Question

What is the Life Cycle of a typical gTLD Domain Name?

Answer

All domains have a life cycle. Depending on their extension it can happen that the Redemption period is longer (or shorter) than other extensions.

In this article you can see the different periods that a domain has and you will find a list of the periods for the most common extensions.

Life Cycle

Available: As the name suggests, the domain is available for registration.

Registered: At the time a free domain is requested, it is assigned to the person who requested it. If everything is correct, the domain is active. The domain will be active during the years for which the registration has been requested. During this period you can extend the number of years to prevent the domain from expiring when it reaches the expiration date.

Grace period: The domain has expired and stops working. It must be reactivated immediately if the owner of the domain wishes to maintain the domain. For the most common extensions (gTLDs) there is no restore fee, you just pay for the renewal of the domain but for many ccTLDs if the domain is in grace period you have to pay for the restore. 

Redemption Period: The domain has been removed, but can be reactivated and renewed at a higher price than the usual price for a renewal. 

Pending Delete: The domain will be deleted by the registry and can no longer be reactivated. It will become free for registration.

Please check detailed information per extension you want here or refer to Global TLD Sheet where we collected all extensions in a single document.