When does the domain expire
We read the expiry date straight from the registry, along with the registrar, the registry statuses and the name servers. An expired domain does not vanish at once: first it stops working, then it enters a redemption period in which getting it back costs many times more than a normal renewal.
What exactly we check
- Expiry date and the number of days left
- Registrar and the original registration date
- Registry statuses, including the transfer lock and expiry statuses
- Name servers and DNSSEC state
- Data source: RDAP, with WHOIS as the fallback
Some registries do not publish an expiry date. We say so in the result instead of guessing.
How to read the result
Fewer than 30 days left
This is the last point at which renewal is a formality. Check which address your registrar sends reminders to, and whether the card behind automatic renewal is still valid.
The domain is past its date
The site and the email usually stop working within a day. The domain then enters a redemption period: it is still yours, but recovering it costs several hundred instead of several dozen. At the end it returns to the free pool and anyone can take it.
No transfer lock
The transfer lock is a single switch in the registrar panel that stops the domain from being moved until the lock is lifted. Without it, access to the authinfo code is enough.
Only one name server
A failure of the single name server takes down the site and the email even though the web server itself works. The standard asks for at least two.
An expiry status in the registry
Statuses such as redemption period or hold mean the domain has already stopped working, or will within days. That is a matter for today, not for next week.
Most common causes
The reminder went to a mailbox nobody reads
Domains registered years ago still carry the contact address of a former employee or a previous agency. The registrar sends its reminders and considers the matter settled.
The domain sits in a contractor account
The company pays for the website, but the domain is registered to the agency. When they part ways, or the contractor disappears, nobody renews it.
An expired payment card
Automatic renewal is switched on, but the card has expired. The registrar retries a few times and gives up.
Questions and answers
Where does this data come from?
From the domain registry over RDAP, the official successor to WHOIS, and from WHOIS where a registry offers no RDAP. It is the same data your registrar sees.
Why is there no expiry date?
Some registries do not publish it. In that case the date is only available in your registrar panel.
What happens if the domain expires?
First the website and the email stop working. For a while the domain can be recovered for an additional fee, after which it returns to the free pool. The exact periods depend on the registry.
Will you remind me about the date?
Yes, domain expiry is part of the free plan. We warn you in advance rather than on the day itself.
You checked once. We check every five minutes.
The free plan watches your home page, the SSL certificate and the domain expiry date. No card, no expiry date on the plan itself.
- A pulse check every 5 minutes, with a second check confirming an outage
- A warning before the certificate and the domain expire
- Email notifications with no limit
- Seven days of statistics, one account
How we watch this day to day: Availability monitoring ›
Other tools
Is my website down
Check from the outside whether the site responds, and whether the problem is on your end.
SSL certificate
Expiry date, issuer, name coverage and everything else that makes the padlock disappear.
SPF, DKIM and DMARC
Why your email lands in spam, and whether someone can send invoices from your address.
Security headers
Eight items you set on the server in a quarter of an hour, and every audit asks about them.