today, with the support of amazing investors and Bpifrance, we're applying to name the next layer of the #internet : 10 new top-level domains across two of the fastest-moving categories online : #AI and the...
www.linkedin.com
Code:
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:ugcPost:7479559642520457216/The proposed strings are strongly focused on artificial intelligence, prompts, agents, creators, social media, content and streaming. The announcement positions the applications as part of a wider internet.best strategy, combining registry operations, website creation and an AI marketplace.
At this stage, the list should be treated as a public company announcement rather than official ICANN application data. ICANN has not yet published the official list of applied-for strings for the 2026 round.
The 10 proposed TLDs
Frémont described the proposed applications as follows:
- .prompt - for prompts as shareable and sellable digital products.
- .chatbot - for brands, services and products using conversational assistants.
- .answer - for definitive responses, Q&A and knowledge-based results.
- .ask - for question-and-answer, search and assistant-style interfaces.
- .skills - for both AI-agent skills and human upskilling.
- .creator - for creator economy identity.
- .socialmedia - for profiles and social presence.
- .influencer - for influencer identity and role-based positioning.
- .content - for publishing, media and digital libraries.
- .streamer - for live streaming and creator-led broadcasting.
The theme is clear: these are not traditional industry, geography or brand strings. They are aimed at the next layer of online identity, where people interact with AI agents, publish content, sell prompts, build audiences and operate across creator platforms.
Why this is notable
The 2026 application window is ICANN’s first major new gTLD round since 2012.
That previous round led to more than 1,200 new gTLDs being added to the internet namespace. The 2026 round is therefore being watched closely by registries, registrars, investors, brands, governments and domain professionals.
The .best announcement is notable for three reasons:
- It comes from an existing gTLD operator, not a completely new registry applicant.
- It is a 10-string portfolio plan rather than a single application.
- The strings are concentrated around AI, creators and modern internet behaviour.
For domain investors, the most interesting part is not only the list of strings, but also the timing. AI, prompts, agents and creator identity are currently among the strongest themes in digital business and domain name discussions.
Who is behind .best?
The .best top-level domain is listed by IANA with BestTLD Pty Ltd as the sponsoring organisation.
IANA’s public delegation record lists:
- TLD: .best
- Sponsoring organisation: BestTLD Pty Ltd
- Administrative contact: The Best SAS, France
- Technical contact: CentralNic
- Registry services URL: domains.best
- WHOIS server: whois.nic.best
- RDAP server: rdap.centralnic.com/best
- IANA registration date: 20 February 2014
- IANA delegation report date: 25 February 2014
Frémont stated in his LinkedIn post that he took over the .best top-level domain in 2018, thanks to Jodee Rich. Public background information links the earlier .best project to PeopleBrowsr, the company associated with .ceo, .kred and .best.
The current internet.best positioning described in the post appears to bring together three related businesses:
- domains.best - the .best registry operation.
- web.best - a cinematic website builder that turns a domain into a short-video style web presence.
- ai.best - an AI marketplace for prompts, agents, skills and workflows.
Frémont’s post says domains.best has registrar relationships across more than 300 registrar partners worldwide, including GoDaddy, Dynadot, Namecheap, Spaceship.com, OVHcloud, Gandi, NETIM, Porkbun, Squarespace and GNAME.
ICANN 2026 timeline
ICANN’s 2026 new gTLD application submission period opened on 30 April 2026 and is scheduled to close on 12 August 2026 at 23:59 UTC.
The broad timeline is:
- 30 April 2026 - Application submission window opened.
- 12 August 2026 - Application submission window closes at 23:59 UTC.
- Up to 7 days after closing - Evaluation fees must be paid for applications to proceed.
- After administrative checks - ICANN prepares for Reveal Day.
- Reveal Day - ICANN publishes the applied-for strings and applicant names.
- Replacement period and String Confirmation process follow.
- Applications then move through string, technical, operational and financial evaluation.
- Third parties may file objections where applicable.
- Contention sets are resolved if more than one applicant applies for the same or confusingly similar string.
- Successful applications proceed to contracting and eventual delegation.
ICANN’s Applicant Guidebook states that the evaluation, contracting and delegation processes for the 2026 round are expected to continue through approximately 30 June 2030.
That means even if the .best group submits all 10 applications in 2026, successful strings would still have to pass the ICANN process before they could become live TLDs.
Estimated costs
ICANN’s standard gTLD evaluation fee for the 2026 round is USD 227,000 per application.
For 10 standard applications, the ICANN evaluation fees alone would be:
- USD 227,000 per application
- 10 applications
- Total base ICANN evaluation fees: USD 2,270,000
That is only the base ICANN fee. It does not include the full cost of preparing, defending, operating and launching the TLDs.
Additional costs may include:
- Legal work
- Application preparation
- Financial and operational documentation
- Registry service provider costs
- Technical compliance
- DNS abuse mitigation planning
- Data escrow
- Rights-protection advice
- Objection handling
- Contention resolution
- Auction costs if a string is contested
- Registrar-channel development
- Launch marketing
- Premium-name strategy
- Ongoing registry operations
A practical estimate for 10 serious applications is therefore likely to be materially above USD 2.27 million.
A conservative working range could be around USD 3 million to USD 5 million or more before the TLDs become operational, depending on legal complexity, backend arrangements, objections, marketing and whether any of the strings face contention.
If one or more of the strings enters a competitive contention set, the final cost could rise significantly.
Strategic reading
The proposed strings suggest a focused portfolio strategy.
Rather than applying for unrelated generic words, the .best group appears to be building around a specific view of the future internet:
- People will use AI agents and chatbots more often.
- Prompts and workflows may become tradable digital products.
- Creators and influencers will continue building personal brands.
- Streaming and content businesses will keep expanding.
- Short, descriptive namespaces may be used for identity, marketplaces and publishing.
The strongest advantage of the proposed portfolio is that the strings are connected by a common theme.
The risk is that several of the proposed TLDs also overlap with existing behaviour on .com, social media platforms, app stores, marketplaces and subdomains. The commercial success of any one string would depend on pricing, distribution, positioning, registrar support, premium strategy and real end-user adoption.
Potential issues to watch
The next important milestone will be ICANN’s official Reveal Day.
Until then, the main questions are:
- Will all 10 strings be formally submitted before the deadline?
- Which legal entity will be listed as the applicant?
- Will the applicant be BestTLD Pty Ltd, The Best SAS or another related company?
- Will any of the strings face competing applications?
- Will any strings face string-similarity concerns?
- Will any objections be filed?
- Will the proposed TLDs be open to general registration or restricted in some way?
- Which registry service provider will support the applications?
- How will premium names and reserved names be handled?
- How will the group fund a 10-application portfolio through evaluation and launch?
DNForum view
This is an early but meaningful announcement from an existing new-gTLD operator.
The strongest factual point is the public naming of the 10 proposed strings: .prompt, .chatbot, .answer, .ask, .skills, .creator, .socialmedia, .influencer, .content and .streamer.
The strongest commercial theme is AI plus creator identity.
The main caution is that these are not yet official ICANN-published applications. The real picture will emerge only after ICANN publishes the applied-for strings and applicant entities following the close of the 2026 submission window.
For now, the announcement gives the domain industry an early look at one of the more AI-focused portfolio plays being prepared for the 2026 ICANN round.
Sources
- Cyril Frémont LinkedIn post screenshots
- ICANN 2026 Round information
- ICANN 2026 Round Applicant Guidebook, V2-2026.04.24
- IANA delegation record for .best
- Public background information on .best, BestTLD Pty Ltd, The Best SAS and PeopleBrowsr
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