When does a .dev domain expire and drop?
An expired .dev drops about 80 days later. Here is that timeline in full, plus the HTTPS-only rule, who runs .dev, and how to register one.
An expired .dev is released about 80 days after expiry, on the standard ICANN lifecycle. .dev is a generic top-level domain operated by Google Registry, aimed at developers and HTTPS-only: the whole TLD is on the HSTS preload list, so every .dev needs a valid TLS certificate to load in a browser.
- Registry
- Google Registry
- Backend
- Google Registry
- Type
- gTLD
- Delegated
- 2014-11-20
- DNSSEC
- Yes
- IDN
- Yes
- Restrictions
- Open
- Label length
- 1–63 chars
- Grace
- 45 days
- Redemption
- 30 days
- Pending delete
- 5 days
- Expiry to drop
- 80 days
- Daily drop window
- 13:00–20:00 UTC
A gTLD for builders, secure by default
.dev is a contracted ICANN gTLD run by Google Registry, so its deletion path is the standard one with no country-code surprises: up to 45 days of auto-renew grace, 30 days of redemption, and 5 days of pending delete.
What sets it apart is security, not lifecycle. Because .dev is HSTS-preloaded, browsers refuse to load a .dev over plain HTTP, so every live .dev has HTTPS. For monitoring, the timeline behaves exactly like any other Verisign-era gTLD.
Who runs .dev, and since when
.dev was delegated in 2014 and is operated by Google Registry, which runs it on its own registry infrastructure alongside its other technical extensions.
It launched already on the HSTS preload list, one of the first TLDs to be HTTPS-only from day one. The lifecycle itself is the plain ICANN contract, so Google Registry's stages apply without correction.
How to register a .dev domain
A .dev is open to anyone with no eligibility rules. The one practical requirement is technical: you must serve it over HTTPS, so budget for a TLS certificate as part of standing a site up.
No local presence, one-year minimum, any accredited registrar. Because it is HTTPS-only, a .dev with no certificate simply will not load in a browser, which trips people who expect a plain-HTTP placeholder.
- Open registration: anyone worldwide can hold a .dev domain, with no local-presence requirement.
- Register through any accredited registrar; the registry sells wholesale, not direct to the public.
- Labels run up to 63 characters using letters, digits and hyphens, never starting or ending with a hyphen.
- Registration is annual and renewable; an unrenewed name enters the deletion timeline below.
The .dev timeline, stage by stage
The stages an unrenewed .dev passes through, each at its ICANN-contracted length.
| Stage | Window | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Renewal grace: about 45 days | Day 0 to 45 after expiry | The registration has expired but the current owner can still renew at the normal price, usually through their registrar. The name often stops resolving during this window, and nobody else can register it. Registrars frequently delete earlier than the final day, which starts the rest of the timeline early. |
| Redemption: about 30 days | Day 45 to 75 after expiry | Deletion has begun. Only the current registrant can recover the name now, typically by paying a restore fee on top of the renewal, and it cannot be registered by anyone else. A restore during this stage is a strong signal the name will not drop. |
| Pending delete: 5 days | Day 75 to 80 after expiry | The point of no return. Recovery is no longer possible for anyone, including the original owner, and the registry releases the name at the end of this fixed window. This is the stage worth acting on if you want the name. |
| Released: registrable by anyone | From about day 80 | The name leaves the registry's deletion pipeline and returns to the public pool, registrable at the standard price on a first-come basis through any registrar. Availability monitoring exists to catch this moment. |
.dev technical profile
How .dev publishes registration data, secures its zone, and handles non-Latin names.
WHOIS and RDAP
Registration data for every .dev domain is queryable over RDAP at https://pubapi.registry.google/rdap/ and legacy WHOIS at whois.nic.google, so status, dates and record changes are machine-readable, which is exactly what our monitoring reads.
DNSSEC
The .dev registry supports DNSSEC, so a domain can publish DS records and let resolvers cryptographically validate its DNS answers against tampering.
Internationalized names
The .dev registry supports internationalized domain names, so labels in non-Latin scripts register as punycode alongside ordinary ASCII names.
https://pubapi.registry.google/rdap/
whois.nic.google
The defining technical fact is HSTS preloading: the entire .dev zone is hard-coded into browsers as HTTPS-only, so there is no plain-HTTP fallback for any name. DNSSEC is supported and registration data is on RDAP as with any gTLD.
Is .dev a good domain?
Where a .dev fits.
Speaks to developers
For dev tools, documentation, internal platforms and engineering brands, .dev is instantly legible to the audience that matters and reads as current.
HTTPS enforced
The HSTS-preload requirement means every .dev is encrypted by construction, a genuine trust and security signal you do not have to configure per domain.
Newer, more open
As a 2019-era launch, .dev still has strong short and one-word names available that vanished in .com years ago.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about .dev domains.
Why does my .dev only work over HTTPS?
The entire .dev TLD is on the HSTS preload list, so browsers force HTTPS and refuse plain HTTP. Every .dev site needs a valid TLS certificate to load.
Who operates the .dev registry?
Google Registry has run .dev since 2014 on its own infrastructure. It is a standard ICANN gTLD, sold through accredited registrars.
How long does an expired .dev take to drop?
About 80 days: up to 45 days of auto-renew grace, 30 days of redemption, then 5 days of pending delete. The plain ICANN lifecycle applies.
Is .dev a good domain choice?
For anything developer-facing it is an excellent fit, both for perception and for the enforced-HTTPS trust signal. For a general consumer audience a .com still reads more neutrally.
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