Free WHOIS Lookup
A WHOIS lookup returns the public registration record for a domain name. 1Lookup's free WHOIS lookup reads that record live from the domain's own registry and returns the registrar, the registration, update and expiry dates, the nameservers, DNSSEC status and every registry status code, each explained in plain English.
Example resultThis is a real lookup we captured on 2026-08-23 for example.com. Run any lookup above and it is replaced with yours.
example.com is registered with RESERVED-Internet Assigned Numbers Authority
Registered 31 years ago. Read from the domain's own registry, not a reseller's database.
Registrant name, address, email and phone are redacted at the registry under GDPR for almost every domain, so no WHOIS tool can show them.
Source: RFC 7483: Registration Data Access Protocol (RDAP) JSON Responses, published by IETF.
Registration records come from public domain registries and are shown as published. Registrant contact details are redacted at the registry for almost all domains and are not available from any lookup tool. Some registries publish no creation date; where that is the case it is stated in the result rather than estimated.
Need this at scale? Domain Age API
Run registration lookups on thousands of domains in one call: creation date, exact age, expiry and registrar, at 2 credits each.
What This WHOIS Lookup Shows You
Enter a domain and this tool returns its public registration record: the registrar holding it, the date it was first registered, the date it was last changed, when the current registration expires, the nameservers it points at, whether DNSSEC is switched on, and the registry status codes attached to it. Bare domains, full URLs and subdomains all work, so you can paste straight out of the address bar.
The record comes from the domain's own registry rather than from a reseller's database. Every generic top-level domain registry is required by ICANN to run a public lookup service called RDAP, the IETF's structured replacement for the old WHOIS text protocol, and that is what this tool reads. Answers are held for a few hours so we are not hammering a free public service, so a change made in the last hour or two may not show yet.
One thing this tool will not do is pretend to show you the owner's name. Since GDPR took effect in 2018, registries and registrars redact registrant name, address, email and phone from the public record for virtually every domain. Any site still promising you "the owner" of a .com is either showing you a privacy service's placeholder or selling you a guess. What is genuinely still public, and genuinely useful, is everything else on this page.
Domain age is the single most useful field in the record
Of everything a WHOIS record contains, the registration date does the most work. A domain registered in the last 30 days that turns up on an invoice, a bank-detail change or a login page is one of the strongest fraud signals there is, and it is the field most worth checking on its own. Check a domain's age.
How to Run a WHOIS Lookup
Enter the domain
Type or paste any domain, like example.com. A full URL or a subdomain works too: we reduce it to the name the registry actually holds a record for, handling multi-part endings such as .co.uk correctly.
We ask the registry directly
We look up which registry runs that top-level domain from IANA's own published map, then query that registry's RDAP service. No login and no third-party WHOIS mirror. We hold each answer for a few hours to stay a good citizen of a free service, never longer.
Read the record, in plain English
You get the registrar, the dates, the nameservers, DNSSEC and every status code, with each code explained in a sentence. To check thousands of domains at once or to monitor them for changes, create a free account.
The domain status codes you will actually see
EPP status codes from the registry record, in plain English. The client- codes are set by the registrar, the server- codes by the registry itself.
| Code | Plain English | Good or bad? |
|---|---|---|
| clientTransferProhibited | The registrar blocks transfers to another registrar | Good: the standard anti-hijacking lock |
| clientDeleteProhibited | The registrar blocks deletion requests | Good: normal protection on a domain that matters |
| clientUpdateProhibited | The registrar blocks changes to the registration | Good |
| serverTransferProhibited | The registry itself blocks transfers | Neutral: often a dispute or brand-protection lock |
| ok | Registered, active, no locks at all | Worth fixing: ask the registrar for a transfer lock |
| clientHold / serverHold | Pulled out of DNS; the site will not resolve | Bad: billing, abuse or dispute trouble |
| redemptionPeriod | The registration lapsed; the owner can still pay to recover it | Bad for the owner; interesting for buyers |
| pendingDelete | Being removed; returns to the open market in days | The drop-catcher's signal |
Status codes explained, not just printed
Most free WHOIS tools print "clientTransferProhibited" and leave you to work out whether that is good or bad. It is good: it is the lock that stops somebody moving the domain to another registrar without permission. Every code on the result is given a plain-English name and a sentence on what it means for the domain.
The registry's record, read live
The record is fetched from the registry that actually holds the domain, over the same public service ICANN requires every gTLD registry to run. It is not a reseller's copy of a copy, and it is not a snapshot from a database that was last refreshed at some point you cannot see.
Expiry with the countdown attached
The expiry date on its own means little at a glance. The result also says how far away it is, and flags it when the domain expires within 30 days or has already lapsed into the redemption period, which is the window where a lapsed name can still be recovered.
Honest about what is redacted
Registrant contact details are redacted at the registry for almost every domain, and no tool can un-redact them. The result says so plainly instead of showing an empty "Owner" row that reads like a failed lookup. The registrar's abuse contact, which ICANN does require to be public, is shown when the registry publishes it.
Who uses this tool
Checking a domain before you trust it
A domain registered three weeks ago, with no DNSSEC, no transfer lock and a nameserver at a bulletproof host, is a very different proposition from one registered in 2011 at a mainstream registrar. WHOIS gives you all of that in one lookup, before you click anything or pay anyone.
Reporting abuse to the right place
Phishing and fraud complaints go to the registrar, not the hosting company, and the registrar's abuse address is one of the few contact fields ICANN still requires to be public. This tool surfaces the registrar and that address so a report reaches somebody who can actually suspend the domain.
Buying, selling and catching drops
Expiry date and registry status are what say when a name might become available. A domain sitting in redemptionPeriod or pendingDelete is on a clock, and knowing which of the two you are looking at tells you whether the current owner can still get it back.
Auditing your own portfolio
Run your own domains and check the basics: is the transfer lock on, is DNSSEC signed, is the expiry date far enough out, are the nameservers the ones you think they are. These are the four settings that quietly cause outages and hijacks, and they are all in the WHOIS record.
Frequently asked questions
What is a WHOIS lookup?
A WHOIS lookup returns the public registration record for a domain name. It tells you which registrar the domain is registered through, when it was registered and when it expires, which nameservers it uses, and what status codes the registry has attached to it. Modern lookups, including this one, use RDAP, the structured JSON protocol that has replaced the original WHOIS text service at every gTLD registry.
Why does WHOIS not show the owner's name any more?
Because of GDPR. Since May 2018, registries and registrars have redacted registrant name, address, email and phone from public WHOIS records for virtually all domains, whether or not the registrant is in Europe, because it is simpler than deciding case by case. ICANN's own temporary specification formalised it. Any tool that claims to show you the registrant of an ordinary .com today is showing you a privacy service's forwarding details, not a person.
Can I find out who owns a domain at all?
Sometimes, but not from WHOIS. Some country-code registries still publish registrant details, some organisations choose to publish theirs, and a domain's own website, certificate or trademark filings often identify the owner. For a redacted domain the practical route is the registrar's abuse or contact address, or ICANN's Registration Data Request Service for requests with a legitimate legal basis. This tool shows the registrar's abuse contact when the registry publishes it.
What is the difference between WHOIS and RDAP?
WHOIS is the original 1980s protocol: plain text on port 43, formatted differently by every registry, with no standard way to say which field is which. RDAP is its IETF replacement, defined in RFC 7483. It returns JSON over HTTPS, uses standard field names, supports internationalised characters properly and can tell an authenticated request apart from an anonymous one. ICANN required gTLD registries to run RDAP from 2019 and retired the WHOIS requirement in 2025. This tool reads RDAP, which is why the fields are consistent from one TLD to the next.
What do the domain status codes mean?
They are EPP status codes, set either by the registrar or by the registry. The common ones are protections: clientTransferProhibited blocks transfers to another registrar, clientDeleteProhibited blocks deletion, clientUpdateProhibited blocks changes. "ok" means the domain is active with no protections switched on at all, which is worth fixing. The ones that mean trouble are clientHold and serverHold, which pull the domain out of DNS, and redemptionPeriod and pendingDelete, which mean the registration has lapsed. Every code in your result is explained on the result card.
Why does a WHOIS lookup show no registration date for some domains?
A few registries deliberately withhold it. Germany's .de and Switzerland's .ch confirm a domain is registered and will give you nameservers and status, but publish no creation date as a matter of policy. A handful of country-code domains publish no readable record at all, .co among them. The result names which case you have hit rather than showing a blank row or estimating a date from somewhere else.
Which domain extensions does this WHOIS lookup cover?
Around 1,200 top-level domains: every generic extension, including .com, .net, .org and newer ones such as .ai, .dev and .xyz, plus many country domains including .co.uk, .io, .us and .de. The map of which registry serves which extension comes from IANA and refreshes itself, so a new extension works as soon as it is live. Country domains are the patchy ones, because they are not bound by the ICANN contract that forces the rest to publish, and the tool tells you when it hits one that publishes nothing.
Is this WHOIS lookup free?
Yes, and no account is needed. It is rate-limited per visitor and checks one domain at a time. To look up thousands of domains at once, or to monitor a portfolio for registrar, nameserver and expiry changes, create a free account and start a 7-day trial.
Does a WHOIS lookup tell the domain owner I looked?
No. An RDAP query goes to the registry, not to the domain's own servers, so nothing reaches the owner or their website. The registry logs the query, as any web server would, but it does not report anonymous lookups to registrants. Unlike visiting the site, a WHOIS lookup leaves no trace anywhere the owner can see.
Can I run WHOIS lookups in bulk or through an API?
Yes. This page handles one domain at a time, but the 1Lookup Domain Age API returns registration date, age, expiry, registrar and status for thousands of domains through a single endpoint or a CSV upload. It costs 2 credits per registered domain and nothing for domains that turn out to be unregistered.
Related WHOIS Searches
More free tools
DR & Authority Checker
Check DR, DA, backlinks and estimated traffic.
Domain Age Checker
See exactly when a domain was registered and how old it is.
Phone Number Lookup
Validate any number and see line type, carrier and country.
Reverse Phone Lookup
Find the likely owner and location behind a phone number.