What Is a dotBrand Domain – and Why It Matters in 2025 and Beyond

The web is entering an era defined by trust and control. For decades, companies have competed for space in the same digital real estate - .com, .net, .org - each one in a shared environment governed by external registries.

But in 2026, the most forward-looking organisations can take ownership of their space entirely, when the registration window for dotBrand domains opens again.

Owning a dotBrand domain, where your brand name itself becomes the top-level domain is emerging as one of the clearest markers of digital maturity. It is no longer a novelty reserved for technology giants; it’s a structural advantage for enterprises that value security, authenticity, and long-term flexibility.

What a dotBrand Domain Actually Is

A dotBrand domain (also known as a dotBrand TLD or custom TLD) means your company name sits at the very top of the domain hierarchy. Instead of operating under a shared extension, your organisation becomes the extension.

•  drive.bmw instead of bmw.com/drive
•  home.barclays instead of barclays.com/home
•  domains.google instead of google.com/domains

Every address under your own brand domain belongs exclusively to your company. You define the rules; issue subdomains as needed and decide when to retire or repurpose them. No third-party registrars, no risk of brand hijacking, and no confusion about authenticity.

Download Our Guide About dotBrand Domains

It is, in effect, your own private slice of the internet’s root structure. To get a deeper insight into all the details, download our guide about dotBrand domains.

Download the guide now

Why Leading Brands Are Moving to dotBrand TLDs

The motivations differ from company to company, but they all converge around one idea: control.

Trust and Security

Phishing and domain impersonation remain among the most widespread online threats. A dotBrand TLD solves this elegantly. When a web address ends with your brand’s name, it is unmistekaly yours. There are no lookalikes or external registrations to exploit.

For sectors built on credibility, banking, insurance, healthcare, and professional services - that assurance is invaluable. A customer visiting login.yourbrand can be confident that the page is legitimate before they even read the content.

dotBrand domains give marketers and product teams a cleaner, more intuitive canvas. Addresses like shop.yourbrand, support.yourbrand, or careers.yourbrand communicates both function and authority in a single glance.

They’re easy to remember, harder to fake, and visually align across every geography and product line. For global companies managing dozens of microsites, that uniformity is more than cosmetic — it’s operational clarity.

Ownership and Governance

When you operate your own TLD, you’re not renting space on someone else’s platform. You own the namespace outright. That means no external renewal risks, no registrar disputes, and no defensive registrations to protect your brand from imitators.

It also allows for precise governance: you decide how domains are structured, who has access, and which policies apply. The namespace becomes an extension of your IT and compliance frameworks rather than an external dependency.

A Platform for the Future

A dotBrand domain is not just a branding asset; it’s an infrastructure investment. It provides room for expansion; for new services, new technologies, and new market entries that may not exist yet.

When your organisation controls its TLD, launching new digital initiatives doesn’t require coordination with external registries or waiting for domain availability. You can innovate freely within your own framework, at your own pace.

Finally, a dotBrand signals intent. It tells customers, investors, and regulators that your organisation takes digital identity seriously. In a landscape saturated with intermediaries and threats, a brand willing to operate its own TLD demonstrates both confidence and capability.

Who’s Already Doing It

Adoption is still relatively exclusive, and that exclusivity is part of its power. A growing number of global leaders have already secured and deployed their own dotBrand domains:

• Google - for services like domains.google and ai.google
• Saxo Bank - operating its entire web presence under home.saxo
• Sky Group - using skygroup.sky for corporate communications
• Canon - hosting global content at global.canon
• Barclays - migrating customer and investor portals to .barclays

These companies span industries but share a common mindset: control your digital foundation before someone else defines it for you.

The Economics and the Window of Opportunity

Owning a dotBrand domain requires both financial and organisational commitment. The entry cost is approximately €250,000, with annual operational fees around €30-50,000. For large enterprises managing significant domain portfolios, this is a proportionate investment in security, governance, and brand integrity.

After more than a decade without new applications, ICANN’s next window for TLD submissions is now open, but only until mid-2026. Once that period closes, the opportunity to secure a brand TLD may not return for years.

For enterprises considering long-term digital strategy, this is not a marketing decision; it’s an infrastructure one.

Why It Matters in 2025 and Beyond

dotBrand domains represent a subtle but profound shift in how online identity is managed. Over time, customers will increasingly associate dotBrand with authenticity - shorthand for “official”.

For organisations that operate on a global scale, with complex product lines and high trust requirements, owning a TLD will move from being a differentiator to a baseline expectation. It will be the digital equivalent of owning your trademark or securing your IP portfolio.

Not every organisation will need one, but those that do are quietly shaping what digital trust will look like in the next decade, a landscape where authenticity is built into the address itself.

Those who act early will define the standard. Those who wait will eventually follow.