What happens when a domain expires

The timeline for a .com

These are the rules for generic domains such as .com, .net and .org, set by ICANN and the registries. Your registrar decides some of the timings within them, so its terms are the final word for your domain.

When	What happens	Can you get it back?
26–35 days before	Your registrar sends the first reminder.	Renew as usual.
4–10 days before	The second reminder.	Renew as usual.
Day 0	The registration expires. The .com registry extends it by itself (`auto renew period`), but that isn’t you renewing.	Renew at your registrar.
Days 1–5	If you haven’t renewed, one more reminder, with instructions.	Renew at your registrar.
Up to day 45	The registrar’s grace period. Your website and email may stop working.	Renew, possibly at a late fee.
Deletion	The registrar deletes the domain, at a time its terms set.	Restore it, for a fee.
The next 30 days	Redemption (`redemption period`): out of DNS, can’t be transferred.	Restore it, for a fee.
The 5 days after	`pending delete`: the registry refuses every change.	No.
Then	The registry purges the domain. Anyone can register it.	Only by registering it again, if it is still free.

If nobody renews it, a .com normally goes from expiry to free for anyone in at most 45 + 30 + 5 days. The registrar can delete it much sooner than day 45, so don’t count on the whole grace period.

Before it expires: two reminders

Under ICANN’s Expired Registration Recovery Policy, your registrar must remind you at least twice: about a month before expiry and about a week before. The policy counts 26–35 days and 4–10 days as on time. The reminders go to the registrant email address on the domain, so if that address is on the domain itself, it stops working exactly when you need it. Give your registrar a second address somewhere else, as the policy recommends.

Not every expiry email is real. Is this domain expiration email a scam? shows how to check one.

The grace period at your registrar

At expiry, the .com registry renews the registration by itself and starts a 45-day auto-renew grace period (.com registry agreement, appendix 7, section 3.1.3). The registry does this for its registrar, not for you: you still owe your registrar the renewal, and the registry’s expiry date may already show next year. Check your registrar’s account, not a lookup, to see whether you have renewed. RDAP vs WHOIS explains why the two dates differ.

What your registrar does with those 45 days is up to its terms:

It must let you renew from the moment of expiry through the days it has cut the DNS (section 2.2.5 of the policy).
It may delete the domain at any time after expiry (section 2.2.1), and must cancel it by the end of the auto-renew grace period unless something like a court order or a billing dispute stands in the way (Expired Domain Deletion Policy, section 3.7.5).
It must tell you when it deletes expired domains, to within a range of 10 days, when you register and on its website (sections 3.7.5.4 and 3.7.5.5). Look for “expired domain” or “deletion policy” in its terms.
It may offer your expired domain to someone else. ICANN warns that during this period “the domain name may be available to third parties for registration, depending on your registrar’s terms of service” (5 things every registrant should know).

Why your website and email stop

Before it deletes the domain, the registrar must interrupt its DNS: from expiry until deletion if it deletes within eight days, otherwise for at least the last eight days you can still renew. Everything on the domain stops resolving, including the website and the mailboxes. If the registrar sends visitors to a parking page instead, that page must say the domain has expired and how to renew it (sections 2.2.2–2.2.4).

Renewing brings it back. The registrar must restore your DNS “immediately or as soon as is commercially reasonable” (section 2.2.6). If you have paid and the domain still doesn’t work, ICANN has a page for exactly that, with a renewal complaint form.

After deletion: 30 days of redemption

Once the registrar deletes it, the registry holds the domain in its Redemption Grace Period for 30 days. Every generic registry except sponsored ones must offer it (section 3 of the policy). During those 30 days:

the registry disables the domain’s DNS and refuses transfers;
a lookup shows the status redemption period;
only the registrar that deleted the domain can restore it, at your request.

Restoring can cost extra: a restore fee, sometimes called a redemption fee, on top of the renewal. Registrars must publish their renewal, late renewal and restore fees on their websites (section 4.1), so check the price before you ask. A domain in redemption can’t move to another registrar until it has been restored (ICANN’s renewal FAQ).

After you ask for a restore, the status may read pending restore while the registrar sends the registry its paperwork. ICANN describes it as a “frequently defined seven day period”, and the domain drops back to redemption period if the registrar misses it (EPP status codes).

The last 5 days, then release

If nobody restores it, the domain spends five days in pending delete. The .com registry rejects every request to change it and leaves it out of the zone (appendix 7, section 3.3.2), so it can’t be restored. Then the registry purges it, and it is “made available for registration on a first-come-first-served basis”, in the words of ICANN’s renewal FAQ.

Don’t plan on getting a domain back that way: once it is released, it goes to whoever registers it first.

Country-code domains differ

Everything above comes from ICANN’s rules, which cover generic domains only. Each country-code registry sets its own.

For example, a deleted .de domain enters a 30-day “cooling-off phase” at DENIC, the .de registry, during which only its last holder (or someone they name) can register it again. Being in that phase costs nothing, but the registrar that re-registers it may charge you (DENIC).

For any other ending, find its registry in IANA’s root zone database and read its expiry rules, then your registrar’s terms.

See which stage a domain is in

Look the domain up and read its statuses: the domain expiration checker explains each one, and domain status codes covers them all. As a rule of thumb:

auto renew period: expired, still renewable at your registrar.
client hold: your registrar has taken the domain out of DNS, which ICANN says usually means non-payment, a dispute or a coming deletion. Ask your registrar.
redemption period or pending restore: deleted, still restorable for a fee.
pending delete: too late to restore.

Sources

All sources were checked on October 23, 2026.

Expired Registration Recovery Policy, ICANN, updated February 21, 2024, in force for all registrars by August 21, 2025: reminders, DNS interruption, renewal after expiry, the Redemption Grace Period and fee disclosure.
Expired Domain Deletion Policy, ICANN: deletion by the end of the auto-renew grace period, and the registrar’s published deletion policy.
.com Registry Agreement, Appendix 7, ICANN and Verisign, December 1, 2012: the 45-day auto-renew grace period, 30-day redemption period and 5-day pending delete period for .com.
Restore Services, Verisign: “Domain names can be restored within 30 days of deletion, during the Redemption Grace Period.”
5 Things every Domain Name Registrant should know about ICANN’s Expired Registration Recovery Policy, ICANN.
FAQs for Registrants: Domain Name Renewals and Expiration, ICANN: pending delete, release and transfers of expired domains.
Renewed Expired Domain Name Not Working, ICANN.
EPP Status Codes: What Do They Mean, and Why Should I Know?, ICANN.
Redemption Grace Period for .de, DENIC.
Root Zone Database, IANA: the registry for every top-level domain.