{"id":19102,"date":"2026-11-09T14:37:48","date_gmt":"2026-11-09T11:37:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hyyat.com\/knowledgebase\/what-is-whois-domain-lookup\/"},"modified":"2026-11-09T14:37:53","modified_gmt":"2026-11-09T11:37:53","password":"","slug":"what-is-whois-domain-lookup","status":"publish","type":"docs","link":"https:\/\/www.hyyat.com\/en\/knowledgebase\/what-is-whois-domain-lookup\/","title":{"rendered":"What Is WHOIS? How to Look Up Any Domain and Its Expiry Date"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In short<\/b>WHOIS is a public record that shows details of any domain: where it is registered, when it expires, which nameservers it uses, and its status. The owner name, email and phone are usually hidden for privacy. You search it by typing the domain name into any WHOIS tool.<\/div>\n
\"A<\/figure>\n

You want to know when your domain expires, whether a domain you like is taken and when it might be free, or where a company registered its domain. You find all of this in WHOIS, a kind of public record for every domain in the world.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/figure>\n

What does WHOIS show?<\/h2>\n
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Field<\/th>\nMeaning<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Registrar<\/td>\nThe accredited company where the domain is registered.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Creation Date<\/td>\nWhen the domain was first registered.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Expiry Date<\/td>\nThe last day of the current registration. Read What happens after a domain expires<\/a>.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Name Servers<\/td>\nThe servers that run the domain DNS and decide where the website and email work.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Domain Status<\/td>\nCodes such as clientTransferProhibited. Read Domain status codes<\/a>.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Owner details<\/td>\nUsually hidden as REDACTED FOR PRIVACY.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

Why are the owner details hidden?<\/h2>\n

Data protection laws, such as the European GDPR, led most registrars to hide the owner name, email, phone and address from public WHOIS results. So do not be surprised to see your domain, or any domain, with hidden details. More in Domain privacy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

How to search WHOIS<\/h2>\n
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  1. Open a WHOIS tool:<\/b> such as the official ICANN lookup at lookup.icann.org, or any trusted WHOIS tool.<\/li>\n
  2. Type only the domain name:<\/b> without www or https, like example.com.<\/li>\n
  3. Read the result:<\/b> look for the expiry date, nameservers and status.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
    To check directly whether a domain is available to register, use our domain availability check<\/a> page.<\/div>\n

    When do you need WHOIS?<\/h2>\n