Who owns that domain —
and since when?

Type a domain — or an IP address — above. We walk the referral chain (IANA → registry → registrar, plus RDAP and the RIR for the IP behind it), merge the answers, and show the raw record next to a plain-English decode. Free, no sign-up. In a terminal, plain whois yourdomain.com gets you the raw version.

For a domain: the registration dates (created, updated, expires — which gives you the age), the registrar and its abuse contact, EPP status codes (locks and holds), nameservers, DNSSEC, and whatever survives of the registrant’s identity after redaction — often an organization name and a relay email. For an IP: the netblock, the organization that runs it, the ASN, and the abuse contact. What it does not reliably provide anymore: the owner’s name, address and phone number.

In order of effort: the organization field sometimes survives redaction; the relay email or webform listed by the privacy service forwards to the real registrant; the registrar’s abuse contact acts on complaints without revealing anything; historical WHOIS archives often show pre-2018 records from before redaction; and for legal disputes, registrars disclose to courts and UDRP panels. For most domains you can contact the owner, but not identify them.

Check what you already have before paying: since GDPR in 2018, most registrars redact registrant data by default, and many bundle privacy at no charge. Paid privacy still earns its keep in three cases — TLDs and registrars that don’t redact by default (some ccTLDs), keeping your details out of historical archives from day one (redaction today doesn’t erase records from 2016), and cutting spam harvested at registration time. Run your own domain through this tool first and see what’s actually exposed.

The Creation Date field is the age — this tool computes it for you. Two caveats: the date covers the current registration only, so a domain that dropped and was re-registered looks brand new even if the name is a decade old (our history card catches this); and age is a signal, not proof — old domains get bought by scammers precisely because age looks trustworthy, and a young domain is just a young domain. Cross-check with the first snapshot on archive.org for content history.

Different database, different questions. IPs are allocated by the five regional registries (ARIN, RIPE, APNIC, LACNIC, AFRINIC), so an IP lookup returns the netblock, the organization it’s delegated to, the ASN, and an abuse contact — who runs the network, not who owns a name. That’s the record you need for abuse reports and “who actually hosts this?” questions. Paste any IP into the box above; the terminal equivalent, whois 198.51.100.7, auto-follows the referral to the right RIR.

That’s what domain monitoring is for, with one limit worth naming: it watches the expiry clock, not every field. Uptimia re-reads each domain’s WHOIS on a schedule — daily by default — tracks the registration and expiry dates, and alerts you at the lead time you choose, escalating as the date closes in. Renewals fail quietly and registrars don’t send memos; that is the gap it covers. It starts with the paid plans — 10 domains on Basic up to 1,000 on Enterprise — and the 30-day trial includes it in full, 50 domains, no credit card. For a one-off read of every other field, this page is it.