The domain is looked up at rdap.org and at its extension’s registry from our function on Cloudflare, cached for six hours. Nothing is stored.
Expires on
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- Registrar
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- Registered on
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- Last updated
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- Name servers
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- DNSSEC
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Status
How to use it
01
Type the domain
Just the name, no https or paths. If you paste a URL or an email, we keep the domain.
02
Look at the date and the days
The expiry in large type, with a warning under 90 days, and the statuses that signal a problem.
03
Check the registrar is yours
If you do not recognise the registrar, someone manages it for you. Ask for access before you need it.
What happens when a domain expires?
01
Expiry date
The domain keeps working. Almost every registrar renews it automatically if there is a valid card; if not, the countdown starts.
02
Grace period (0 to 45 days)
Website and email usually stay up for a few days and then go dark. It can be renewed at the normal price.
03
Redemption (30 more days)
The domain stops resolving. It can still be recovered, but the registry charges a fee that is often several times the yearly price.
04
Pending delete (5 days)
No way back. When it ends, the name is free and, if it had traffic, someone registers it within seconds to cash in.
What is RDAP?
The protocol registries have used to publish each domain’s record since 2019, replacing WHOIS. The content is the same — dates, registrar, statuses, name servers — but in a fixed format, as JSON over https, instead of forty different text layouts each registry wrote its own way.
How not to lose it
- Turn on auto-renewal and check the card does not expire before the domain does.
- Keep the registrant email current: renewal notices and verifications go there, and a dead inbox is the number one cause of lost domains.
- Leave the transfer lock on (clientTransferProhibited). Remove it the day you really want to move the domain.
- Renew for several years if the domain is the business. It costs the same and removes one worry.
An expired domain is the silliest outage
The website vanishes, email stops arriving and nobody knows why, until someone remembers the domain was in the name of an employee who left, on a card that expired. It happens more than it seems, and recovery costs time and a fee nobody budgeted for.
On the sites we maintain we watch domain and certificate expiries and warn well ahead. It is the least glamorous part of support and the one that prevents the Monday-at-eight phone calls.
Frequently asked questions
Can I see who owns the domain?
Almost never. Since 2018, under data protection laws, registries and registrars hide the holder’s details, and RDAP returns the record with the registrar but no owner name, email or phone. Some country extensions still publish company data, and registrars usually offer a form to contact the holder without revealing who they are.
Why does the date differ from what my registrar shows?
Because there are two different dates. The registry’s one — shown here — is when the name really expires. The registrar’s may be a few days earlier, because it needs room to charge and renew, or later, if it has already renewed and the registry has not published the change yet. If they differ by more than a few days, ask the registrar.
What is clientHold and why has my site stopped working?
clientHold means the registrar has pulled the domain from the DNS: it exists, but does not resolve, so website and email go dark together. The usual causes are a failed payment, a registrant email verification nobody handled, or a complaint. It is fixed with the registrar, usually within hours once the cause is resolved.
How many days do I have after it expires?
It depends on the extension and the registrar, but the typical pattern for .com and similar is up to 45 days of grace at the normal price, 30 more of redemption with an extra fee, and 5 of pending delete with no way back. Country extensions have their own timelines, sometimes much shorter. Do not count on them: renew first.
Does it work with .co, .es, .mx and other country extensions?
With most of them, because RDAP is mandatory for generic extensions and more national registries adopt it every year. Some still do not offer it, and then the tool says so instead of inventing a result. In that case the lookup has to be done on that extension’s registry website.
Is the domain I look up stored?
No. Our function on Cloudflare asks rdap.org, IANA’s redirector, which sends it to that extension’s registry, and returns the record to your browser. It is cached for six hours to avoid repeating the lookup and nothing is logged. The registry receives the query as it would any WHOIS.
Who watches your domains?
Domains, certificates, backups and updates: what nobody looks at until it fails. Our support looks every week and warns you first.
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