Domain Name lifecycle

This article examines the lifecycle of a typical domain name, from registration to deletion. For simplicity, we will say that our domain name was registered on Jan 1, 2005.

Date/Event/Status

2005/01/01 domain registered ACTIVE

2005/03/01 after 60 days, the domain can now be transferred to another registrar, if desired ACTIVE

2005/11/01 most registrars start sending renewal notices around this time ACTIVE

2006/01/01 the domain has expired; most registrars will HOLD the domain, which means your website and email will no longer work; you can still renew your domain name for the regular price; you can no longer transfer the domain unless you renew first REGISTRAR-HOLD

2006/02/09 after 40 days, most registrars delete the domain; to get the domain back after this point you have to restore it which costs a lot REDEMPTIONPERIOD

2006/03/11 after 30 days, the domain can no longer be restored; the only way to get the domain back is to wait until it is dropped from the registry; of course anyone else can also register the domain at that time PENDINGDELETE

2006/03/16 after 5 days, the domain is dropped from the central registry and can now be registered by anyone, first come first serve; if the domain is valuable or has lots of traffic it will be snapped up seconds after it has dropped; Google "expiring domain names" for more information; to get a valuable domain back consider using a service like Snapnames.com.


If you want to keep your domain name, the best policy is to renew early. You do not lose any time by renewing early. For example, if the domain expires on Jan 1 2006, and you renew 1 month before that, the new expiration date is Jan 1 2007.

The chart above applies to COM & NET domains. ORG, INFO, BIZ, US & CN domains have a similar lifecycle, but the status names may be different. WS domains do not have a REDEMPTIONPERIOD, and are dropped 25 days after expiration.

Source: Dynadot.com