When does a .io domain expire and drop?
An expired .io drops about 80 days later. Here is that timeline in full, plus who runs .io, why startups pick it, and how to register one.
An expired .io is released about 80 days after expiry, running a full grace, redemption and pending-delete lifecycle. .io is the country code of the British Indian Ocean Territory, delegated in 1997 but used globally as a technology and startup extension, operated by Identity Digital on its gTLD platform and open to anyone worldwide.
- Registry
- Identity Digital
- Backend
- Identity Digital
- Type
- ccTLD
- Country
- British Indian Ocean Territory
- Delegated
- 1997-09-16
- 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 ccTLD on gTLD rails
.io is technically a country code, but Identity Digital operates it on the same registry platform and lifecycle as its gTLD portfolio: up to 45 days of renewal grace, 30 days of redemption, and a 5-day pending delete.
That familiarity is worth having. With most country codes the honest answer to "when does it drop" is "the registry does not say"; with .io the stages are published, the statuses appear on the public record, and a watched name gives you the same early signals a .com does, in a namespace where good names resell for four and five figures.
Who runs .io, and since when
.io was delegated in 1997 as the country code for the British Indian Ocean Territory. Its commercial life as a tech extension came later, and it is now operated by Identity Digital on Identity Digital's registry platform.
Because it is a country code rather than an ICANN-contracted gTLD, its rules are the operator's to set and have changed before. The stages documented here are the operator's current published lifecycle, which our engine re-verifies against the live record rather than assumes.
How to register a .io domain
A .io is open to anyone, anywhere, with no local presence or eligibility rules. The constraint is competition, not permission: short and dictionary .io names are heavily contested and command premium prices.
Renewals cost several times a .com, which matters because side projects on .io lapse often. Two and three-character names are watched by every catching service; treat them as aftermarket buys.
- Open registration: anyone worldwide can hold a .io 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 .io timeline, stage by stage
The stages an unrenewed .io passes through, each at its published 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. |
.io technical profile
How .io publishes registration data, secures its zone, and handles non-Latin names.
WHOIS and RDAP
Registration data for every .io domain is queryable over RDAP at https://rdap.identitydigital.services/rdap/ and legacy WHOIS at whois.nic.io, so status, dates and record changes are machine-readable, which is exactly what our monitoring reads.
DNSSEC
The .io registry supports DNSSEC, so a domain can publish DS records and let resolvers cryptographically validate its DNS answers against tampering.
Internationalized names
The .io registry supports internationalized domain names, so labels in non-Latin scripts register as punycode alongside ordinary ASCII names.
https://rdap.identitydigital.services/rdap/
whois.nic.io
Running on Identity Digital's gTLD platform, .io publishes the same EPP statuses and RDAP records as a generic, which is what makes its drop timing knowable where most country codes are not.
Is .io a good domain?
Why so many technology brands choose .io, and the catch.
The startup default
Among developers and founders, .io reads as a modern tech company. It has become a genuine second default after .com for software and infrastructure brands.
Short and brandable
The pool is younger than .com, so crisp two-word and coined names are still findable, which is why naming-conscious startups gravitate to it.
A country code, technically
Because .io is a ccTLD, its policy is the operator's to change, and renewals are pricey. For a long-lived brand, weigh that governance risk against the naming upside.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about .io domains.
What is .io, and who runs it?
.io is the country code of the British Indian Ocean Territory, delegated in 1997 and operated globally by Identity Digital as a technology extension on its gTLD platform.
How long does it take for an expired .io to drop?
About 80 days: up to 45 days of renewal grace, 30 days of redemption, then 5 days of pending delete. Early registrar deletion can pull the first stage in; the pending-delete window is fixed.
Does .io really follow the same lifecycle as .com?
In shape, yes: Identity Digital runs .io through the same grace, redemption and pending-delete stages it uses across its gTLD portfolio, with the same EPP statuses on the record. It is one of the few country codes where that is true.
Is .io a good domain for a startup?
For a technology or developer-facing brand, it is one of the strongest choices after .com, both for perception and for name availability. The trade-offs are premium renewals and the fact that a ccTLD's rules can change.
What is the best way to get a .io that is expiring?
Watch it from the moment you want it. Stage alerts show whether it is heading for the drop at all; for most non-premium names an alert at release is early enough to hand-register, and for a contested short name, plan on a backorder too.
Start Monitoring & Catching Domains Today
Join founders, agencies, and domainers already protecting their portfolio. Your first 5 domains are free.
No credit card required • Cancel anytime