When does a .me domain expire and drop?
An expired .me drops about 80 days later. Here is that timeline in full, plus who runs .me, what it is good for, and how to register one.
An expired .me is released about 80 days after expiry, running a full grace, redemption and pending-delete lifecycle. .me is the country code of Montenegro, delegated in 2007 but marketed globally for personal brands and portfolios, operated by Identity Digital and open to anyone worldwide.
- Registry
- Identity Digital
- Backend
- Identity Digital
- Type
- ccTLD
- Country
- Montenegro
- Delegated
- 2007-09-24
- 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 domain that finishes a sentence
.me is Montenegro's country code, sold globally for personal sites, portfolios and "about me" pages because the extension reads as a word. It is operated by Identity Digital on a gTLD-style lifecycle: up to 45 days of grace, 30 days of redemption, and a 5-day pending delete.
Like the other commercially-run country codes here, .me publishes its stages and statuses, so its drop timing is forecastable and a watched .me gives the same signals a gTLD does.
Who runs .me, and since when
.me is the country code of Montenegro, delegated in 2007 and opened for global registration in 2008. It is operated by Identity Digital on Identity Digital's platform.
It has been run as a commercial, worldwide extension from launch, so its lifecycle follows the gTLD-style stages rather than an opaque country-code process.
How to register a .me domain
A .me is open to anyone worldwide with no eligibility rules. Its appeal is linguistic: first names, verbs and "you" phrases all read naturally, which keeps short, meaningful names findable.
One-year minimum, any accredited registrar. It is priced and run as a premium gTLD-style extension, not a discount country code.
- Open registration: anyone worldwide can hold a .me 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 .me timeline, stage by stage
The stages an unrenewed .me 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. |
.me technical profile
How .me publishes registration data, secures its zone, and handles non-Latin names.
WHOIS and RDAP
Registration data for every .me domain is queryable over RDAP at https://rdap.identitydigital.services/rdap/ and legacy WHOIS at whois.nic.me, so status, dates and record changes are machine-readable, which is exactly what our monitoring reads.
DNSSEC
The .me registry supports DNSSEC, so a domain can publish DS records and let resolvers cryptographically validate its DNS answers against tampering.
Internationalized names
The .me 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.me
Operated on a gTLD-grade platform, .me publishes standard EPP statuses and RDAP records, so its stage transitions are observable and its drops forecastable.
Is .me a good domain?
Where a .me shines, and where it does not.
Built for people
For a personal site, portfolio, resume or link hub, .me is the most natural extension there is: the domain literally reads as "me".
Reads as a word
Names like call.me or notify.me finish a phrase, which makes memorable, marketable domains easy to coin.
Less so for companies
The personal connotation that helps an individual can undercut a corporate brand, where .com or a category gTLD usually reads better.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about .me domains.
What is .me, and who runs it?
.me is the country code of Montenegro, delegated in 2007 and operated globally by Identity Digital for personal and portfolio sites.
How long does an expired .me take to drop?
About 80 days: up to 45 days of grace, 30 days of redemption, then 5 days of pending delete.
Is .me only for personal sites?
That is its strength, not a rule. Anyone can register one for any purpose, but the "me" reading suits people and personal brands best.
Does .me support DNSSEC and RDAP?
Yes. The zone is signed, and registration data is published over RDAP at https://rdap.identitydigital.services/rdap/ and WHOIS at whois.nic.me.
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