Your domain expired. Here's how long you really have, and how to get it back.
Your website shows a parking page, or nothing at all, and your business email has stopped. If your domain name has expired, you can usually still get it back, but there is no single 30-day grace period. How long you have, and what it costs, depends on who you bought the domain from and how it ends: .com, .co.uk, .ca or .com.au.
How to tell in two minutes.
When a domain expires, the website and the email both stop, because both depend on the domain name. A host or email problem usually breaks only one of them. Check these:
- Look up the expiry date. Type your domain into ICANN Lookup. It shows which company your domain is registered with (your registrar) and its expiry date.
- Look at your website. A "parked" page with ads, or a page from your registrar saying the domain has expired, means it's the domain.
- Send yourself an email. Send one from a personal address to your business address. If it bounces back, the domain is the likely cause.
If the expiry date is in the past, read on. If it isn't, the problem is more likely your hosting. See what to do when your hosting expires.
Many owners believe every domain gets 30 days after it expires. One owner on Reddit wrote, four days after their domain expired: "it's GONE... I thought there was a 30-day grace period?!" (r/webdev, April 2025). Some registrars move much faster than that.
Your clock depends on two things.
Who you bought the domain from, and how it ends. Find your row below. Day counts are from the day the domain expired, taken from each registrar's or registry's own pages, read on 28 October 2026.
| Registrar or ending | Website and email | Normal renewal | After that |
|---|---|---|---|
| Any .com, .net or .org (ICANN rules) | The registrar must stop them for at least the last 8 days you can still renew. | Depends on the registrar. You must get reminders about a month and a week before expiry, and one more within 5 days after. | Once deleted, a 30-day redemption period: you can restore it for a fee, and it can't be moved to another registrar. Then about 5 days "pending delete", then anyone can register it. |
| GoDaddy | Parked from day 5. | Still at the normal price once parked. Last auto-renew try on day 12. | From day 18 it leaves your account and costs a redemption fee. Listed in GoDaddy's expired-domain auction from day 26. From day 30, you can't renew it if someone has bid. Removed on day 72. |
| Squarespace | Not stated on its help page. For .com, the ICANN rule above applies. | 30 days for Squarespace Domains LLC, 40 days for domains held with Tucows. | A redemption fee on top of renewal, for example $45 for .com, .ca or .com.au, and $25 for .co.uk. Squarespace says it can't waive it. |
| Cloudflare | Not stated on its help page. For .com, the ICANN rule above applies. | Cloudflare tries to auto-renew from 30 days before expiry. | A 30-day redemption period after expiry. Restoring may cost extra. |
| .uk, including .co.uk (Nominet) | Keep working for 30 days, then suspended until day 90. | Until day 90. Nominet emails the owner on days 1, 23, 30 and 83. | Removed on day 95. These are Nominet's current rules. |
| .ca (CIRA) | May stop during the grace period, and do stop in redemption. | A grace period of up to 45 days. Your registrar sets the length. | A 30-day redemption period, then released in CIRA's weekly Wednesday release. More for Canadian owners on our Canada page. |
| .au, including .com.au (auDA) | Stop during the 30-day grace period. | 30 days after expiry. Some providers charge to restore it. | Removed, then first come, first served. |
This is why two owners can both be "a few days" past expiry and be in very different places. A GoDaddy .com can be in an auction by day 26, while a .co.uk at Nominet can still be renewed at day 80.
Find your stage, then act on it.
Every day counts, because some registrars start charging extra or offer the domain to others after a couple of weeks. Do this today, not at the weekend.
Still in the grace period
Log in to your registrar and renew the domain at the normal price. Check the card on file, in case a failed payment stopped auto-renew. Then turn auto-renew back on.
In the redemption period
You can usually still get it back, but only through your registrar and with a restore fee on top of the renewal. If it's no longer in your account, contact your registrar's support and ask to restore it. Pay it if you want to keep the name: once this period ends, anyone can take it.
Already gone or at auction
Look the domain up again. If it's listed in an auction, ask your registrar whether you can still renew it. If someone else now holds it, see your options below.
"I can't log in", or "the developer registered it".
If you can't renew because the registrar account isn't yours, or you don't know the login, you need to get the domain into your own name first. Don't wait on this while the clock runs.
- If a developer or agency registered the domain and has gone quiet, see what to do when your developer disappears.
- To check what you own and get every login in your name, see website ownership.
If someone else now holds your domain.
Once a domain has been registered by someone else, your registrar can't give it back. You have three honest options:
- Ask the new holder. Look the domain up on ICANN Lookup. The holder's details are often hidden, but there may be a way to contact them through their registrar. They may want a price, or may not reply.
- Use a domain broker. A broker contacts the holder for you and negotiates. They charge a fee, and there's no guarantee the holder will sell.
- Move to a new domain. Often the fastest way to get your site and email working again. Then update your email address, Google Business Profile, social profiles and printed material.
Nobody can promise to get a domain back from someone who registered it properly. Be careful with anyone who does.
After you renew
Your site and email don't always come back straight away. Squarespace says it can take up to 48 hours. In the meantime:
- Check your domain's email records are still there, so mail reaches your inbox again. Email deliverability explains them.
- Send a test email to your business address from a personal one.
- Open your website on your phone, and check the website link on your Google Business Profile still works.
Stop it happening again
- Turn on auto-renew, with a card that won't expire before the renewal date.
- Send reminders to an inbox someone reads. One owner's domain expired because the renewal emails went to an account nobody checked (r/nextjs, September 2024).
- Renew for several years at once, so a missed email or card doesn't take you offline.
- Put the date in your calendar a month before expiry. .au domains can be renewed up to 90 days early.
If you'd rather someone else kept an eye on this, we look after small business websites in the US, UK, Canada and Australia, including domain renewals. Your first fix is free. Then from $100 a month. Start a chat or message us on WhatsApp +92 326 2326191.
My domain expired. How do I get it back?
Log in to the registrar you bought it from and renew it. If it's still in the grace period, that's the normal price. If it's in the redemption period, you pay a restore fee on top, and may need to ask the registrar's support. If the registration has been deleted and someone else has registered it, the registrar can't give it back.
Why did my email stop working when my domain expired?
Your business email depends on your domain name, just like your website. When the domain expires, the registrar stops it from working, so both go down together. Renewing brings them back, which can take up to 48 hours according to Squarespace.
Is there a 30-day grace period for every expired domain?
No. It depends on the registrar and the domain ending. For example, GoDaddy parks a domain on day 5 and lists it in an auction from day 26, Squarespace gives 30 or 40 days, .uk domains can be renewed until day 90, and .au domains get 30 days.
What is the domain redemption period?
For .com, .net and .org, it's a 30-day period after the registrar deletes an expired domain. You can still restore it through your registrar, for a fee, but it can't be moved to another registrar. After it ends, the domain is pending delete for about 5 days, then anyone can register it.
My domain expired and someone else bought it. What can I do?
You can try to contact the new holder through the details shown on ICANN Lookup or their registrar, ask a domain broker to negotiate for you, or move to a new domain. None of these are guaranteed, and nobody can promise to get it back.
How long does GoDaddy give you after a domain expires?
On GoDaddy's standard timeline, the domain is parked on day 5, the last auto-renew try is on day 12, and on day 18 it leaves your account and needs a redemption fee. It's listed in GoDaddy's expired-domain auction from day 26 and removed on day 72.
Sources for this page
- ICANN: Expired Registration Recovery Policy
- ICANN: Domain name renewal and expiration FAQs
- GoDaddy: Standard domain expiration timeline
- Squarespace: Reactivate your expired Squarespace domain
- Squarespace: Domain redemption fees
- Cloudflare Registrar: Renew domains
- Nominet: Registrar renewals procedure (.uk)
- CIRA: .ca domain name life cycle
- auDA: Renew your .au domain name