A practical reading guide
Domain age vs website age: understanding registration dates
Content updated · Instructions for the current tool.
Domain age is the elapsed time since a registry’s reported registration date. It is one piece of a website’s history.
Where the dates come from
This tool uses the IANA RDAP bootstrap directory to find the registry for the domain extension. It then requests that registry’s public domain record.
Three dates, three meanings
- Registration: the creation date reported for the current domain record.
- Expiration: the expiry date reported by the registry; renewals and registry handling can change it.
- Last changed: an update to the record, not necessarily a website update or ownership change.
What domain age cannot tell you
A domain can move between owners, change its purpose, or be deleted and registered again. A long registration history does not establish continuous ownership or certify that a website is safe.
Reading missing results
“Unavailable” means a field was not returned or could not be interpreted. “Not found” means the registry returned no record; it does not guarantee availability. “Unsupported” means the extension has no HTTPS RDAP endpoint in the directory used by this tool.
Research beyond the date
For a broader picture, inspect historical website snapshots, current business information, and independently verifiable claims. Use the result’s registry source link to check the original record.