How to use WHOIS to find out who owns a domain, where it is registered and when it expires, why individuals’ details are hidden, how to contact the owner and how to transfer a domain to someone else.
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Every domain has an owner, formally known as the registrant. The owner decides what happens to the domain: they renew it, change its DNS servers and can transfer it to someone else. The website and email can be run by anyone — the owner of the domain and the owner of the hosting are not necessarily the same person.
How to find out who owns a domain
Open the domain lookup and enter the name. We will show you the registration details:
| Field | What it means |
|---|---|
| registrar | the company the domain is registered through |
| created | the registration date |
| paid-till, Expiry Date | the date until which the domain is paid for |
| nserver | the DNS servers — where the domain’s records are kept |
| org or person | the owner |
If the owner is a private individual, you will often see a placeholder such as Private Person or “Redacted for privacy” instead of a name: personal data is not normally shown in public WHOIS. For .com and many other international domains, the owner’s details are usually hidden as well.
How to contact the owner
If the details are hidden, write to the registrar named in the registrar field: most have a form on their website for contacting the domain’s owner. The message is forwarded to the owner, and they will see your address only if they reply. A registrar can disclose the owner’s details directly only in response to an official request.
Who your own domain is registered to
Check this in advance, especially if your website was built by an agency or a freelancer. The domain should be registered to your company, or to you personally. If it is registered to a contractor, then formally it belongs to the contractor: without them you can’t renew it, transfer it or get it back if the relationship breaks down.
How to transfer a domain to another owner
You can transfer a domain, but only with the agreement of both sides: the current owner tells the registrar that they are handing the domain over, and the new owner says that they accept it. The registrar checks both parties’ documents, and the domain then passes to the new owner along with the period already paid for.
If your domain is registered with us, contact our support team and we will tell you which documents are needed. If the domain has not been registered yet, you can change the owner in your control panel.
Didn’t find the answer? Ask our support team — we’ll help.