Deleted vs Dropped vs Expired: What Each Status Means
Domainers, registrars and news write-ups use expired, deleted and dropped as if they were synonyms. They are not. Each word names a specific stage of the domain lifecycle, with its own rules about who controls the name, what it costs to get back, and whether you can register it. Mixing them up has real costs: owners give up on names that are still recoverable, and buyers burn backorder fees on names that were never going to drop. Here are the precise definitions, and the state machine that connects them.
The three statuses at a glance
Start with the map; the sections below unpack each state in detail.
| Status | What it means | Typical WHOIS clue | Can you register it? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Active | Registered and paid up; the owner controls it fully | ok, often with locks such as clientTransferProhibited | No; you would have to buy it from the owner |
| Expired | The registration period ran out, but the owner can still renew, usually at the normal price | autoRenewPeriod during the registrar grace period (0-45 days) | No; the owner keeps priority, though many registrars list the name in an expiry auction |
| Deleted | The registrar has told the registry to remove it; it is working through a roughly 35-day removal pipeline | redemptionPeriod (30 days), then pendingDelete (5 days) | No; only the original registrant can restore it during redemption, and pendingDelete cannot be interrupted |
| Dropped | The registry has purged the name; it is unregistered and public again | No record at all, or a brand-new one seconds after release | Yes; first come, first served, and contested names are caught in milliseconds |
The domain state machine: two exits lead back to active, and both close before pendingDelete begins
What does expired actually mean?
Expired means one thing: the registration term ran out before a renewal was paid. Nothing else has happened yet. For .com and most other gTLDs, WHOIS flips to autoRenewPeriod, meaning the registry has automatically renewed the name and is waiting to see whether the registrar, and therefore the owner, pays for it. The registrar usually parks the domain (site and email stop working) and starts its grace period, anywhere from 0 to 45 days at the registrar's discretion. During this window the owner can renew at the normal price, even while the name sits in an expiry auction collecting bids. An expired domain is inconvenient, but it is not lost. The full expiry timeline walks through this stage day by day.
What does deleted actually mean?
Deleted means the registrar has issued the delete command and the registry has begun its removal process. Crucially, deleted does not mean available. A deleted gTLD domain first enters redemptionPeriod for 30 days: it leaves the DNS zone entirely, and only the original registrant can bring it back, through the old registrar, for a restore fee that typically runs $80-200 on top of renewal. When redemption ends, the domain moves to pendingDelete for exactly 5 days, and every exit is sealed: no renewal, no restore, no payment to anyone can stop the deletion. A domain described as deleted is therefore somewhere in a roughly 35-day pipeline whose destination is the drop.
What does dropped actually mean?
Dropped (also released) means the registry has purged the name from its database and anyone can register it again. For .com and .net this happens in a daily batch starting around 2:00 pm US Eastern. The instant a name releases it is first come, first served: drop-catching services fire EPP create commands from hundreds of accredited registrar connections, and desirable names are gone in milliseconds. Names nobody is chasing simply become hand-registerable at the standard fee.
One side effect matters enormously to buyers: a drop resets the clock. The new registration gets a fresh creation date and a blank WHOIS history. A domain bought in an expiry auction before deletion, by contrast, transfers with its original registration date intact.
Why does the difference matter?
For owners the ranking is simple: expired is cheap to fix, deleted is expensive to fix, dropped is unfixable. A renewal during grace costs the normal fee. A restore during redemption typically costs $80-200 extra. After the drop you are just another buyer, competing against professional catchers with faster infrastructure.
For buyers the confusion runs the other way. Most lists sold as deleted domains are really pendingDelete lists: names with a known future drop date that are not registerable yet. Aggregators such as DomCop publish these lists daily with backlink and authority metrics attached, so hunters can decide whether a name deserves a backorder before it releases; it is a paid tool, with annual plans working out from roughly $68 per month, no free trial and a 2-day money-back guarantee. ExpiredDomains.net covers 676 TLDs free, with most filters unlocking after you register an account.
How do you check which state a name is in?
Run a WHOIS or RDAP lookup, from your registrar's lookup page, a registry's own site, or any public WHOIS service, and read the status line rather than the marketing around it. autoRenewPeriod (or an active record with a past expiry date) means expired. redemptionPeriod or pendingDelete means deleted, with the second code starting a five-day countdown. No record at all means dropped and available right now. One caution: WHOIS data can lag by hours at busy registries, so hunters who care about the final day usually cross-check against a pending-delete list, which states the scheduled drop date outright instead of leaving you to infer it.
Adjacent terms people mix in
A few neighbouring labels cause most of the remaining confusion:
- Expiring: still active but close to its expiry date; the label auction platforms use while the current owner can still renew and cancel the sale.
- Redemption: the 30-day restore window; part of the deleted state, not a separate fate.
- Pending delete: the final, unstoppable 5 days of the deleted state.
- Available: dropped and still unregistered; the only state where hand-registration works.
- Aged domain: any long-registered domain, however acquired. Age survives an expiry-auction purchase; it does not survive a drop.
- Closeout: the fixed-price aisle for auction leftovers. GoDaddy closeouts start around $5, and Dynadot steps unsold names down a ladder of roughly $30, then $15, then $5.
Frequently asked questions
Is a deleted domain the same as an available domain?
No. A deleted gTLD domain still has to pass through the 30-day redemption period and 5 days of pendingDelete before the registry actually releases it. Treat deleted as scheduled to become available, not available.
How long after expiry can someone else register a domain?
For a typical .com, roughly 65-80 days: up to 45 days of registrar grace, 30 days of redemption and 5 days of pendingDelete. The complete timeline breaks the journey down stage by stage.
Does a dropped domain keep its age?
No. A drop wipes the registration record, so the catcher or hand-registrant starts a brand-new WHOIS history with a fresh creation date. Buying the same name in an expiry auction before deletion preserves the original registration date.
Can a deleted domain be recovered?
Only during the redemption period, only by the original registrant, and only through the old registrar, for a restore fee that typically runs $80-200 plus renewal. Once pendingDelete begins, recovery is impossible for everyone, including the registry itself.