Domain Life Cycle

Stages in the Domain Life Cycle

1. Available
   Domain is unregistered and available for registration.
2. Registered
   Domain is registered to the registrant.
3. Expired
   Domain has entered the expired state but may be renewed as if it were still registered.
4. Grace Period
   Domain is now outside of normal renewal. Renewals now could cost more than double a normal renewal amount, depending on the domain type.
5. Pending Deletion
   Domain is to be deregistered in 5 days and can no longer be renewed by the current registrant.
6. Released
   Domain is now available for registration.

Domain Life Cycle Legend

• Blue
  Domain services, email and website are not connected to domain.
• Orange
  Domain services, email and website function.
• Grey
  Domain services, email and website do not function.

Domain Life Cycle Explained

As you might have guessed, Stages 1 and 6 are essentially the same. The domain is up for registration by anyone. In practice however, there are organisations who register domains the instant they become available due to the domains accumulated value during it's recent use. So relying on re-registering a domain once it has been released is a risky proposition.

As noted, there is the chance during Stage 4 that the renewal fee may skyrocket.

Domains that enter Stage 3 will not have working services, and will sit like that for a week or two. Again, this depends on the domain type. It's designed to force you to notice that something is wrong.