What are the domain redemption and grace periods?

Domain grace and redemption periods are safety windows after a domain expires during which the owner can still get it back. The auto-renew grace period comes first and usually lasts between 0 and 45 days, depending on the registrar, and lets you renew at or close to the normal price. If you miss it, the registrar deletes the domain and it enters a 30-day Redemption Grace Period (RGP), during which only the original registrant can restore it, for an extra restore fee. After that comes a five-day pending delete phase, when the domain can no longer be recovered, followed by its release to the public. These periods are standard for gTLDs such as .com, .net and .org, while country-code domains set their own rules.

There are also several shorter grace periods that apply at other points in a domain's life, such as just after registration or transfer. This article explains each one, how they map to EPP status codes, what you can do during each period and roughly what it costs, how to check which period a domain is in, and how ccTLDs differ. For the bigger picture of what breaks when a domain lapses, see what happens when a domain name expires.

The Two Layers: Registry and Registrar

Grace periods are confusing partly because two organisations are involved, and each has its own rules.

• The registry runs the TLD and defines grace periods in its agreement with ICANN. These are the hard limits: for example, the registry gives registrars up to 45 days after an automatic renewal to delete the domain and get a refund.
• The registrar decides how much of that window it passes on to you, what it charges for late renewal, and whether it auctions expired domains during the period.

So when someone says ".com has a 45-day grace period", they're describing the registry's maximum. Your registrar might give you 30 days, 40 days, or less. ICANN's Expired Registration Recovery Policy guarantees a minimum of eight days after expiry during which you can renew.

The Grace Periods Explained

Add Grace Period

• When: The first five days after a new registration.
• EPP status: addPeriod
• What it does: Lets the registrar delete a newly registered domain and receive a refund from the registry, for example after a typo or a fraudulent order.

This period mostly matters to registrars. As a registrant, you might see it if you cancel a new registration immediately and your registrar offers a refund. It was historically abused for "domain tasting", registering names in bulk and returning those that didn't attract traffic, until ICANN introduced fees that made the practice uneconomical.

Renew Grace Period

• When: Five days after an explicit renewal.
• EPP status: renewPeriod
• What it does: Allows the registrar to reverse a renewal made in error and get a refund.

Transfer Grace Period

• When: Five days after a successful transfer.
• EPP status: transferPeriod
• What it does: Lets the gaining registrar reverse the extra year added by the transfer if it was made in error.

This is separate from the longer restriction on transferring a domain again shortly after a transfer, which is covered in how to transfer a domain to another registrar.

Auto-Renew Grace Period

• When: Immediately after the expiry date, up to 45 days at most gTLD registries.
• EPP status: autoRenewPeriod
• What it does: On the expiry date, most gTLD registries renew the domain automatically and charge the registrar. The registrar then has up to 45 days to collect payment from you or delete the domain and receive a refund.

This is the period that matters most to domain owners. During it:

• Your registrar usually suspends DNS or sends the domain to a parking page.
• You can renew in your registrar account, typically at the standard renewal price. Some registrars add a late renewal fee.
• Many registrars list the domain in an expired-domain auction. If you renew, the auction is normally cancelled.
• A transfer to another registrar may still be possible, depending on the losing registrar's policy. If it goes through, the registry reverses the automatic renewal and the transfer adds the year instead.

Because the registry has already auto-renewed it, the public expiry date often jumps forward a year even though you haven't paid. Don't rely on the displayed date to judge whether a domain is safe.

The Redemption Grace Period

If the registrar deletes the domain during or at the end of the auto-renew grace period, it doesn't vanish immediately. It enters the Redemption Grace Period.

• Length: 30 days at most gTLD registries.
• EPP status: redemptionPeriod
• DNS: The domain is removed from the zone, so it doesn't resolve at all.
• Who can recover it: Only the registrar that deleted it, on behalf of the registrant.
• Transfers: Not possible. The domain must be restored first.

How Restoration Works

1. You ask your registrar to restore the domain, usually from the expired domains list in your account or by contacting support.
2. The registrar sends a restore request to the registry. The domain enters pendingRestore.
3. The registrar submits a restore report to the registry, confirming why the domain is being restored. If the report isn't received within the registry's deadline, commonly seven days, the domain goes back into redemption.
4. Once restored, the domain returns to normal status with a renewal applied, and the registrar re-enables DNS.

What It Costs

Restoring a domain costs the normal renewal fee plus a restore fee. The registry charges the registrar a restore fee, and registrars add their own margin, so the total varies a lot. It's commonly somewhere between several tens and a couple of hundred US dollars, on top of the renewal. Premium domains can cost more. Check your registrar's pricing page before you need it.

Pending Delete

• When: After the redemption period ends.
• Length: 5 days.
• EPP status: pendingDelete
• What you can do: Nothing. The domain can't be renewed, restored or transferred by anyone.

At the end of pending delete, the registry purges the domain and it becomes available for registration. For .com and .net, Verisign deletes domains in a daily batch, and backorder services compete to register the most desirable ones within moments. See what a domain backorder is if you're trying to catch a dropping name.

The Full Timeline at a Glance

Period	Typical length	EPP status	Renew?	Restore?	Transfer?	Resolves in DNS?
Active	Until expiry	ok or locks	Yes	N/A	Yes	Yes
Auto-renew grace	0 to 45 days	autoRenewPeriod	Yes	N/A	Often	Usually not
Redemption	30 days	redemptionPeriod	No	Yes, for a fee	No	No
Pending restore	Up to about 7 days	pendingRestore	No	In progress	No	No
Pending delete	5 days	pendingDelete	No	No	No	No
Released	N/A	Not registered	Register again	N/A	N/A	No

The registration-side periods (addPeriod, renewPeriod, transferPeriod) last five days each and don't usually affect you as an owner.

Checking Which Period a Domain Is In

With RDAP

RDAP, which has replaced port-43 WHOIS as the official lookup service for gTLDs, returns status values in plain English:

curl -sL https://rdap.org/domain/example.com | jq -r '.status[]'

redemption period

Map the RDAP strings to EPP codes as follows: auto renew period is autoRenewPeriod, redemption period is redemptionPeriod, pending restore is pendingRestore, and pending delete is pendingDelete. For more on reading these lookups, see what RDAP is.

With WHOIS

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

Updated Date: 2026-10-12T07:15:44Z
Registry Expiry Date: 2027-09-28T18:02:11Z
Domain Status: redemptionPeriod https://icann.org/epp#redemptionPeriod

Note how the expiry date shows next year, because the registry auto-renewed the domain before the registrar deleted it. The Updated Date here roughly marks when the domain entered redemption, so you can estimate how long is left.

With a Script

This Python script reads the RDAP status and gives a rough estimate of what you can still do. It uses only the standard library.

import json
import sys
import urllib.error
import urllib.request

ADVICE = {
    "auto renew period": "Grace period: renew now at your registrar, usually at the normal price.",
    "redemption period": "Redemption: ask your registrar to restore it. A restore fee applies.",
    "pending restore": "Restore in progress: check with your registrar that the report was submitted.",
    "pending delete": "Pending delete: cannot be recovered. It will be released within about 5 days.",
    "client hold": "On hold: removed from DNS, often for non-payment or a dispute. Contact the registrar.",
    "server hold": "Registry hold: removed from DNS by the registry. Contact your registrar.",
}


def lookup(domain: str) -> dict | None:
    req = urllib.request.Request(
        f"https://rdap.org/domain/{domain}",
        headers={"Accept": "application/rdap+json", "User-Agent": "domain-check/1.0"},
    )
    try:
        with urllib.request.urlopen(req, timeout=15) as resp:
            return json.load(resp)
    except urllib.error.HTTPError as err:
        if err.code == 404:
            return None
        raise


def main() -> None:
    for domain in sys.argv[1:]:
        data = lookup(domain)
        if data is None:
            print(f"{domain}: not registered (released or never registered)")
            continue
        statuses = data.get("status", [])
        notes = [ADVICE[s] for s in statuses if s in ADVICE]
        print(f"{domain}: {', '.join(statuses) or 'no status'}")
        for note in notes or ["Active: no grace or redemption period applies."]:
            print(f"  - {note}")


if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()

python3 grace_check.py example.com example.net

example.com: redemption period
  - Redemption: ask your registrar to restore it. A restore fee applies.
example.net: client delete prohibited, client transfer prohibited
  - Active: no grace or redemption period applies.

Country-Code Domains Follow Their Own Rules

ccTLD registries aren't bound by ICANN's gTLD agreements, so their grace and redemption processes differ:

• No auto-renew grace at the registry: Some ccTLDs don't renew automatically. If the registrar doesn't renew before expiry, the domain is suspended or deleted on the registry's own schedule.
• Different lengths: Recovery windows range from none at all to several months. For example, .uk domains are suspended after expiry and cancelled after around 90 days, during which the registrar can still renew them.
• Quarantine periods: Some registries hold deleted domains in a quarantine where only the previous holder can reclaim them, similar to redemption, but with different fees and lengths.
• Different fees: Some charge nothing extra for late renewal. Others charge a significant reactivation fee.

Always check the registry's published policy, or your registrar's help page for that TLD, rather than assuming gTLD rules apply.

Practical Advice

• Treat the expiry date as the real deadline: Grace periods exist for emergencies, not as a free extension. Your website and email usually go down the moment the domain expires.
• Know your registrar's numbers: Find the grace period length, any late fee, and the restore fee for each registrar you use, and note whether it auctions expired domains.
• Act early in redemption: Restores can take a few days, and the clock keeps running.
• Keep account access independent: If your registrar login email is on the expired domain, you may not be able to reset your password when you need to. Use an address on another domain.
• Prevent it entirely: Turn on auto-renewal and keep payment details current. See how to set up domain auto-renewal.

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FAQ: Domain Grace and Redemption Periods

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Conclusion

Grace and redemption periods are the buffer between a missed renewal and a lost domain. For gTLDs, the auto-renew grace period gives you up to 45 days, depending on your registrar, to renew at or near the normal price. The 30-day redemption period that follows lets you restore the domain for an extra fee, and the five-day pending delete phase is the point of no return. Shorter five-day grace periods also apply after registration, renewal and transfer, mostly for the benefit of registrars.

Check a domain's status codes with RDAP or WHOIS to see exactly which period it's in, and act quickly, because restores take time and the expiry date shown publicly can be misleading. Country-code domains follow their own schedules, so check the registry's policy for any ccTLD you hold. Best of all, keep auto-renew on so you never need these windows.