WHOIS Lookup

About WHOIS Lookup

WHOIS Lookup retrieves the public registration record for a domain: registrar, creation date, expiry date, last update, status codes, DNSSEC state and nameservers. It helps you find out when a domain expires, who it is registered through and whether a name you want is already taken.

How to use it

1. Enter the domain, for example example.com, in the Domain box. Schemes, paths and a leading www. are removed automatically.
2. Press Lookup WHOIS. Our server first asks the root registry database which server is authoritative for the TLD, then queries that server.
3. Read the Registration Info card for registrar, Registered, Expires, Updated, Status and DNSSEC.
4. Check the Nameservers table at the bottom for the delegation listed in the record.

When to use it

• Finding out when a domain you depend on is due to expire before someone else grabs it.
• Identifying the registrar to contact when you need to transfer a domain away.
• Checking a domain's age as part of vetting a supplier or a suspicious link.
• Verifying that a status such as clientTransferProhibited is set after you lock a domain.

Questions about WHOIS Lookup

Why are the registrant name and country often blank?

Since data-protection rules took effect, most registrars redact personal details, and many registries stop publishing them. When those fields are missing, the record was redacted at the source rather than lost by the tool.

Can I look up an IP address or a full URL?

No. It accepts a domain name only, and the last label must be alphabetic like com or io. Paste a URL and the scheme and path are stripped, but an IP address is rejected.

Why do the date formats differ between domains?

We show each registry's own text without rewriting it. Some print ISO timestamps, others use different layouts, so the same field can look different between .com and a country-code domain.

Does my query leave my device?

Yes. The domain is sent to our server, which opens a connection to the registry's WHOIS service on port 43 and returns the parsed fields. Registries only see our server, not you.

Why is this tool limited to 5 lookups per minute?

Registry WHOIS servers rate-limit by source address and every visitor shares ours. The cap keeps the service working for everyone. Each connection also times out after 10 seconds, and responses are cut off at 200 KB.

Related tools

• DNS LookupLook up DNS records for a domain
• SSL LookupLook up SSL certificate information for a domain
• IP LookupLook up information about an IP address
• PingPing a domain or IP address
• HTTP Headers LookupLook up HTTP headers for a URL
• Reverse IP LookupFind domains hosted on an IP address