This free domain age checker tells you exactly how old a domain is, in years, months and days, along with its registration date, expiry date, registrar and nameservers. Check one domain or compare up to 10 at once, no sign-up needed.
How to check a domain’s age
- Type a domain name in the box, like
example.com. Pasting a full URL or a subdomain works too: the tool trims it down to the main domain, sohttps://blog.example.com/pageis checked asexample.com. - Want to compare? Put each domain on its own line (commas or spaces work as well). Up to 10 domains are checked per run, and duplicates are dropped.
- Click Check domain age, or press Ctrl+Enter (Cmd+Enter on a Mac) while you’re in the box.
The data comes straight from the domain registries. The tool asks RDAP first, which is the official, structured replacement for WHOIS. For extensions whose registry has no RDAP service, it falls back to a classic WHOIS query. Results are cached for a few hours, so a change made at your registrar a minute ago may not show yet.
How to read the results
Each domain gets its own card. At the top you’ll see the age in big numbers (years, months, days) and a line with the registration date and the total age in days. Below it, a bar runs from the registration date to the expiry date, and the filled part shows how far through the current term the domain is today.
- Created: the date the current registration began. This is what the age is counted from.
- Expires: when the paid term ends. A green badge means it has more than 30 days left, an amber one means 30 days or fewer, and a red “Expired” badge means the date has already passed.
- Last updated: the last time the registry record changed, for example a renewal, a nameserver change or a transfer.
- Registrar: the company the domain is registered through, with its IANA ID when the registry shares it.
- DNSSEC: “Signed” if the domain’s DNS is protected with DNSSEC, otherwise “Not signed”.
- Data source: RDAP or WHOIS, so you know where the answer came from.
- Nameservers and status tags: the DNS servers the domain points to, plus registry status codes such as
clientTransferProhibited(a normal lock that stops unauthorized transfers) orredemptionPeriod(the domain expired and is close to being released).
When you check two or more domains, a Comparison table appears first. It sorts them from oldest to newest and marks the oldest one with a star, which is handy when you’re weighing a few expired domains or sizing up competitors.
Messages you might see
- “is not registered”: nobody owns the name, so it has no age. You’ll get a button to register it.
- “The registry does not publish registration dates”: some country extensions (.de is a well-known one) answer lookups but never share creation dates. No tool can show an age for those from public data.
- “The registry did not return data”: the registry was slow or busy. Wait a minute and try again.
- “Too many requests”: the checker allows 20 checks every 10 minutes per visitor to keep the registries happy. The message tells you how long to wait.
When a domain age check is useful
- Buying a used or expired domain. The creation date shows whether the name has been held for years or was registered last month. If the age looks surprisingly young for a name you know is old, it probably dropped and was registered again, and its history may not carry over.
- Spotting scams. Phishing and fake shops often run on domains that are only days or weeks old. A brand that claims to be decades old on a domain created this month is a red flag.
- Keeping your own domain alive. The expiry badge is a quick reminder to renew. If you’re also wondering when your hosting runs out, see our guide on how to check your web hosting expiry date.
- Researching competitors. Paste in a handful of rivals to see who has been around longest and where each one registers its domains.
Found a name that’s free? Run it through the domain availability checker to see other extensions at a glance. For a domain that’s already live, the DNS lookup tool shows its records and the website hosting checker tells you who hosts it.
FAQ
How is domain age calculated?
Domain age is the time between the domain’s registration (creation) date and today. This tool reads the creation date from the registry and counts calendar years, months and days, so leap years and month lengths are handled correctly. It also shows the total in days.
Does domain age matter for SEO?
Not directly. Google has said the age of a domain by itself isn’t something it uses to rank pages. Older sites often rank well because they’ve had more time to build content and earn links, not because of the date on the registration. A new domain with genuinely useful content can outrank an old one.
How can I find out when a domain was registered?
Enter it in the checker above and look at the Created date. That date comes from the registry’s public RDAP or WHOIS record, the same source registrars use. Keep in mind it shows when the domain was registered, not when the website first went online.
Does the age reset when a domain changes owner?
No, a normal sale or transfer between registrars keeps the original creation date. The age only resets if the domain expires, gets deleted and is registered again from scratch. In that case the creation date jumps to the new registration.
Why can’t the tool show an age for some domains?
Because a few registries don’t publish creation dates at all, or were unreachable at that moment. Some country-code extensions keep that data private. If the message says the registry didn’t respond, try again in a minute; if it says the registry doesn’t publish dates, no public lookup will find it.
Can I check several domains at once?
Yes, up to 10 per run. Put one domain on each line and you’ll get a comparison table sorted from oldest to newest, plus a full card for each domain. Anything past the tenth domain is skipped, so split longer lists into batches.
