Domain Age vs Website Age: What a Registration Date Does and Does Not Tell You
A domain's age is the date its current registration began, and no more. The domain age checker reads the registration, expiry and last-changed events from the registry's RDAP record, plus the registrar, for up to 10 domains at once. Treat the result as one signal, not a verdict on the business.
Step 1: enter the domains
Enter a domain, an email address or a URL, up to 10, one per line. A subdomain such as mail.acme.co.uk is looked up as acme.co.uk.
Step 2: read the dates
You get the age, registration date, expiry, last change and registrar. The age is computed from the registration event. Nothing is scraped and nothing is sent to the domain itself.
What a registration date does and does not mean
| Situation | Effect on the created date |
|---|---|
| Domain renewed every year | Unchanged |
| Moved to another registrar | Unchanged, since it is the same registration |
| Lapsed, deleted, registered again by someone | A new date |
| Business older than its domain | The date shows the domain, not the business |
| Site built long after the domain was bought | The date shows the purchase |
This is why a young date next to a long-running business usually has a simple explanation, and why an old date can hide a changed owner. See how to find when a domain was registered for the commands.
Step 3: use age for the job at hand
For lead lists, lapsed or changed-hands domains are where dead addresses collect. Using domain age to spot dead or risky leads shows how.
For sending, a new domain has no reputation. Google's sender guidelines ask new senders to start with low volume to engaged recipients, so plan a warm-up; see how old a domain should be for cold email and checking a new domain is ready to send.
For signup forms, pair age with the disposable email checker rather than relying on either.
Step 4: do a longer list
The bulk domain age checker runs the same RDAP lookup on up to 500 unique domains, pasted or as a CSV, with age filters and a download.
What this check cannot do
- It cannot find the age of domains on TLDs with no RDAP, such as .io, .co and .de.
- It cannot tell how old the website or business is.
- A registry's "not found" does not prove a name is free.
- It cannot show past owners.
Check the addresses, not just the domains
Old domains still have dead mailboxes. Correct DNS and a good domain get mail to the door; the address still has to exist. Upload your list on the verify page: the first 100 email checks are free with a Google sign-in, no card. Each address comes back valid, risky or invalid with a reason, and nothing is sent to anyone on the list. For larger or recurring lists, see bulk email verification, list cleaning and pricing.
Check a domain now
Enter it in the domain age checker.
Common questions
Does domain age tell me how old a website is?
No. It shows when the current registration began. A site can be older or newer than that date, and a business can predate its domain.
Does transferring a domain reset its age?
A transfer between registrars does not create a new registration, so the created date stays the same. A domain that lapses, is deleted and is registered again starts a new one.
Which domains cannot be age-checked?
Those on TLDs with no RDAP, such as .io, .co and .de. The result says the age could not be determined rather than guess.
Is a new domain a bad sign on a signup form?
Not by itself. Real companies register new domains every day. Throwaway domains are often new, so age is a useful signal next to a disposable check and a mailbox check.
How many domains can I check at once?
The domain age checker takes 10 at a time. The bulk domain age checker takes up to 500 unique domains a run.
Check your list before you send
Real mailbox checks over SMTP, and nothing is sent to the address. Sign in with Google and your first 100 email checks are free, no card. Plans for bigger lists are on the pricing page.