WHOIS Lookup
See who a domain is registered through, when it expires and where it is delegated — read live from the registry.
What a WHOIS lookup shows
The registration record for a domain: the registrar it was bought through, when it was registered and last changed, when the current registration period ends, its status codes, the nameservers the registry delegates it to, and whether that delegation is signed with DNSSEC.
It usually does not show who owns the domain. Most registries and registrars now redact the registrant’s name and contact details, and this tool does not display them even where a registry still publishes them.
WHOIS and RDAP
WHOIS (RFC 3912) is a plain-text protocol on TCP port 43: send a domain name, get back whatever text the server chooses to write. Every registry formats its reply differently, which is why WHOIS output is hard to read reliably.
RDAP, the Registration Data Access Protocol, is its structured replacement: the same registration data over HTTPS, as JSON with defined fields (RFC 9082 for queries, RFC 9083 for responses). The server that answers for each top-level domain is listed in IANA’s bootstrap registry (RFC 9224), which is how this tool finds it.
Some country-code registries do not run an RDAP service. For those, this tool asks IANA’s WHOIS server which WHOIS server holds the top-level domain, queries it on port 43, and shows the registry’s reply beside the fields it could read from it, with any contact lines removed.
Reading the status codes
Status codes come from EPP, the protocol registrars use to manage domains with registries (RFC 5731). A "client" status was set by the registrar and a "server" status by the registry. "Transfer prohibited", "update prohibited" and "delete prohibited" are locks; most domains carry at least a transfer lock, and it is removed on request when you move a domain to another registrar.
"Hold" is the one that breaks things: a domain on client or server hold is not published in DNS, so it does not resolve at all. "Redemption period" and "pending delete" mean the registration has lapsed and the domain is on its way to being released.
Expiry and what happens after
The expiry date is when the current registration period ends. Registrars normally renew automatically; if a domain is not renewed, most registries move it through a grace period and then a redemption period, during which the registrant can still restore it, before it is released for anyone to register. The length of each stage is set per registry.
Nameservers here versus in DNS
The nameservers in a WHOIS result are the delegation the registry holds: where it sends resolvers to find the domain’s records. A DNS lookup of the domain’s NS records asks those nameservers what they say about themselves. The two should match; when they do not, the registry’s list is the one to fix at the registrar.