The long-standing paradigm of dark matter freeze-out in the early Universe is coming under more and more experimental pressure. In this talk, we will therefore highlight several alternative dark matter production mechanisms. In the first part of the talk, we will discuss dark matter freeze-in, in particular in the context of relatively light (keV-scale) dark matter candidates. Afterwards, we will address the possible impact of phase transitions and thermal effects in the early Universe on dark matter production. Finally, we will comment on production mechanisms for super-heavy (PeV-scale) dark matter which could be of interest for neutrino telescopes like IceCube.
