What ICANN guarantees after expiry, and what it does not
For generic top-level domains such as .com and .org, ICANN's Expired Registration Recovery Policy sets the minimum rules. Its 2024 update became mandatory on 21 August 2025. Before expiry, the registrar must send at least two notices: one about a month before (26 to 35 days counts) and one about a week before (4 to 10 days). If the name is neither renewed nor deleted within five days after expiry, it must send at least one more notice with renewal instructions. Notices must arrive in a way that needs no action to receive, such as email.
The policy does not promise a fixed grace period. A registrar may delete an expired registration at any time after expiry. What it must do is let the registrant at expiry renew from the expiry date through the period when DNS is interrupted. If the name is deleted eight or more days after expiry, DNS resolution must be interrupted for at least the last eight consecutive days in which you can still renew, where the registry allows it, and any page shown in its place must say the registration has expired and how to renew.
After deletion, gTLD registries (other than sponsored ones) must offer a 30-day Redemption Grace Period, during which the deleting registrar can restore the name at your request. DNS stays disabled and transfers are blocked during this period. Registrars must publish their renewal, post-expiry renewal and restore fees on their website. ICANN's EPP status code guide adds that once the 30-day redemption period ends without a restore, the name enters pendingDelete and is purged five calendar days later, after which anyone can register it.
| Stage | ICANN minimum (gTLDs) | What you see |
|---|---|---|
| About 1 month before expiry | Renewal notice required (26 to 35 days before counts) | Email from the registrar |
| About 1 week before expiry | Second notice required (4 to 10 days before counts) | Email from the registrar |
| Up to 5 days after expiry | If not renewed or deleted, a further notice is required | Email with renewal instructions |
| Before deletion | Renewal must stay possible through the DNS interruption period; at least the last 8 days interrupted if deleted 8+ days after expiry | Site and email on the domain stop resolving; an expiry page may appear |
| After deletion | 30-day Redemption Grace Period; restore through the registrar, usually for a fee | Domain shows redemptionPeriod status |
| After redemption | pendingDelete, then purge 5 calendar days later | Name becomes available to anyone |
One registrar's actual timeline
Because ICANN sets a floor rather than a schedule, the timeline that matters is your registrar's. Cloudflare's registrar FAQ is a clear published example. It attempts auto-renewal about 30 days before expiry and retries three more times if that fails. After expiry, it describes days 1 to 30 as a grace period in which the domain still resolves, days 31 to 40 as a suspension period showing a parked page, days 41 to 70 as the redemption period, and days 71 to 75 as pending delete. It also says a restore fee may apply on top of the renewal fee and varies by TLD. The same page says it currently offers a 40-day grace period for most TLDs and that suspension starts on day 30, so the exact boundary between grace and suspension is worth confirming with the registrar if you are close to it.
Country-code domains follow their own registry rules. ICANN's expiry policy is written for gTLD registrations, and Cloudflare's FAQ notes, for example, that .uk names cannot use the standard redemption process and can be restored by renewing, with no extra restore fee, up to 90 days after expiry. If your course site uses a country-code domain, read that registry's and registrar's terms rather than assuming the .com timeline.
Why a lapse hurts a course site more than a brochure site
When DNS resolution is interrupted, everything that depends on the domain name stops resolving, not just the home page. On a course or membership site that typically includes the login page, lesson pages, checkout and any email addresses on the domain. Password reset and receipt emails sent from an address on the domain, and replies to them, depend on the same DNS records.
The worst failure is the quiet one. If the registrar's reminder emails go to an address on the expiring domain, they arrive while it still works and then stop arriving exactly when they matter. The ICANN policy requires the registrar to send notices, not to reach you, so the address on file is your responsibility.
A purged name can be registered by anyone. Recovering it after that point is no longer a renewal and depends on whoever holds it.
Contact email and data accuracy: the check most people skip
ICANN's 2013 Registrar Accreditation Agreement requires registrants to keep contact details accurate and to correct them within seven days of any change. It treats failure to respond for over 15 days to the registrar's inquiries about contact accuracy as a material breach and a basis for suspension or cancellation. Registrars also verify the registrant email: Cloudflare's registrar FAQ says that if the registrant email is unverified or the verification link expires, ICANN requires the registrar to place a hold on the domain, and Cloudflare swaps in parking nameservers so the site stops resolving until verification is completed.
In practice that means a stale address can take a site offline even when the renewal is paid. Use a contact email on a different domain from the one being protected, ideally a shared role address that more than one person can read, and answer any verification email promptly. ICANN's Whois Data Reminder Policy has also required registrars to present your contact data at least once a year for review (an updated version was published in 2024); treat that annual email as the prompt to fix anything out of date.
Changing contact details has a side effect worth knowing before a migration. ICANN's registrant FAQ says you cannot transfer a domain to a different registrar within 60 days of changing the registrant name, organization or email address, or the administrative contact email if there is no registrant email on file. Registrars may offer an opt-out but are not required to; Cloudflare, for example, offers a do-not-apply option before you accept the change.
Auto-renew, payment and locks
Auto-renew only works if it is on and the payment goes through. At SiteGround, domain names are set to automatic renewal like its other services, and the switch is under Client Area, Services, Domains, Settings, then Renewal Settings, where Autorenewal can be toggled on or off. Its help article does not say how far before expiry it charges, so check the renewal date in the Client Area and make sure the card on file outlives it. Each domain is renewed separately when renewing manually.
Registrar locks are a separate protection. ICANN's EPP status codes describe clientTransferProhibited (rejects transfers to another registrar), clientDeleteProhibited (blocks deletion requests, helping prevent deletions from hijacking or fraud) and clientUpdateProhibited (blocks changes). Each is set by the registrar and removed on request. The statuses clientHold and serverHold mean the domain is not active in DNS; clientHold is often applied for non-payment or when a name is due for deletion. You can see a domain's status codes in a lookup at your registrar or ICANN Lookup.
If you plan to move registrars, ICANN's registrant FAQ confirms you can transfer an expired domain, but a name already in the Redemption Grace Period must be restored by the current registrar first, which may mean a redemption fee.
| Status you see in a lookup | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| clientTransferProhibited | Transfers to another registrar are rejected | Normal protection; ask the registrar to remove it only when you are ready to transfer |
| clientHold | Registrar has taken the domain out of DNS, often for non-payment or pending deletion | Contact the registrar, resolve the cause, ask them to remove it |
| autoRenewPeriod | Registry auto-renewed after expiry; a limited window follows | Confirm the renewal with your registrar and pay if needed |
| redemptionPeriod | Registrar requested deletion; 30-day restore window | Contact the registrar immediately and pay the restore fee |
| pendingDelete | Redemption ended without a restore; purge follows | Contact the registrar immediately; the name may be lost |
Checklist: protecting the domain
- Look up the domain's expiry date and status codes; put the expiry date in a shared calendar with reminders at 60 and 30 days.
- Turn on auto-renew at the registrar and confirm the payment card will be valid on the charge date.
- Consider renewing for more than one year so a single missed payment is not a crisis.
- Set the registrant contact email to an address on a different domain that more than one person reads.
- Answer any contact verification email from the registrar; unanswered verification can lead to a hold that takes the domain out of DNS.
- Confirm clientTransferProhibited is set unless you are mid-transfer.
- Read your registrar's published post-expiry renewal and restore fees and its notice methods, which ICANN requires it to display.
- Before changing registrant details, check whether a 60-day transfer lock will follow and whether the registrar offers an opt-out.
- For a country-code domain, read that registry's expiry rules rather than relying on the gTLD timeline.
- Review all of this twice a year, and again before any host or registrar migration.
Questions before you decide
How long is the grace period after a domain expires?
There is no single ICANN figure. Under ICANN policy a registrar may delete an expired gTLD name at any time after expiry, so the grace period is set by your registrar. Cloudflare, for example, keeps an expired domain resolving for 30 days and allows renewal until day 40, after which the redemption period begins.
What is the Redemption Grace Period?
A 30-day window after a gTLD registrar deletes a name, during which the registrar can restore it at your request, usually for a restore fee. DNS is disabled and transfers are blocked during it.
Will I get a warning before my domain expires?
For gTLDs, ICANN requires the registrar to send notices about one month and one week before expiry, and one more within five days after if the name is not renewed. They go to the contact on file, so an outdated email means you may not see them.
Can I transfer a domain that has already expired?
ICANN's registrant FAQ says you have the right to transfer an expired domain, but a name in the Redemption Grace Period must be restored by the current registrar first, which may involve a redemption fee.
Sources & verification
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- ICANN: Expired Registration Recovery Policy (updated 21 February 2024) Accessed 30 Oct 2026
- ICANN: Expired Registration Recovery Policy (2013 version) Accessed 30 Oct 2026
- ICANN: EPP status codes, what do they mean and why should I know? Accessed 30 Oct 2026
- ICANN: FAQs for registered name holders (transfers) Accessed 30 Oct 2026
- ICANN: 2013 Registrar Accreditation Agreement with specifications Accessed 30 Oct 2026
- ICANN: Whois Data Reminder Policy Accessed 30 Oct 2026
- SiteGround: How to turn domain auto-renewal on or off Accessed 30 Oct 2026
- SiteGround: How can I renew a domain name registered by SiteGround? Accessed 30 Oct 2026
- Cloudflare Registrar: FAQ Accessed 30 Oct 2026
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