How to register an expired .com domain

An expired .com is not free the day it expires: it spends weeks in grace, redemption and pending delete first. Here is how to tell where a name is, and how to register it yourself when it opens.

Updated Oct 17, 2026 · From the registry’s published rules, primary sources and our own daily measurements · More guides

1. Check where the name is

Check the name. The registry’s answer puts it in one of five places:

Available — register it now (step 2).
Registered and not expired — someone owns it. It only comes free if they stop renewing.
Expired, in its grace period — the owner can still renew as normal for up to 45 days after the expiry date. Verisign does not show this stage for .com, so an expired name can look exactly like a renewed one until the registrar deletes it.
Redemption period — deleted, but the last owner can restore it for 30 days. More on redemption.
Pending delete — released on the sixth day. More on pending delete.

From expiry to release usually takes about 7 to 12 weeks. The whole timeline.

2. If it is available, register it

Go to any registrar, search for the name and buy it at the ordinary price. Nobody has a claim on a released name: the registry gives it to the first valid request. Look at what the name was used for before — our pages show what the Internet Archive recorded — so you do not inherit a bad reputation.

3. If it is about to be released, be there at the drop

.com names are released once a day, starting at 12:00 UTC. On the release day, have the name typed into a registrar’s search and register it as soon as it shows as available. For most names that is all it takes: a study of .com deletions found only about one in ten deleted names was registered again on the day it dropped.

Source: Lauinger et al., USENIX Security 2017

4. If others want it too

Drop-catching services send many registration requests at the instant of release, and for a contested name they usually win. A backorder with one of them is the way to compete; many charge only if they get the name, and contested names often go to auction.

5. Let us watch it for you

Watch the name on Domains Open and we check the registry for it and alert you the moment it opens, with links to register it yourself. Free. We never register, buy or bid on anything.

What happens at a real drop

In the Nov 14, 2026 drop, 116 of the 400 best-scoring names were registered the same day. The first went at 12:00 UTC, and half of those by 12:28 UTC. The other side of it: 279 (70%) were still unregistered that evening, free for anyone at the normal price. See every daily report.

Avoid other people’s trademarks

A released name is anyone’s to register, but a name that matches someone else’s trademark can be challenged: the trademark owner can bring a complaint under ICANN’s domain dispute policy (the UDRP) and may have it transferred to them. Pick a name that is not somebody else’s brand.

Good .com names available right now · What pendingDelete means · The redemption period