How to check when your domain expires

The quickest way to check when your domain expires is to type it into ICANN's free lookup at lookup.icann.org and read the expiration date in the Dates section. That date is public, so you can see it even if you have forgotten which company you bought the domain from. Then sign in to that company's account to confirm the same date, and check that the domain is set to renew by itself with a card that still works.

Step 1: find the date with the free lookup

1. Open lookup.icann.org in your browser.
2. Type your domain without "www", for example oakhillplumbing.com, and click Lookup.
3. Scroll to the section headed Dates. Look for the line that says the registration expires, often labelled as the registry expiration date.
4. A little higher up, note the registrar: the company the domain is registered with, such as GoDaddy, Squarespace, Namecheap or Network Solutions.

Write both down. The registrar tells you where to go next, and the date tells you how much time you have.

While you are there, glance at the status lines. Words like "client transfer prohibited" are normal locks. "Redemption period" or "pending delete" mean the domain has already expired and needs attention today.

Step 2: confirm it in your registrar account

The public date is a good guide, but your registrar account is where you can act on it.

1. Go to the registrar's website and sign in. If you are not sure which email you used, try each one with the "forgot password" link.
2. Open your list of domains and click the one you looked up.
3. Find the expiration or renews on date and compare it with the lookup.
4. Look for the auto-renew setting and make sure it is on.
5. Check the payment method: the card number's last four digits and its expiry date.

If you cannot get into any account, the domain may sit in someone else's. How to find where your domain is registered has the ways to track it down.

Why the two dates can differ by a day

Owners sometimes notice the registrar shows one date and the lookup another. Usually nothing is wrong.

• Time zones. The public record keeps time in UTC, the world clock used by computers. An expiry late in the evening in California is already the next day in UTC.
• The registrar renews early. Many registrars charge the card some days or weeks before the real expiry, so the date in your account may move forward before the public record catches up.
• A renewal just went through. The lookup can take a little while to show the new year.

A difference of a day is not worth worrying about. A difference of a year means one of the two has not caught up yet, or you are looking at the wrong domain or the wrong account. Check the spelling and the ending (.com versus .net) first.

Auto-renew only works with a live card

Auto-renew is the setting that renews the domain without you doing anything. It fails quietly in three common ways:

• The card on file expired. You got a new card from the bank and never updated the registrar.
• The card belongs to someone else. A former designer, an old partner or a family member who has since closed that account.
• The emails go nowhere. The registrar sent warnings to an address nobody reads any more.

ICANN's rules require registrars of .com and similar domains to send renewal reminders, roughly a month and again about a week before expiry. Those reminders only help if they reach an inbox you open, so update the account's contact email at the same time as the card.

If the date has already passed

An expired domain is rarely gone on the first day. Your website and email usually stop working soon after the expiry date, which is often how owners notice. After that comes a window where you can still renew at the normal or near-normal price, then a redemption period, about 30 days for .com and similar domains, where getting it back costs an extra restore fee set by the registrar. After that it can be released for anyone to register.

The exact length of each stage depends on the registrar and the ending, so do not wait to find out. Sign in and renew, or call the registrar's support line. Domain renewal: what happens if your domain expires goes through each stage in full.

Beware of "renewal" notices that are not from your registrar

Because expiry dates are public, some companies send official-looking letters or emails saying your domain is "due for renewal", hoping you pay them and move your domain to them by accident. Only renew through the registrar named in the lookup, by signing in to its website yourself, never through a link or form in an unexpected letter. Domain renewal scam letters and emails shows what they look like.

A calendar routine that takes five minutes a year

You do not need to watch the date every week. A simple routine is enough:

1. Put the expiry date in your calendar with two reminders: one 60 days before and one 14 days before.
2. At the 60-day reminder, sign in, check auto-renew and the card, and check the account email.
3. At the 14-day reminder, look the domain up again. If the date has moved forward a year, the renewal went through and you are done.
4. Keep the record of registrar, login email and date with your other business paperwork, where a family member or partner could find it.

If you own several domains, list them all. The spare ones you bought years ago are the ones most likely to lapse without anyone noticing, and if they point at your main site, customers notice before you do.

What to do this week

• Look your domain up at lookup.icann.org and write down the expiry date and registrar.
• Sign in to the registrar and compare the dates.
• Turn auto-renew on and update the card and the contact email.
• Add two calendar reminders before the next expiry.
• List any other domains you own and check them the same way.

Knowing your domain is safe for another year also makes it a good moment to look at the site it points to; you can see your site rebuilt first without changing anything about the domain.