Domain Status Codes Explained

What are domain status codes?

Every registered domain carries one or more status codes. They tell you what can and cannot be done with the domain (can it be transferred, changed, renewed or deleted?) and where it is in its life cycle. The codes come from EPP, the Extensible Provisioning Protocol that registrars use to manage domains at the registry: RFC 5731 defines the core statuses, and RFC 3915 adds the grace period statuses of the Registry Grace Period extension. This page covers all 23 of them.

A domain often has several statuses at once, and the combination matters more than any single code. clientTransferProhibited, clientUpdateProhibited and clientDeleteProhibited together, for example, simply mean the registrar has locked the domain.

Client vs. server: registrar or registry?

In EPP, the registrar is the client and the registry is the server. Statuses that start with client are set and removed by the registrar. Statuses that start with server are set by the registry, and a registrar cannot change them. Statuses without either prefix, such as ok, inactive, the pending statuses and the grace periods, are managed by the registry as the domain changes state.

As a domain owner you never set statuses directly. You ask your registrar, which works with the registry when a server status is involved.

EPP names vs. RDAP names

WHOIS output uses the EPP names in camelCase, and gTLD WHOIS servers usually add a link to ICANN's explanation of each code:

Domain Status: clientDeleteProhibited https://icann.org/epp#clientDeleteProhibited
Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited https://icann.org/epp#clientTransferProhibited
Domain Status: clientUpdateProhibited https://icann.org/epp#clientUpdateProhibited

RDAP, the JSON-based successor to WHOIS, lists the same statuses as lowercase words, following the mapping in RFC 8056. clientTransferProhibited becomes client transfer prohibited, and ok becomes active:

"status": [
  "client delete prohibited",
  "client transfer prohibited",
  "client update prohibited"
]

Both forms mean exactly the same thing. Read what RDAP is and how RDAP compares with WHOIS to learn more about the two protocols.

Client status codes (set by the registrar)

Statuses that begin with client are set and removed by the domain's registrar. The transfer, update and delete prohibitions make up the usual registrar lock and are nothing to worry about. clientHold and clientRenewProhibited are rarer and usually point to a problem that needs the registrar's attention.

Server status codes (set by the registry)

Statuses that begin with server are set by the registry that runs the TLD, and a registrar cannot remove them on its own. On well-known domains the server transfer, update and delete prohibitions usually mean a registry lock is in place, while serverHold means the registry has suspended the domain.

Lifecycle and pending status codes

These statuses are managed by the registry. ok and inactive describe the domain's overall state; the pending statuses mean a request has been received but not completed yet.

Grace period status codes (RGP)

The Registry Grace Period (RGP) extension, RFC 3915, marks the days after a domain is registered, renewed, transferred or deleted. The durations below are typical for generic TLDs (gTLDs); country-code registries set their own rules.

Common status combinations

Here is how to read the combinations you are most likely to see in a lookup:

The domain name lifecycle

For gTLDs such as .com, .net and .org, a domain that is not renewed moves through the following stages. The durations are typical for gTLDs; country-code TLDs follow their own policies, and some delete expired domains much sooner.

1. Registered. A new domain shows addPeriod for about 5 days, next to ok or the registrar's locks. Renewals and transfers briefly add renewPeriod or transferPeriod.
2. Expired. On the expiration date the registry renews the domain automatically and it enters autoRenewPeriod for up to 45 days. The owner can still renew it; many registrars stop the domain from resolving or show a parking page during this time.
3. Redemption. If the domain is not renewed, the registrar deletes it and it spends 30 days in redemptionPeriod, often together with pendingDelete. The domain is out of DNS, but the owner can restore it for a fee (pendingRestore is shown while the restore completes).
4. Pending delete. Once the redemption period ends, pendingDelete remains on its own for about 5 days. The domain can no longer be restored.
5. Released. The registry purges the domain and anyone can register it again.

Our domain expiration guide explains each stage in more detail, including how to recover an expired domain and when a dropped domain becomes available.

Check a domain's status

Enter a domain name to see its current status codes, along with its registrar, registration and expiration dates and name servers.

Official references

• ICANN: EPP Status Codes, What Do They Mean, and Why Should I Know?
• RFC 5731: EPP Domain Name Mapping (core status values)
• RFC 3915: Domain Registry Grace Period Mapping for EPP (grace period and restore statuses)
• RFC 8056: EPP and RDAP Status Mapping (RDAP names)

Related guides

• Domain expiration: what happens when a domain is not renewed
• How to find a domain owner when the WHOIS record is redacted
• What is RDAP? The protocol that is replacing WHOIS
• TLD list with the WHOIS and RDAP servers for every top-level domain
• RDAP server list and WHOIS server list