Domain endings / .io
A .io expires on its expiry date.
What happens after that, the registry doesn't publish. Your registrar's terms decide.
The .io registry shows each domain's expiry date, but it publishes no current timeline for what happens after it. Registrars' own pages disagree with each other, so the only numbers to rely on are the ones in your registrar's terms.
When does a .io domain expire?
A .io expires on the expiry date in the registry record. NIC.IO's terms say each registration or renewal fee covers one year.
Is there a grace period for .io?
Possibly, but the registry doesn't say. NIC.IO publishes no current rules for the time after expiry, and registrars quote different numbers. Ask your registrar, or better, renew before the date.
What happens when a .io domain expires?
No current, official timeline exists to copy here. Renew before the expiry date and you don't depend on one.
How long can you register a .io domain for?
The registry's terms say each fee covers one year. They don't state a maximum.
How do I look up a .io domain's expiry date?
Ask the registry's WHOIS server, whois.nic.io, or type the name in the box above and nmspc asks the same server for you. IANA's RDAP bootstrap file lists no RDAP server for .io (checked 25 October 2026), so nmspc reads .io from WHOIS, and switches to RDAP on its own if IANA adds one.
Identity Digital's RDAP server answers for .io too, but IANA's bootstrap doesn't list it, so nmspc reads .io from WHOIS.
What else is different about .io?
In May 2025 the UK and Mauritius signed a treaty handing over the Chagos Archipelago, the territory .io stands for. The treaty text doesn't mention .io, and IANA still lists Internet Computer Bureau as its manager.
If the IO country code were ever withdrawn, IANA's ccTLD retirement policy gives a country-code ending five years by default, and at most ten, before it is removed from the root.
Anyone can register a name directly under .io; names under the third-level endings such as com.io are for residents of the British Indian Ocean Territory.
Who runs .io?
Internet Computer Bureau Ltd (NIC.IO) manages .io, the country code of the British Indian Ocean Territory; Identity Digital serves its registry data. You register and renew a .io through a registrar.
How nmspc keeps track
Add a .io domain and nmspc reads its expiry date from the registry, then reminds you 60, 30, 14, 7 and 1 day before it runs out, and before its certificate does. Free for every domain. Open nmspc
Sources
- NIC.IO: terms and conditions
- NIC.IO: rules
- IANA root zone database: .io
- UK–Mauritius Chagos agreement, CS Mauritius No. 1 (2025)
- IANA: retirement of a country-code top-level domain
- IANA: RDAP bootstrap file for domains
Checked against these pages on 25 October 2026. Registries change their rules now and then; the source wins if it disagrees.