Understanding the lifecycle helps you renew your own domains in time — and catch valuable domains the moment they drop.
The Standard Timeline
| Stage | Duration (.com rules) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Active | 1-10 years | Renew any time to extend |
| Grace period | 0-30 days | Resolution paused; renew at the normal price |
| Redemption | 30-60 days | Status redemptionPeriod; restore fee ~$80-250 |
| Pending delete | 5 days | Status pendingDelete; unrecoverable by anyone |
| Released | — | Drops from the registry into catch services |
TLD Differences
These are Verisign (.com/.net) rules. .cn enters redemption after ~15 days; .ai has no grace period at all; some ccTLDs (the .tk family) delete directly at expiry. Watch the expiry date and status fields on a domain's record page to time an acquisition.
Drop Catching
Valuable drops are contested by SnapNames, Pool, NameJet and friends within milliseconds. Manual registration rarely wins — submit a backorder in advance instead. Our snapshot timeline tracks expiry and status changes for domains we monitor.