What Is a Domain Grace Period and Redemption Period?

A domain does not vanish the moment it expires. Between the expiration date and the moment anyone in the world can register it again, there is a series of stages, each with its own rules, costs, and EPP status codes. Knowing those stages is the difference between a cheap late renewal and an expensive restore, or between recovering your domain and watching a drop-catcher grab it. This article explains the grace period and the redemption period in detail: how long each lasts, what happens to your website and email during each, what it costs to get the domain back, and how to check exactly where a domain sits in the cycle. For a broader overview of the whole lifecycle, see the domain expiration process.

The Expiration Timeline at a Glance

For a typical generic TLD such as .com, .net, or .org, the stages after expiry look like this:

Stage	Typical length	Can the owner recover it?	Typical cost
Expiration date	Day 0	Yes	Normal renewal
Registrar grace period	Commonly about 0 to 45 days	Yes	Normal renewal, sometimes a late fee
Redemption period	30 days	Yes, by restoring	Renewal plus a restore fee
Pending delete	5 days	No	Not possible
Released	After pending delete	Anyone can register it	Normal registration, or auction

The redemption and pending delete lengths are fixed by registry rules for most gTLDs. The grace period length is the variable part, because it depends on your registrar. Country-code TLDs often follow a completely different schedule.

What Happens on the Expiration Date?

On the expiration date, the registration term you paid for ends. For most gTLDs, the registry does not delete the domain immediately. Instead it automatically renews it at the registry level and charges the registrar. That sounds confusing, so it helps to separate two relationships:

• Registry and registrar: the registry auto-renews the domain and bills the registrar.
• Registrar and you: the registrar decides whether to pass that renewal on to you, hold the domain, or delete it.

This is why an expired .com domain often shows an expiration date one year in the future in WHOIS, even though you have not paid. The registry auto-renewed it; your registrar has not yet decided what to do. If you want to understand the parties involved, see the difference between a registry and a registrar.

The Grace Period

Registry Auto-Renew Grace Period

After the registry auto-renews a domain, the registrar has an auto-renew grace period of up to 45 days in which it can delete the domain and receive a refund from the registry. During this time, the domain carries the EPP status autoRenewPeriod. This is a commercial arrangement between registry and registrar, but it is what creates room for the grace period you experience.

Registrar Grace Period

From your point of view, the grace period is the time after expiry during which your registrar still lets you renew at the normal (or slightly higher) price. Its length is set by the registrar within the limits of the registry rules, so it varies. Some registrars give close to the full 45 days for .com, others considerably less, and some offer no grace at all for certain TLDs.

ICANN's Expired Registration Recovery Policy (ERRP) sets minimum protections for gTLD domains:

• Registrars must send renewal reminders at set points: approximately one month and one week before expiry, and again within five days after expiry if the domain has not been renewed.
• For at least eight consecutive days after expiry, the registrar must keep the domain available for the registrant to renew.
• During that post-expiry period, the registrar must interrupt the domain's normal DNS resolution path, typically by pointing it to a parking or renewal notice page, so that the owner notices.
• Registrars must publish their renewal and post-expiry fees and explain how expiry notices are sent.

What Happens to Your Site and Email in Grace

This is the part that hurts. Even though the domain is still yours, many registrars change the name servers or DNS records once the domain expires, so:

• Your website is replaced by a parking page or an "this domain has expired" notice.
• Email stops arriving, or worse, bounces, because MX records no longer point at your mail provider.
• Any service that depends on the domain, such as API endpoints, SSO, or domain verification TXT records, can break.

Once you renew, the registrar restores your settings. Because of DNS caching, it may take a little while for everything to come back. See what DNS propagation delay is for why.

Renewing During Grace

Renewing in the grace period is usually just a normal renewal. Log in, renew, and pay. A few registrars add a late renewal fee. The new term is calculated from the original expiration date, not from the day you pay, so you do not lose time by renewing late.

The Redemption Period

If the grace period ends without renewal, the registrar deletes the domain at the registry. For gTLDs, this does not release the name. Instead, it enters the Redemption Grace Period (RGP), usually just called the redemption period.

How Long Does Redemption Last?

The redemption period is 30 days for most gTLDs. It is defined at the registry level and expressed in EPP with the redemptionPeriod status, part of the Registry Grace Period extension in RFC 3915.

What Is Different About Redemption?

• The domain is removed from the zone, so it does not resolve at all. Your site and email are fully offline.
• You can no longer renew it the normal way. You must restore it.
• Restoring involves a registry restore fee plus the registrar's own charge, on top of a year's renewal.
• Only the registrar of record can restore it. You cannot transfer a domain in redemption to another registrar.

How Much Does a Restore Cost?

Restore fees vary a lot between registrars and TLDs. They are frequently in the range of several tens of dollars and can exceed a hundred dollars or more at some registrars, plus the renewal. Your registrar is required to publish its fee, so check its pricing page rather than relying on an average. It is almost always far cheaper than buying the domain back from someone who caught it.

How the Restore Works

When you ask for a restore, the registrar sends a restore request to the registry, and the domain moves to pendingRestore. The registrar then submits a restore report confirming the details. Once the registry accepts it, the domain returns to normal status, your registrar re-applies your name servers, and the domain resolves again. This often completes within hours but can take longer.

Pending Delete

After redemption ends, the domain enters pendingDelete for 5 days. Nothing can stop the deletion at this stage: not the registrar, not a restore request, not payment. When the period ends, the registry releases the name and it becomes available to register.

Valuable names rarely reach the public. Drop-catching services submit registration requests the instant the name is released, and expiring domain auctions often take place before release. If you are on the other side of this and want to grab an expiring domain, see how to catch an expiring domain with drop-catching services.

The Add Grace Period (A Different Kind of Grace)

You may also see an addPeriod status on a brand-new registration. That is the add grace period, normally 5 days after initial registration, during which the registrar can delete the domain and get a refund from the registry. It exists for mistakes like typos in the name. It has nothing to do with expiry, but it is part of the same RFC 3915 grace period family, so it shows up in the same tools.

How to Check Where a Domain Is in the Cycle

With WHOIS

whois example.com | grep -iE "expir|domain status"

Example output for a domain in redemption:

Registry Expiry Date: 2026-09-01T12:00:00Z
Domain Status: redemptionPeriod https://icann.org/epp#redemptionPeriod

With RDAP

RDAP shows the same information in JSON. Lowercase words replace the camelCase EPP codes:

curl -sL https://rdap.org/domain/example.com \
  | jq '{status: .status, expiration: (.events[] | select(.eventAction=="expiration") | .eventDate)}'

Example output:

{
  "status": ["redemption period"],
  "expiration": "2026-09-01T12:00:00Z"
}

You can learn more about the format in what RDAP is.

Status Codes to Recognize

EPP status	RDAP value	What it means
autoRenewPeriod	auto renew period	Registry auto-renewed; registrar grace may apply
renewPeriod	renew period	An explicit renewal recently happened
redemptionPeriod	redemption period	Deleted, but restorable for a fee
pendingRestore	pending restore	A restore is in progress
pendingDelete	pending delete	Will be released; cannot be recovered
clientHold	client hold	Registrar has pulled the domain from DNS

clientHold often appears during the grace period at registrars that stop resolution by placing a hold instead of changing name servers.

A Monitoring Script

This Bash script checks a list of domains and flags anything that is close to expiry or already in a post-expiry status. It uses curl and jq:

#!/usr/bin/env bash
# Usage: ./expiry-check.sh example.com example.org
set -euo pipefail

WARN_DAYS=30
now=$(date -u +%s)

for domain in "$@"; do
  json=$(curl -sfL -H "Accept: application/rdap+json" "https://rdap.org/domain/${domain}") || {
    echo "${domain}: RDAP lookup failed"
    continue
  }

  statuses=$(echo "$json" | jq -r '(.status // []) | join(", ")')
  expiry=$(echo "$json" | jq -r '.events[] | select(.eventAction=="expiration") | .eventDate' | head -n1)

  if echo "$statuses" | grep -qiE "redemption|pending delete|pending restore|hold"; then
    echo "ALERT ${domain}: ${statuses}"
    continue
  fi

  if [[ -n "$expiry" ]]; then
    # Drop fractional seconds, then try GNU date (-d) and fall back to BSD/macOS date (-j -f)
    exp_clean=$(echo "$expiry" | sed -E 's/\.[0-9]+Z$/Z/')
    exp_epoch=$(date -u -d "$exp_clean" +%s 2>/dev/null || date -u -j -f "%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ" "$exp_clean" +%s)
    days=$(( (exp_epoch - now) / 86400 ))
    if (( days <= WARN_DAYS )); then
      echo "WARN ${domain}: expires in ${days} days (${expiry})"
    else
      echo "OK ${domain}: ${days} days left"
    fi
  fi
done

Remember that for gTLDs the registry expiry date may already be pushed a year ahead by the auto-renew, so the status check is the more reliable signal once a domain has lapsed.

What to Do If Your Domain Has Expired

1. Check the status with WHOIS or RDAP to see which stage it is in.
2. Log in to your registrar and look for a renew or restore option. If you cannot log in, contact support immediately.
3. Renew in grace if possible; it is the cheapest route.
4. Restore in redemption if necessary. Ask the registrar for the exact fee and how long the restore takes.
5. Verify DNS after recovery. Confirm your name servers and records came back, and test email delivery.
6. Prevent it happening again by turning on auto-renewal and keeping your contact details current. The full setup is covered in how to set up domain auto-renewal.

If the domain has already reached pending delete or been registered by someone else, recovery is much harder. You may be able to buy it back, and if the new owner is using your trademark in bad faith, a dispute process may be an option.

Beware of Scams Around Expiry

Expiry is prime time for fake renewal invoices and "your domain is about to be deleted" emails from companies that are not your registrar. Always renew by logging in to your registrar directly, never by clicking a payment link in an unexpected email. See how to spot domain renewal scams for the common patterns.

Country-Code TLDs Are Different

The grace, redemption, and pending delete stages above are standard for gTLDs. ccTLD registries set their own rules. Some have a single long suspension period, some have no redemption period at all, and some delete domains quickly. If you own important ccTLD domains, read the registry's expiry policy or ask your registrar, and do not assume you have the same safety net as with .com.

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Grace and Redemption Period FAQ

Conclusion

An expired domain passes through clear stages: a registrar grace period where a normal renewal brings it back, a 30-day redemption period where you need a more expensive restore, and a 5-day pending delete where nothing can save it. Throughout most of this time your website and email are likely offline, even though the domain is still technically yours.

The best way to handle these periods is never to need them. Keep auto-renewal on, keep your registrant email working and not hosted on the same domain, and monitor the status of important domains with WHOIS or RDAP. If a domain does lapse, act early in the grace period, because every stage after that costs more and gives you fewer options.

Here are some useful references for going deeper on domain grace and redemption periods:

1. ICANN: Expired Registration Recovery Policy — the minimum renewal notice and post-expiry requirements for gTLD registrars.
2. RFC 3915: Domain Registry Grace Period Mapping for EPP — defines the add, renew, auto-renew, transfer, and redemption grace periods and the restore process.
3. ICANN: EPP Status Codes: What Do They Mean, and Why Should I Know? — plain-English explanations of redemptionPeriod, pendingDelete, and related statuses.
4. RFC 8056: EPP and RDAP Status Mapping — maps EPP status codes to the RDAP values shown in JSON output.