WHOIS Lookup

Many domain registrars offer WHOIS privacy protection (also called WHOIS masking or domain privacy). This service replaces the registrant's personal details with the registrar's or a proxy service's information to protect privacy. GDPR regulations in Europe also restrict the display of personal data in WHOIS records.

A domain registrar is an organization accredited by ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) to sell domain names. Popular registrars include GoDaddy, Namecheap, Google Domains, Cloudflare Registrar, and Name.com. The registrar manages the domain's registration records and nameserver settings.

Domain status codes (EPP status codes) indicate the current state of a domain: clientTransferProhibited means the domain cannot be transferred away from the registrar. clientDeleteProhibited means it cannot be deleted. serverHold means it is suspended. active (or ok) means the domain is in normal status.

Use the WHOIS Lookup tool to search for the domain. If WHOIS privacy is not enabled, the registrant name and email will be shown. If privacy is enabled, you'll see the registrar's proxy information instead. Some registrars allow you to send a message to the owner via their privacy proxy service.

After a domain expiry date passes, most registrars provide a grace period (typically 30–45 days) where the original owner can renew at the standard price. After that comes a redemption period (up to 30 days) where renewal costs more. Finally the domain is released for public registration. During these periods the domain may stop resolving or show a parking/expired page.

Since the EU's GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) came into effect in May 2018, most domain registrars and registries have redacted personal registrant data from publicly accessible WHOIS records. Fields like registrant name, email address, phone number, and postal address are now typically replaced with generic placeholders or the registrar's contact details. This applies to most gTLDs (.com, .net, .org, etc.). ICANN has been developing a replacement system called RDAP and a tiered access model for legitimate purposes to access non-redacted data.

RDAP (Registration Data Access Protocol) is the modern, structured replacement for the legacy WHOIS protocol. While WHOIS returns unstructured plain text with no standard format, RDAP returns JSON responses with a defined schema, making it machine-readable and easier to parse. RDAP also supports authentication and access control — different levels of registrant data can be returned based on who is querying and why. ICANN required all accredited registrars to support RDAP from August 2019.

When a domain has privacy protection enabled, the registrant's contact details are replaced by a proxy service. Your options for identifying the real owner are: (1) Contact the registrar directly — registrars can forward messages to the domain owner via their privacy proxy; (2) Submit a legal request — law enforcement and intellectual property attorneys can file a formal request; (3) Historical WHOIS data — some services like DomainTools or SecurityTrails maintain historical WHOIS snapshots taken before privacy protection was enabled; (4) Website content — the site itself may disclose owner information in its privacy policy or about page.

A WHOIS record contains Registry Expiry Date (also shown as Expiration Date or Paid-through Date) — this is the date the domain registration expires. It also shows Created Date (when the domain was first registered) and Updated Date (when the record was last modified). Use this tool to look up any domain and check its expiry. For domains you own, log in to your registrar account and enable auto-renewal to avoid accidental expiry.