When a domain expires and drops
Pending delete
Pending delete is the last stage before a domain is released: a period of about five days when the owner can no longer restore it and it is about to be deleted.
What Pending delete means in practice
The registry status shows pendingDelete. The name cannot be renewed or transferred, and it has left the redemption period. At the end of the period it is deleted and becomes available to register.
The registry does not publish the exact day a stage began, only when the record last changed, so a release date is an estimate that can be off by a few days.
Why it matters
A name in pending delete will drop soon. This is the stage when a backorder can be placed, and when the Drop Calendar lists it.
Try it
- Drop Calendar Expiring names by estimated drop date, with filters and a live check.
- Availability Checker Check up to 50 names at once: taken, available, or about to drop.
Related terms
- Redemption period The redemption period is a stage of about 30 days after the grace period when a deleted domain can still be restored by its owner, for an extra fee.
- Domain drop A domain drop is the moment an expired name is finally deleted by the registry and becomes available for anyone to register again.
- Backorder (drop catching) A backorder is a request to a service to try to register a domain the instant it is deleted. Drop catching is the practice of doing this at scale.