Landrush Period

What is a Landrush Period?

The Landrush Period is a specific period in the launch of new top-level domain extensions (TLDs) where domain names are made available for registration on a first-come, first-served basis, but with a twist. This phase may involve higher registration fees and sometimes an auction process if multiple parties are interested in the same domain name. The Landrush Period allows those who didn't qualify for the Sunrise Phase a chance to register valuable domain names early.

A lot of new gTLDs work with a so-called Early Access Program (EAP) rather than with a classic Landrush Period. During EAP, registrations of the new gTLD are open to anyone at set (usually high) prices, with the cost of registration gradually decreases over a period of several days or weeks. Other registries may work with a “Limited Access Program” (LAP) or “Community Access Phase”. The goal of these phases is to allow a specific audience, such as members of a particular industry or community, to register high-value domain names before they become open to registration by the general public.

Example:

The Landrush Period of the new .music domain extension, that launched in 2023, ran from October 16, 2023 until March 10, 2024. October 16, 2023 – March 10, 2023. This was a Community Access Phase. During this phase, music organizations were able to register domain names with priority before the general public could register them.