How to Check Domain Expiry Date: A Beginner’s Guide

So why check domain expiry date? Most of us don’t put much thought into our domain names after we’ve picked and purchased them. But if you’re not careful, you can lose ownership of your domain if you don’t renew it in time. If your domain name expires, someone else can swoop in and buy it, destroying years of hard work and investment in your website and brand.

Another reason to pay attention to domain expiry dates; maybe you haven’t registered a domain name yet but have your eye on one that’s already been taken by someone else but seems like it’s neglected and not used for any website. If you know when the domain name expires, you can buy it as soon as it becomes available. 💰

Understanding domain expiry and lifecycle

Domain expiration is the process of a domain name’s registration expiring and becoming available for someone else to register. When a domain name expires, it will no longer point to your website or email. This means that it will stop working from the perspective or your visitors or customers. That’s why it’s important to check your domain expiry date every once in a while to avoid losing it.

⌛ Every domain has a lifecycle with different stages. Here are a few different stages your website domain name may be in:

• Active domain: When a domain is active, it’s been registered by a registrar and tied to an entity. It will remain active and registered for one year before it needs to be renewed.
• Expired phase: When a domain name expires, it enters a grace period. During the grace period, you can still renew the domain name without any additional fees. The length of the grace period varies depending on the domain name registrar. Typically, it’s 30-45 days.
• Redemption phase: If the domain name isn’t renewed during the grace period, it enters the redemption period. During the redemption period, you can still renew the domain name, but you will have to pay a redemption fee. The redemption fee is typically much higher than the regular renewal fee.
• Deletion: If you don’t check the domain expiry date and your domain expires without being renewed during the redemption or renewal phases, it will enter a pending deletion phase for five days. After that, all of your data will be deleted permanently, and your domain name will become available to anyone who would like to register it.

Why check the domain expiry date?

As a website owner, it’s important to check the expiry date of your domain so you don’t miss the date by which it should be renewed. If you don’t renew your domain at the right moment, you may not get it back again if someone registers it in the meantime. It’s also important to check domain expiry dates to avoid becoming a victim of domain squatting. Domain squatters register domain names that have expired in order to sell them back to the original owner at an exorbitant price. Checking your domain expiration date and avoiding expiry will prevent domain squatters from taking over your site name.

On the other end of the spectrum, you can also monitor domain expiry dates of third-party domains to look for opportunities to buy them and expand your brand and business. If you happen to land an expired domain that had some traffic of its own, you can redirect that traffic to your main website. This is quite a common practice out there, and can be a great reason to buy expired domains.

Step-by-step guide to check domain expiry date

There are a few ways to check domain expiry dates, including using domain name registrars, WHOIS lookup tools, and browser extensions or software.

• Using domain name registrars
• Using WHOIS lookup tools
• Using browser extensions or software

Using domain name registrars

If you want to check when your own domain is going to expire, simply head over to the registrar where you purchased the domain and log into your account. You should also be able to renew the domain name through the same provider.

For GoDaddy, for example, simply sign in to your account on godaddy.com and click on the Manage button next to the domain you want to check or renew. This will take you to the Domain Manager page. You’ll be able to check domain expiry date there, plus see several renewal options, including the option to renew your domain automatically as soon as it expires. Choose the option that works for you and pay to extend the expiration date if necessary.

For Namecheap, the process is very similar. Simply sign into your account and go into the domain management panel. From there, you will be able to see your domain expiration date and status. You can also set you domain to auto-renew or renew it manually.

It all works pretty similar with the other domain registrars as well, so don’t worry if you have your domain registered with someone else. Simply go into the user panel there and look for domain management options.

Using WHOIS lookup tools

If you want to check the domain expiry date for sites you don’t own, you can conduct a WHOIS lookup. One of the popular such tools is called who.is. Simply go there, input the domain name that you’re interested in and see what the tool has to say about it:

You can see when the domain was registered, where it was registered, and when it will expire.

Using browser extensions or software

If you want to look up domains related to your brand name or trademark or want to track several competitor sites, you can also use a browser extension or software tool to check the names of multiple sites at once. For example, Domain Age Checker is a Chrome extension that checks the age of any site that you visit automatically. There are similar solutions for other browsers as well.

Check domain expiry dates regularly 💡

Take a proactive stance with domain management, whether it’s your own domain name or the competition’s. Set a reminder to renew it before it expires, or track your domains in a spreadsheet or project management tool. If possible, opt for automatic renewal with your registrar. If you are tracking competitor sites, use a browser extension or tool that will send reminders as soon as a domain you’re interested in becomes available.

Let us know if you have any questions about domains or domain name expiry dates.