How to find where your domain is registered

To find where your domain is registered, type it into ICANN's free lookup at lookup.icann.org and read the line that says Registrar. That is the company that holds your domain and where you renew it, unlock it or change its settings. It takes under a minute. The harder part is often finding which account at that company the domain sits in, and that is what most of this guide is about.

Why you need to know

The registrar is the company you rent your domain name from, by the year. You need it when:

• The domain is about to expire and nobody is getting the renewal emails.
• A new website needs the domain pointed at it.
• You want to move email to a new provider.
• You want to move the domain to a different company.
• You are buying or selling a business and need to hand the domain over.

The registrar is not always the company that hosts your website or your email. A domain can be registered at one company, use DNS at a second and have its website at a third. Keep that in mind as you read the results.

Step by step: ICANN lookup

ICANN is the nonprofit that oversees domain names, and its lookup tool is free and has no ads.

1. Go to lookup.icann.org.
2. Type your domain without "www" or "https", for example millbrookbakery.com, and click Lookup.
3. Scroll to the Registrar Information section. The Name line there is your registrar.

The same page shows other useful facts:

• Expiration date (sometimes "Registry Expiry Date"). Note it in your calendar now.
• Created date. Handy when someone says they registered it "years ago".
• Name servers. These tell you which company runs the domain's DNS, the settings that point it at a website and email. If they end in something like domaincontrol.com, that is GoDaddy's DNS; names with cloudflare.com, wixdns.net or squarespacedns.com are similar clues.
• Domain status. Codes like clientTransferProhibited mean the domain is locked against transfer, which is a normal safety setting.

What if the owner details are hidden?

For most domains, the registrant name, address and email show as "REDACTED FOR PRIVACY" or list a privacy service. This is normal and has been the default for many registrars for years. It does not mean something is wrong.

It does mean the lookup will not tell you whose account the domain is in. For that, keep going.

Finding the account the domain lives in

Once you know the registrar, the domain is in one account there. Ways to find it:

Search your email. Search every business and personal inbox for the registrar's name plus words like "renewal", "receipt" or "domain". Try old addresses too if you still have access. The receipt usually says which login or customer number the domain is under.

Check bank and card statements. Search for the registrar's name around the created date, then once a year after that. The card used tells you who in the business set it up.

Try password recovery. On the registrar's sign-in page, use "forgot password" with each email address the business has used. If one of them gets a reset email, you have found the account.

Ask the people who might know. Your former web designer, an old IT helper, a family member who "did the computer stuff", or the person who was office manager at the time.

When the registrar listed is not the one you pay

Sometimes the lookup names a company you have never heard of. That usually means you bought the domain through a reseller: a website builder, web host or designer that sells domains through a larger registrar behind the scenes. Common examples are domains bought inside Wix, Squarespace or a hosting company's control panel. In that case:

• You manage and renew the domain through the company you actually pay, not the one named in the lookup.
• If your web designer bought it through their own reseller account, the domain may be in their account. Ask them to move it to you. My web designer registered my domain: how to get it back covers that conversation.

If you bought your domain from Google Domains, it will now be listed under Squarespace, which took over those registrations in 2023.

Domains that end in something other than .com

The ICANN lookup works for .com, .net, .org, .biz and most of the newer endings. Some country endings, such as .co or .us, are also covered. A few country endings run their own lookup service; if ICANN's tool returns nothing, search for "[ending] whois lookup" and use the registry's official site.

What to record once you find it

Make a short entry in whatever you keep important business information in:

• Domain name
• Registrar, and the reseller if there is one
• Account login email and who holds the password
• Expiry date and whether auto-renew is on
• Who manages the DNS (from the name servers line)
• Where the website and email are hosted

Keep it with the business's other important papers. Who owns my domain and how to check is the next step if you want to make sure the domain is legally in your business's name, not just in an account you can reach.

In five minutes today

1. Look up your domain at lookup.icann.org.
2. Write down the registrar, expiry date and name servers.
3. Search your email for the domain name and the registrar's name.
4. Try signing in, or reset the password, at the registrar.
5. Turn on auto-renew and two-step sign-in once you are in.

With the domain account found, changing your website becomes a small job instead of a hunt. If that is the next thing on your list, you can see your site rebuilt first and connect the domain once you are happy with it.