clientHold

An EPP status set by the registrar that removes the domain from the DNS zone. The name stays registered, but it stops resolving: no website, no email.

clientHold

Grace Period

An EPP status set by the registrar that removes the domain from the DNS zone. The name stays registered, but it stops resolving: no website, no email.

Registry codes clientHold

What it means for you

clientHold is the registrar acting, not the registry. The usual reasons are an unpaid invoice, an unverified registrant contact under ICANN's verification rules, or an abuse or legal complaint. Because the name is pulled from the zone, the outage is total and immediate, and no amount of DNS work at your provider will fix it while the hold is in place. The only cure is the registrar removing it, which means resolving whatever caused it. Its sibling serverHold is the same effect applied by the registry, and a registrar cannot lift that one.

Where it sits in the lifecycle

Active
Expiring soon
Grace period
Redemption
Pending delete
Available

Expired, but the owner can still renew it cheaply. Not gettable yet.

Example

A site goes dark with no DNS records resolving at all, while the domain still shows as registered in a lookup. The registry record shows clientHold: the registrar suspended the name after the registrant contact email went unverified for 15 days. Verifying the contact lifts the hold and the zone returns.

Monitor it Domain status monitoring

Tool Look up a domain's registry record

The status label and the stage sentence above are the same ones Domainyze shows on a monitored domain.

Domain lifecycle statuses

Registered (active): A domain that is currently held by a registrant and is not near its expiry date. The registry will not let anyone else register it.
Expiring soon: A registered domain whose expiry date falls inside the next 90 days. It is still fully active; the clock is simply visible.
Grace period: The window immediately after expiry in which the registrant can still renew the domain at the ordinary renewal price. Length is set by the registry, commonly around 45 days for generic TLDs.
autoRenewPeriod: The EPP status a registry sets when it has automatically renewed an expired domain on the registrar's account, giving the registrar a window to either collect payment or cancel the renewal for a refund.
serverHold: The registry's own version of clientHold. The domain is removed from the zone and stops resolving, and the registrar cannot lift it.
clientTransferProhibited: An EPP status that blocks the domain from being transferred to another registrar. It is a lock, not a problem, and most registrars set it by default.
Domain lock (update, delete and registry lock): The remaining EPP prohibitions: clientUpdateProhibited and clientDeleteProhibited set by your registrar, serverUpdateProhibited and serverDeleteProhibited set by the registry, and the bundled registry lock services that apply several at once.
pendingTransfer: A transfer to another registrar has been requested and is waiting on the losing registrar. The domain still works normally while it sits here.
Expired: The registration term has run out and has not been paid for. The name is past its expiry date but has not yet been released.
Redemption period: The recovery window after the grace period, in which only the original registrant can get the domain back, and only by paying a restore fee on top of the renewal. Commonly 30 days on generic TLDs.
pendingDelete: The final registry window before an expired domain is released. Nothing can recover it here, not even the original owner: the name is queued for deletion. Commonly five days on generic TLDs.
Available: The name is not registered. Anyone can register it at any registrar, at the going price for its TLD.
Auction: The domain is being sold on a marketplace rather than released to the public. It may never reach a public drop at all.
Blocked or reserved: The registry will not let anyone register this name at all. It is reserved by policy or blocked by a brand-protection service, and it will not drop.
Reclaimed: A domain you were watching was renewed or restored by its original owner. It went through the recovery windows and came back out registered to the same registrant.
Taken: A domain you were watching dropped and was registered by somebody else. The registration is new, so the registrant changed.
Unknown status: We do not have an authoritative answer about this name yet. It describes our read of the domain, not anything the domain is doing.

Domain lifecycle Browse the category All glossary terms