Domain expiry monitoring
Last reviewed 9 November 2026
An expired domain takes the website and the email down at once, and it is rarely a technical failure: an expired card, a renewal notice sent to someone who left, or a client who owns the registrar account and never logs in. This guide covers how expiry works and how to catch it early.
Why domains lapse
- Auto-renew is off, or the card on file expired.
- Renewal notices go to an old address, a former employee or a reseller.
- The client owns the registrar account and you, who look after the site, never see the emails.
- The domain was registered years ago for one year at a time, and nobody remembers where.
What registrars must do (gTLDs)
ICANN’s Expired Registration Recovery Policy requires registrars of generic TLDs (.com, .net, .org and others) to send at least two reminders, about one month and about one week before expiry, and one more notice within five days after expiry. After expiry the registrar must interrupt the domain’s DNS for at least the last eight days it can still be renewed, so the site and email stop working. Once a registration is deleted, gTLD registries (other than sponsored ones) must offer a 30-day Redemption Grace Period, during which restoring the name usually costs a redemption fee. Country-code TLDs set their own rules.
Those reminders only help if they reach someone who acts on them, which is why agencies monitor their clients’ domains independently.
Where expiry dates come from
The registration expiry date and registrar are public registry data. For gTLDs, RDAP (Registration Data Access Protocol) replaced WHOIS as the official source in January 2025; it returns structured JSON. Some country-code registries still only offer WHOIS, or publish no expiry date at all.
Check a domain’s expiry
Paste it into the free SSL & domain expiry checker, or call the API:
curl "https://steadysite.dev/api/ssl-check?domain=example.com"The domain_registration object contains expires_at, days_left and registrar.
Monitor it
SteadySite looks up every monitored site’s domain through RDAP (with a WHOIS fallback) and emails you 30, 14, 7, 1 days before the registration lapses. For agencies, each client’s monthly report shows domain and SSL expiry next to uptime, so the renewal conversation happens a month early instead of during an outage. The free plan covers 10 sites.
Good habits
- Turn on auto-renew and keep the payment card current.
- Renew important domains for several years at a time.
- Keep the registrant and admin email on a shared mailbox, not one person.
- Write down which registrar holds each client domain and who has the login.
Frequently asked questions
How do I monitor domain expiry dates?
Use a monitor that reads registry data (RDAP or WHOIS) on a schedule. SteadySite does this for every monitored site and emails you 30, 14, 7, 1 days before the domain expires; the free plan covers 10 sites.
What happens when a domain expires?
For gTLDs, the registrar interrupts DNS after expiry, so the website and email stop working, and it may later delete the registration. gTLD registries then generally offer a 30-day Redemption Grace Period, usually with a redemption fee, after which the name can be registered by anyone.
Do registrars warn you before a domain expires?
For gTLDs, ICANN requires at least two reminders (about one month and one week before expiry) and one notice within five days after. They go to the registrant contact email, which is often out of date.
Uptime, SSL and domain expiry, in one report per client
Start with 10 free monitors. Commercial use allowed, no credit card.