WHOIS Lookup via RDAP: Registrar, Expiry & IP Owner
Look up domain registrar, expiry dates, nameservers and IP ownership over RDAP
WHOIS, RDAP and how this lookup works
WHOIS is the decades-old way to ask a domain registry who registered a name, through which registrar, and when it expires. The original protocol was plain text over TCP port 43, with every registry formatting its answer differently. Its replacement is RDAP — the Registration Data Access Protocol — which returns structured JSON over HTTPS, supports internationalised names, and has a standard way to mark data as redacted. ICANN requires RDAP from all gTLD registries and registrars, and since January 2025 they have been allowed to switch off port-43 WHOIS entirely. An ICANN lookup today is, in practice, an RDAP query.
This whois lookup uses RDAP. When you enter a domain, our server reads IANA's RDAP bootstrap registry (a public file listing which RDAP server handles each top-level domain, cached for 24 hours), then queries that registry's server directly. It parses the response into the parts you usually want: the registrar and its IANA ID, the registrar's abuse contact, the domain status codes (such as clientTransferProhibited), the created, last-changed and expiry dates, the nameservers, and whether the delegation is DNSSEC-signed. The full raw JSON is available underneath if you need anything else.
If you type a subdomain like www.example.com, the tool falls back to the registered domain automatically. Some country-code TLDs don't publish an RDAP service in IANA's registry yet; for those the tool says so plainly instead of guessing, and you'll need the registry's own WHOIS service. Your query goes from our server to that one registry and isn't stored; requests are rate-limited per IP address to keep registries happy.
Domain owner lookup, expiry dates and IP WHOIS
Most people running a domain owner lookup hope to see a name and email address. For the majority of domains today, you won't — and that's not a bug. Since GDPR took effect in 2018, registrars redact personal registrant data from public WHOIS and RDAP, showing "REDACTED FOR PRIVACY" or omitting the contact entirely, and many owners add a privacy service on top. The tool marks such contacts as redacted rather than showing placeholder text as if it were real. Organisations sometimes still publish their company name. To reach a redacted owner, use the registrar's contact form or abuse address shown in the result; legitimate requests for disclosure (legal claims, law enforcement) go to the registrar.
The domain expiry lookup is the most reliable part of the record: the expiration event comes straight from the registry, and the tool shows how many days remain, turning amber under 30 days. Remember that registrars often auto-renew shortly before expiry and that an expired domain usually passes through grace and redemption periods before it is released, so "expired" doesn't mean "available tomorrow". A 404 from the registry generally means the name isn't registered.
Enter an IP address instead and you get an IP WHOIS from the regional internet registry responsible for it — ARIN, RIPE NCC, APNIC, LACNIC or AFRINIC — chosen with the same IANA bootstrap mechanism. The result shows the network name, the organisation the block is allocated to, the address range and CIDR, the registered country and the registration dates. That identifies who is responsible for an address, which is useful for abuse reports and log analysis; it doesn't tell you where a device physically is. Private and reserved addresses are refused because no organisation is registered for them.
How to use the WHOIS Lookup via RDAP: Registrar, Expiry & IP Owner tool
- 1
Enter a domain or IP
Type a domain such as example.com, a subdomain, or a public IPv4 or IPv6 address.
- 2
Run the lookup
Our server finds the right registry through IANA's RDAP bootstrap and queries it over HTTPS.
- 3
Read the summary
Registrar, status, created/updated/expiry dates, nameservers and DNSSEC for domains; network, organisation and range for IPs.
- 4
Dig into the raw data
Open the raw JSON for every field the registry returned, or copy a permalink to share the lookup.
Frequently asked questions
Is RDAP the same as WHOIS?
It answers the same questions — registrar, dates, status, contacts — but as structured JSON over HTTPS with standard redaction markers. ICANN has made RDAP the official source for gTLD registration data, and port-43 WHOIS may be switched off since January 2025.
Why is the domain owner redacted?
Privacy law (GDPR and similar) led registrars to hide personal registrant details from public records, and many owners also use privacy services. Use the registrar's contact form or abuse address to reach the owner.
Why does a ccTLD say it has no RDAP service?
Not every country-code registry publishes RDAP in IANA's bootstrap registry yet. Those domains can only be queried through the registry's own WHOIS service or website.
What does 'not found' mean?
The registry has no record of that exact name, which usually means it's unregistered. Double-check the spelling, and note that some registries also hide names in certain reserved states.
Can IP WHOIS tell me where someone is?
No. It shows which organisation a block of addresses is allocated to and the country it's registered in — often an ISP or cloud provider — not the physical location of a device.
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