The .dot domain opens to everyone on December 2, 2026, after a trademark sunrise that ends November 19 and a 12-day early access sale with falling prices. The registry, Dish DBS Corporation, is pitching it to developers, startups and technical brands from its own site at dot.dot, which shows example names like api.dot, cli.dot and sdk.dot. Dish has owned the extension since it won it at an ICANN auction in 2014, so this is an old TLD finally going on sale, not a new application. Here is the schedule, what it costs, how the dates moved, and who should actually register.

The .dot launch schedule

The .dot launch schedule on the registry's site runs in four phases, all in UTC and, in the registry's words, "subject to ICANN approval."

Those are not the dates first announced. When Dish filed its plan with ICANN in early July, Domain Incite reported a sunrise ending October 19 and general availability on November 2. The registry page, Gandi and 101domain now all show December 2. We found no announcement explaining the month's delay, so treat the current dates as the working plan and check your registrar the week before.

Why the order matters: during sunrise, a brand owner with a TMCH record gets first claim on its exact name. Once EAP starts, anyone can grab what is left by paying more, and from December 2 names go at the normal price. If you hold a trademark and want it in .dot, the deadline that counts is November 19.

What a .dot domain costs

A .dot domain price depends on the phase, and the registry's page lists no prices. Registrars set their own. Gandi's .dot page, checked November 7, shows how steep the early access curve is:

• Sunrise: $287.07 for the first year.
• EAP day one (November 20): $10,092.00, falling about $1,000 a day.
• EAP last day (December 1): $337.09.
• General availability and renewal: $66.91 a year.

Other registrars will differ, and premium names the registry holds back can cost more at any phase. The number to plan around is the renewal. At around $67 a year at Gandi, a .dot name costs far more than a typical .com renewal, and that gap repeats every year you hold it. Gandi also lists Tucows as the registry's technical operator and notes .dot names must be 3 to 63 characters with no IDN support.

Where .dot came from

The .dot extension came out of ICANN's 2012 new gTLD round. Two companies applied for it: Dish DBS and Charleston Road Registry, Google's registry arm. ICANN's auction results show Dish won on November 19, 2014, for $700,000. Dish signed its registry agreement with ICANN on May 21, 2015, and IANA's delegation report for .dot is dated May 16, 2016.

Then it sat for about ten years before Dish opened it to the public. That is not unusual for the 2012 round, where many companies bought strings and did little with them. What changed in 2026 is that Dish started launching. Domain Incite noted .dot is its second launch this year after .latino, which reached general availability on June 12 and had fewer than 800 names in its zone file a month later. That is a useful marker for .dot: a launch by this registry does not automatically bring buyers.

The timing also overlaps with ICANN's next application round. Our post on ICANN's 2026 new gTLD round covers what else is on the way.

Who the .dot domain is for

The .dot domain is aimed at "builders and the things they create," as Dish put it in its launch materials. The sample names on dot.dot (api, cli, sdk) show the target: developer tools and technical products that want a short, clean address.

The pitch has a catch you will hear the first time you say a name out loud. "api.dot" is spoken "api dot dot." That is memorable to some people and confusing to others, and it will need spelling out on a podcast or a phone call. Run any name through our brandable domain name checks before buying, and say it to a few people who have never seen it written down.

Trademark owners

If your brand is in software, a developer tool or a tech product, decide before November 19. A sunrise registration costs a few hundred dollars. Winning the name back through a dispute after someone else buys it costs far more. Brands outside tech can usually skip it and watch the Trademark Claims notices instead.

Domain investors

Be careful. New extensions draw a rush of speculative registrations and then a hard renewal test a year later, which is what we are watching with the .si domain boom. Back in 2011 this blog bought single-keyword .so domains right at general availability for the same reasons people will buy .dot keywords now. And the .co launch showed that a registry can court investors at launch and turn on them later, as our .CO registry post recorded. With a renewal near $67, a hundred speculative .dot names is close to $6,700 a year before a single sale.

Startups

If you already have a strong .com or a working .ai domain, a .dot name is a nice-to-have redirect. If .dot gives you an exact short name you cannot get elsewhere, and your customers are developers who will read it correctly, it can work as a primary address. Just budget the renewals.

Frequently asked questions

When can I register a .dot domain?

Anyone can register from December 2, 2026 at standard price. Between November 20 and December 1 you can register early at a premium. Before that, only trademark holders can, during sunrise.

Who runs the .dot registry?

Dish DBS Corporation of Englewood, Colorado, under an ICANN registry agreement. The registry's site at dot.dot signs itself ".dot Registry."

How much does a .dot domain cost?

At Gandi, $66.91 a year at general availability and on renewal, $287.07 in sunrise, and from $10,092 down to $337.09 during early access. Prices vary by registrar.

Are there restrictions on who can register?

No. After sunrise, .dot is open to anyone worldwide. Names must be 3 to 63 letters, numbers or hyphens.

Why did the .dot launch dates change?

The first plan put general availability on November 2. The registry and registrars now list December 2. We found no public explanation for the change.

Does a .dot domain work with email and HTTPS?

The registry says it does and that DNSSEC is on by default. As with any new extension, test sign-up forms and older software that may still reject unfamiliar TLDs.

What to do before December 2

For most readers, nothing urgent. Trademark owners in tech have until November 19 to use sunrise. Anyone who wants a specific keyword should decide what it is worth to them before early access starts, and remember that the price falls every day until December 1. Investors should watch how many names are registered in the first month and how many renew in late 2027 before betting heavily. We will cover the general availability numbers once the first zone file counts come out.

References

1. .dot Registry, "dot.dot" (launch schedule, FAQ and policies), checked November 7, 2026. dot.dot
2. Domain Incite (Kevin Murphy), ".dot is coming very soon," July 6, 2026. domainincite.com
3. Gandi, ".dot domain names" (phases and prices), checked November 7, 2026. gandi.net
4. 101domain, ".dot Domain Name Information," checked November 7, 2026. 101domain.com
5. HLC, "Launch of .DOT," September 15, 2026. hlc.com
6. ICANN, "New gTLD Contention Set Resolution Auction: Final Results for DOT," November 19, 2014. gtldresult.icann.org
7. ICANN, "Registry Agreement: .dot," May 21, 2015. icann.org
8. IANA, "Delegation Report for .dot," May 16, 2016. iana.org