Automattic, the company behind WordPress.com, WooCommerce and Tumblr, has applied for 16 new top-level domains in ICANN’s 2026 round, among them .wordpress, .woo, .tumblr and .matt, the first name of founder Matt Mullenweg. The applications became public on October 7, when ICANN published all 1,615 applications of the round on Reveal Day. ICANN’s data shows that 11 of the 16 strings are also wanted by other applicants, and in several of those contests Automattic meets hosting and website-builder companies: Hostinger, Aruba and Squarespace.

Automattic files through Knock Knock WHOIS There LLC, the subsidiary that won .blog in the previous round. .blog now has about 375,000 registered names, according to Domain Name Wire, which reported the list on October 7.

Key facts

  • Most crowded of the 16: .pop and .robot, with nine applicants each, then .pod with eight and .vibe with seven.
  • No rivals: no other applicant filed for .jazz, .matt, .tumblr, .woo or .wordpress.
  • Brand flags: ICANN’s data marks .mesh, .tumblr and .woo as brand applications. .wordpress is not marked as one.
  • Next dates: applicants can switch to a replacement string until October 21. ICANN publishes the final list of applied-for strings on November 17.

Five Strings to Itself, Eleven Contested

Automattic’s 16 are .craft, .hire, .human, .jazz, .make, .matt, .mesh, .pod, .pop, .robot, .soul, .story, .tumblr, .vibe, .woo and .wordpress. Five of them have no other applicant. The other 11 sit in contention sets of two to nine:

Applicants in the setAutomattic’s strings
9.pop, .robot
8.pod
7.vibe
6.human
5.craft
3.hire, .make, .story
2.mesh, .soul

Contention sets as published by ICANN on October 7, 2026. Applicant counts include Automattic. Source: ICANN.

Automattic also named 11 replacement strings. Four are still available to switch to: .freelance for .hire, .php for .vibe, .task for .soul and .rap for .jazz. Automattic has until October 21 to decide. ICANN’s data shows the other seven as deactivated. Each matches a string another applicant filed, which the replacement rules do not allow.

ICANN Confirms 1,616 gTLD Applications Proceed. Reveal Day Expected by October 14.

Where WordPress Meets the Hosting Companies

Three hosting and website companies overlap with Automattic’s applications and also compete with one another:

ApplicantApplicationsIn contentionShared contests with the others
Automattic1611.human (Hostinger, Aruba), .pop (Aruba), .pod (Squarespace)
Aruba2016.human (Automattic, Hostinger), .pop (Automattic), .gen (Hostinger), .lab (Hostinger, Squarespace)
Squarespace1511.pod (Automattic), .hub (Hostinger), .lab (Hostinger, Aruba)
Hostinger44.human (Automattic, Aruba), .gen (Aruba), .hub (Squarespace), .lab (Aruba, Squarespace)

Primary applications and contention sets as published by ICANN on October 7, 2026. Source: ICANN.

.human is the one string that Automattic, Hostinger and Aruba all want, in a set of six applicants. .lab brings together Aruba, Hostinger and Squarespace, among seven. All four of Hostinger’s applications, .gen, .hub, .human and .lab, are contested. Aruba’s 20 applications come with 19 replacement strings, which matches the 39 strings the company disclosed to Domain Name Wire in September.

These counts are still provisional. The replacement period can take an applicant out of a set, and ICANN will publish an updated list on String Confirmation Day. Contention sets can change again later, through singular and plural notifications and String Confusion Objections, which under ICANN’s Applicant Guidebook can create new sets.

About the Data

Counts come from ICANN’s application export and contention-set list published on Reveal Day, read on October 8. Applicants appear under their filing entities: Knock Knock WHOIS There LLC for Automattic, Aruba PEC S.p.A. for Aruba, Squarespace Registry LLC for Squarespace and Hostinger UAB for Hostinger. Replacement strings are not counted as applications.