When does a .domains domain expire and drop?
- Expiry to drop
- 80 days
- Grace
- 45 days
- Redemption
- 30 days
- Pending delete
- 5 days
An expired .domains is released about 80 days after expiry, on the standard ICANN lifecycle: renewal grace, redemption, then a short pending delete. .domains is an open generic top-level domain operated by Identity Digital and delegated in 2013. Anyone can register one, and it is used mostly by the domain industry itself: registrars, resellers, brokers and portfolio holders.
Calculate a drop dateThe .domains timeline, stage by stage
The stages an unrenewed .domains 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. |
.domains at a glance
- Registry
- Identity Digital
- Backend
- Identity Digital
- Type
- gTLD
- Delegated
- 2013-12-12
- 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
An extension for the domain trade
.domains is an unrestricted generic run by Identity Digital, so its deletion path is the standard one: up to 45 days of renewal grace, 30 days of redemption, and a 5-day pending delete before the name is released.
The word before the dot usually names a business that sells or manages names: a registrar storefront, a broker, a parking service or an investor's portfolio. That makes short, brandable .domains names scarce, and the ones that lapse are worth catching at release.
Who runs .domains, and since when
.domains was delegated in 2013 in the new gTLD program and is operated by Identity Digital on Identity Digital's registry platform, alongside a large family of open generic extensions.
As an ICANN-contracted gTLD it follows the standard registry lifecycle, which our engine encodes as data and re-verifies against the live record rather than assuming.
How to register a .domains domain
A .domains is open to anyone worldwide with no eligibility or presence requirement. Register it through any accredited registrar; the registry sells wholesale.
- Open registration: anyone worldwide can hold a .domains 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.
Some short and dictionary names carry a registry premium price at registration and renewal. Check the renewal price before you buy, not only the first year.
.domains technical profile
How .domains publishes registration data, secures its zone, and handles non-Latin names.
WHOIS and RDAP
Registration data for every .domains domain is queryable over RDAP at https://rdap.identitydigital.services/rdap/ and legacy WHOIS at whois.identitydigital.services, so status, dates and record changes are machine-readable, which is exactly what our monitoring reads.
DNSSEC
The .domains registry supports DNSSEC, so a domain can publish DS records and let resolvers cryptographically validate its DNS answers against tampering.
Internationalized names
The .domains registry supports internationalized domain names, so labels in non-Latin scripts register as punycode alongside ordinary ASCII names.
- RDAP
- https://rdap.identitydigital.services/rdap/
- WHOIS
- whois.identitydigital.services
Running on Identity Digital's registry platform, .domains publishes standard EPP statuses and RDAP records, so its stage transitions and drop timing are observable exactly as a .com's are.
Is .domains a good domain?
Where a .domains fits, and where it does not.
Registrars and resellers
A storefront name on .domains says exactly what the business sells, which suits a registrar, reseller or white-label domain shop.
Investors and brokers
A portfolio or for-sale landing page on .domains reads as purpose-built, and keeps the inventory separate from the investor's main brand.
Narrow outside the trade
Outside the domain industry the extension says little, so it works best when the business really is about domains.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about .domains domains.
What is a .domains domain, and who runs it?
.domains is an open generic top-level domain operated by Identity Digital and delegated in 2013. It is used mainly by registrars, resellers, brokers and domain investors.
Who can register a .domains name?
Anyone, anywhere. There is no eligibility rule or local-presence requirement; register it through any accredited registrar. Some short names carry a premium price set by the registry.
How long does it take for an expired .domains to drop?
About 80 days: up to 45 days of renewal grace, 30 days of redemption, then 5 days of pending delete. Registrars often delete before the end of grace; the pending-delete window is fixed.
What is the best way to get a .domains that is expiring?
Watch it and act at the pending-delete stage. When the registry deletes it, the name is open to register at the normal price, and an alert at release is usually early enough for an uncontested name.