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Domain expiry checker
Check a domain’s expiry date, registrar and nameservers via RDAP.
Never let a client domain lapseA domain monitor in Tenium reads the registry daily and alerts 30, 14 and 3 days before expiry. The monitor list doubles as your renewal calendar. Available from Starter.
Start freeWhere the date comes from
The page queries the public RDAP bootstrap service from your own browser. RDAP is the structured successor to WHOIS: it returns JSON with events (registration, last changed, expiration), status flags, the registrar entity and the nameservers. The tool turns the expiration event into a date and a days-left counter, and lists the other events and the nameservers underneath. Because your browser makes the request, it goes straight to the RDAP service and not through Tenium's servers.
Coverage is the main limit. Generic TLDs such as .com, .org and .net publish expiry dates, as do many country-code registries. Others do not run RDAP at all or deliberately withhold the date; the German .de registry is a well-known case. The tool then shows "not published" or says the registry has no RDAP service. For those domains the registrar's control panel is the only source.
What happens after a domain expires
Expiry is not the moment a domain disappears, but it is the moment the trouble starts. For generic TLDs the sequence is roughly this:
- Expiry date: the registration lapses. Many registrars keep the domain working during an auto-renew grace period that they set themselves, commonly up to 45 days.
- Hold: some registrars switch the domain to clientHold, so the name stops resolving and the site shows a parking page while the data still exists.
- redemptionPeriod: about 30 days in which the domain can still be recovered, usually for a fee well above the normal renewal price.
- pendingDelete: five days, and then the name is released and anyone can register it.
Reading the status flags
clientTransferProhibited is good news: it is the registrar lock, which stops unauthorised transfers. clientHold and serverHold mean the name is suspended and will not resolve, either for non-payment or for abuse. addPeriod and autoRenewPeriod are routine grace states. If an unfamiliar flag appears on a client's domain, check it before the weekend. The nameserver list is worth a glance too: if a site is moving to a new host and the nameservers still name the old provider, DNS changes made at the new one will have no effect.
A worked example
Suppose the tool shows an expiry of 14 March 2027 and today is 6 November 2026. That is 128 days, so the situation is comfortable, but the interesting date is earlier: the registrar's renewal email, the invoice and the card on file all need to line up before it. Put a reminder at 60 days (about 13 January) rather than at 30, because in an agency the person who holds the registrar login is often not the person who reads the alert.
Turning it into a standing check
Domain expiry is part of the SSL / domain monitor. It reads the same RDAP data once a day and alerts at 30, 14 and 3 days before expiry, and a renewal resets the countdown. The monitor needs the Starter plan ($7 a month) or above. A related protection is a DNS monitor on the NS records with the expected nameservers, which catches a hijack the expiry date would not. Both are described under domain monitoring and DNS monitoring.
Questions about this tool
How do I find out when my domain expires?
Enter it above to read the expiration event from RDAP, or log in at the registrar. If the result says "not published", the registry hides expiry and the registrar account is the only source.
Is it the same as WHOIS?
It covers the same ground in a modern, machine-readable form. RDAP gives JSON and standard status codes, and many registries are retiring plain WHOIS for generic domains. Personal contact data is generally redacted in both.
What if my domain already expired?
Renew it at the registrar immediately, before the redemption stage if you can. In redemption you must pay a restore fee, and once the state is pendingDelete you can only wait. The status flags in the result show where it is.
Why does the result show no registrar?
Some registries return no registrar entity in public RDAP, or return a reseller. Reseller or privacy-service names can appear instead of the company you pay.
Can I check many domains at once?
Not here: the page handles one lookup at a time. A set of SSL / domain monitors does the same continuously for a list, and the monitor page works as a renewal calendar.