WHOIS lookup: where and until when is a domain registered?
Enter a domain name and see what its registry publishes about it: the registrar, the dates of registration and expiry, the status codes and the registered nameservers.
What the WHOIS lookup shows
- Registration
- Whether the name is registered, and since when. A name the registry has no record of is usually free.
- Expiry
- How long the registration lasts. If it ends within 30 days, the report warns you.
- Registrar
- Who the domain is registered with: renewal, nameserver changes and a move to another registrar go through them.
- Status codes
- Such as the lock against a transfer to another registrar (
clientTransferProhibited), or a hold (clientHold), under which the domain does not work. - Nameservers and DNSSEC
- The nameservers registered for the domain, and whether a DS record is. Whether those nameservers actually answer well is what the DNS check shows; the signatures are in the DNSSEC chain.
Frequently asked questions
Why can I not see who owns the domain?
Because of data protection rules, most registries no longer publish a private person's name and contact details. The .hu registry's web WHOIS shows them for organisations, not for private persons.
Why does a .hu domain show so little?
The .hu registry's WHOIS service (whois.nic.hu) gives only the date of registration. The registrar, the renewal date and the nameservers are on the registry's web WHOIS, which the report links to.
What is RDAP?
The successor of WHOIS: the same data, in one machine-readable form. The registries of .com, .net, .org and most newer endings answer over RDAP; where there is no RDAP, the classic WHOIS is asked.
How do I move my domain to another registrar?
You start the transfer at the new registrar. If the domain is locked against transfers, the current registrar has to lift the lock first, and the transfer usually needs an authorisation code (auth code), which you also get from them.
Related tools
- DNS Check
- Test your domain's nameservers, SOA, MX, SPF, DMARC and DNSSEC setup — with the problems and what to do about them.
- DNSSEC Chain
- Follow the DNSSEC chain of trust from the root down to the domain: keys, DS records, signatures, and where it breaks.
- DNS Record Lookup
- Look up all DNS records of a hostname, or the reverse (PTR) record of an IP address.
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