When does a .pro domain expire and drop?
An expired .pro drops about 80 days later. Here is that timeline in full, plus who runs .pro, how it opened up from professionals-only, and how to register.
An expired .pro is released about 80 days after expiry, running a full grace, redemption and pending-delete lifecycle. .pro is a generic extension operated by Identity Digital, delegated in 2002 for licensed professionals and opened to general registration in 2015, so anyone worldwide can now hold one.
- Registry
- Identity Digital
- Backend
- Identity Digital
- Type
- gTLD
- Delegated
- 2002-05-08
- 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 professional signal, now open
.pro is a generic run by Identity Digital on the standard lifecycle: up to 45 days of renewal grace, 30 days of redemption, and a 5-day pending delete.
It began as a restricted space for credentialed professionals and their firms, which kept its pool small and its names available. Since opening to everyone, it has drawn professionals and service businesses who want the meaning of the word in their address, so its drops mix genuine practices with lapsed speculation.
Who runs .pro, and since when
.pro was delegated in 2002 as a restricted extension for licensed professionals such as lawyers, doctors and accountants, who had to prove their credentials to register.
Those restrictions were lifted in 2015, and it is now operated by Identity Digital as an open generic. Because it is an ICANN-contracted gTLD it follows the standard registry lifecycle, which our engine encodes as data and re-verifies against the live record.
How to register a .pro domain
A .pro is now open to anyone worldwide with no credential or presence requirement; the professional connotation is reputational, not enforced.
Because the pool stayed small during its restricted years, .pro often still has clean professional and surname names free. An expiring .pro you want follows the same stages as any generic; watch it and act at pending delete.
- Open registration: anyone worldwide can hold a .pro 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 .pro timeline, stage by stage
The stages an unrenewed .pro 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. |
.pro technical profile
How .pro publishes registration data, secures its zone, and handles non-Latin names.
WHOIS and RDAP
Registration data for every .pro 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 .pro registry supports DNSSEC, so a domain can publish DS records and let resolvers cryptographically validate its DNS answers against tampering.
Internationalized names
The .pro registry supports internationalized domain names, so labels in non-Latin scripts register as punycode alongside ordinary ASCII names.
https://rdap.identitydigital.services/rdap/
whois.identitydigital.services
Running on Identity Digital's registry platform, .pro publishes standard EPP statuses and RDAP records, so its stage transitions and drop timing are observable exactly as a .com's are.
Is .pro a good domain?
Where .pro fits, and its trade-off.
A professional signal
The word reads as expertise and service, which suits a consultant, practice or agency that wants its standing stated in the address itself.
Names still open
Years as a restricted extension left .pro with a shallow pool, so professional terms and surnames are more often free than in the crowded generics.
Lower recognition
It is less familiar to the general public than .com, so for a consumer brand it works best as a companion domain rather than the sole address.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about .pro domains.
What is .pro, and who runs it?
.pro is a generic top-level domain operated by Identity Digital, delegated in 2002 for licensed professionals and opened to general registration in 2015.
How long does it take for an expired .pro 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.
Do I still need a professional licence to register a .pro?
No. The credential requirement was removed in 2015, so .pro is now open to anyone worldwide. The professional meaning is a matter of reputation, not an enforced eligibility rule.
Is .pro a good domain for a professional or firm?
For a consultant, practice or service business it states expertise plainly and often has a clean name available. For a consumer-facing brand it is less recognised than .com, so many hold it alongside a main domain.
What is the best way to get a .pro that is expiring?
Watch it and act at the pending-delete stage. Most lapsed .pro names are uncontested, so an alert at release is usually early enough to hand-register.
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