WHOIS Lookup
Find out who registered a domain, when it expires, which registrar holds it, and where its DNS points. Registry data over RDAP, explained in plain language.
Enter a domain, not a full URL. We query the registry directly and never fetch the site itself. Results are cached for 10 minutes.
What each field means
| Registrar | The company the owner registered the domain through. Transfers, renewals, and contact requests go through them. The IANA ID identifies the registrar uniquely. |
|---|---|
| Registered, Updated, Expires | Registry timestamps. The expiry date is the one that matters: a domain that lapses enters an auto-renew grace period, then redemption, then deletion. We flag anything inside 90 days. |
| Status codes | EPP status codes set by the registrar (client) or the registry (server). Locks such as clientTransferProhibited are protective. Hold and pending states mean the domain is not working or is about to be released. Hover any code for its meaning. |
| Nameservers | Where the registry sends DNS queries. If these do not match the DNS host you expect, a migration is incomplete or the domain has been redelegated. |
| DNSSEC | Whether the zone is cryptographically signed at the registry. Signed is better, but only if the DNS host also publishes matching records. |
| Live DNS records | Current A, AAAA, CNAME, NS, MX, and TXT answers from a public resolver. Useful for confirming where the site and email actually route today, independent of the registry record. |
Limitations and data sources
- Registry data comes from RDAP servers discovered through the IANA bootstrap registry, with a port 43 WHOIS fallback for TLDs without RDAP. We show which source answered.
- Owner contact details are redacted by most registries. We display exactly what the registry publishes and never fill gaps with guesses.
- Some country-code registries rate-limit or refuse automated lookups. When that happens the tool says so instead of showing stale data.
- "Not registered" means the registry returned no record. Only a registrar checkout confirms availability.
- DNS records come from Cloudflare's public resolver and reflect what the wider internet sees, which can lag a change by up to the record's TTL.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the difference between WHOIS and RDAP?
- WHOIS is the original protocol for registration data, returned as free text on port 43. RDAP is its replacement: the same data as structured JSON over HTTPS. ICANN required gTLD registries to support RDAP, so this tool queries RDAP first and falls back to WHOIS for registries that have not adopted it.
- Why is the domain owner redacted?
- Since 2018 most registries redact registrant name, email, and address to comply with privacy law, and many owners also use registrar privacy. Registrar, dates, status codes, and nameservers stay public. To reach an owner, use the registrar's contact form or the abuse contact in the raw record.
- What does clientTransferProhibited mean?
- It is a registrar lock that stops the domain from being transferred until the owner unlocks it. It is normal and recommended. Codes that need attention are clientHold, serverHold, redemptionPeriod, and pendingDelete.
- Does a WHOIS record affect SEO?
- Not directly; Google has said domain age and WHOIS data are not ranking factors. It matters operationally: catching an expiry before the site disappears, vetting an expired domain purchase, verifying nameservers after a migration, and explaining a sudden drop when a hold status appears.
API
The same data is available as JSON, free, no key required, cached for 10 minutes:
GET https://helloseotools.com/api/whois?domain=example.com GET https://helloseotools.com/api/dns?domain=example.com
Please keep automated use under a few requests per second. Heavy or abusive use will be rate limited.