WHOIS Checker — registration details for any domain
See whether a domain is registered, who holds it, when it expires and which registrar manages it.
Free and instant — results appear in seconds. No sign-up, no limits, and nothing you type is stored.
WHOIS is the public register of domain ownership. Every registration creates a record naming the registrar, the dates involved, the nameservers and — depending on the registry and the privacy settings — some information about who holds it.
People use it for three quite different reasons: checking whether a name is free before buying it, working out when an existing domain lapses, and investigating a domain that has turned up somewhere suspicious. This tool queries the registry directly and then follows the referral to the registrar for the fuller record, which is where the useful dates usually live.
The raw response is included below the parsed summary, because registries format their output differently and occasionally the detail you need is in a field the parser did not recognise.
What a registered domain looks like
A typical lookup on a registered .com returns something like:
Registrar: Example Registrar, LLC
Registered on: 1995-08-14
Last updated: 2024-08-09
Expires: 2025-08-13
DNSSEC: unsigned
Nameservers: ns1.example-dns.com, ns2.example-dns.com
Status: clientTransferProhibitedReading it properly:
The expiry date is the one that matters operationally. Domains do not switch off at midnight on that date — most registrars run a grace period of around 30 days during which the site stops resolving but the name can still be renewed at normal price, followed by a redemption period of roughly 30 more where recovery costs substantially more. After that it drops.
clientTransferProhibited is a registrar lock, and it is a good thing to see. It stops the domain being transferred away without first being unlocked in the registrar's control panel. If you are trying to transfer a domain and the request keeps failing, this status is usually the reason.
DNSSEC: unsigned means the zone is not cryptographically signed. Very common, not a fault, but worth enabling if the domain handles anything sensitive.
The nameservers here are the authoritative source of truth. If they differ from where you have been editing records, that mismatch explains a great deal.
A domain that is not registered returns a short response containing something like "No match for" — which this tool reports as available.
Why the registrant details are often hidden
Since GDPR came into force, most registries redact personal information from public WHOIS output by default. You will frequently see the registrar's privacy service listed instead of a name, or fields simply removed.
This is not evasion — it is the default for individual registrants across most of the gTLD space. Organisation names are more often visible than personal ones, and country-code registries vary widely in what they publish. Some ccTLDs return almost nothing to an anonymous query.
Status codes and what they block
- clientTransferProhibited — registrar lock. Transfers are refused until you unlock it.
- clientUpdateProhibited — record changes are blocked.
- clientDeleteProhibited — the domain cannot be deleted.
- clientHold — the domain has been removed from the zone. It resolves nowhere. This is what an unpaid renewal or a policy complaint looks like.
- pendingTransfer — a transfer is in progress.
- redemptionPeriod — it has expired and is in the expensive recovery window.
- pendingDelete — the end. It will drop shortly.
serverHold and the other server* variants are applied by the registry rather than the registrar, and you cannot lift them yourself.
Availability is not the same as buyable
A WHOIS response of "no match" means no registration record exists. It does not always mean you can register the name:
- Premium names. Registries reserve certain words and price them well above standard rates.
- Reserved strings. Many registries block geographic names, government terms and single characters.
- Recently dropped names. A domain can appear free while still inside a registry hold that has not cleared.
- Trademark conflicts. Registering an available name that infringes a mark invites a UDRP complaint, which you will lose.
Checking expiry on a domain you already own
Worth doing once a quarter. The failure mode is boring and expensive: a card expires, the renewal fails, the notification goes to an address nobody reads, and the site drops out of DNS about a month later. By the time anyone notices, recovery is a redemption fee rather than a renewal.
Auto-renew plus a card that is actually current plus a monitored contact address covers almost all of this.
Frequently asked questions
Why does WHOIS not show the owner's name?
Most registries redact personal data by default following GDPR, and many registrars include a privacy service that substitutes their own details. Organisation-held domains are more likely to show a name than individually held ones, and country-code registries each set their own disclosure rules.
The tool says a domain is available but my registrar will not sell it. Why?
Availability in WHOIS only means no registration record exists. The name may be a registry premium with a much higher price, a reserved string, or a recently expired domain still inside a hold period that has not cleared. Registrar search reflects those restrictions; raw WHOIS does not.
What happens when a domain expires?
Most registrars stop resolving it almost immediately, then run a grace period of roughly 30 days during which you can renew at the usual price. After that comes a redemption period of around 30 days where recovery carries a substantial fee. Only then does the name drop and become available to anyone.
Can I find out who owns a domain that has privacy protection?
Not through public WHOIS. The registrar holds the real details and will disclose them only under legal process such as a UDRP proceeding or a court order. Some registrars forward messages to the registrant through an anonymised contact form.
Why do some domains return almost no information?
Country-code registries set their own policies, and several publish only minimal data — sometimes nothing more than whether the name is taken. Some also rate-limit or block automated queries entirely. The raw response below the summary shows exactly what came back.
What does clientTransferProhibited mean?
It is a registrar lock, and it is protective rather than a problem. It prevents the domain being transferred to another registrar without you first unlocking it in your control panel. If a transfer request keeps failing, this status is the usual explanation.
Reviews
-
Mavia
Great tool that cost zero with instant result.