A .net expires on its renewal date.
Then up to 45 days to renew, 30 days to restore, and 5 days before it's free.

A .net domain expires on the expiry date in the registry record, at the end of the years you paid for. If it hasn't been renewed by then, Verisign renews it for one more year automatically and bills your registrar.

That doesn't mean you keep it: your registrar then decides, under its own terms, whether to renew you or delete the name.

Usually, but how long is up to your registrar. The registry gives the registrar 45 days after the automatic renewal to delete the name and get its money back, and how much of that time you get to renew late is set by your registrar's terms.

ICANN's rules require the registrar to let you renew after expiry until it deletes the name, and to switch off the domain's DNS for at least the last 8 days of that time, so the site and email stop working before the name is gone.

Here is the order things happen in once the expiry date passes without a renewal. Only the redemption and pending-delete lengths are fixed by the registry; the first stage is up to your registrar.

RemindersAbout 30 and 7 days before, and within 5 days after

Your registrar must email you at least twice before the expiry date and once more after it if the domain is neither renewed nor deleted.

Auto-renew graceautoRenewPeriodUp to 45 days, set by the registrar

Verisign has renewed the domain automatically. You can still renew it through your registrar, at the normal or the registrar's late price, until the registrar deletes it. For at least the last 8 days the domain's DNS is switched off, sometimes to a parking page that says it has expired.

RedemptionredemptionPeriod30 days

The registrar has deleted the name and it is out of the .net zone, so nothing on it works. Only the registrar that deleted it can restore it, normally for a restore fee on top of the renewal.

Pending deletependingDelete5 days

It can no longer be restored or changed.

Released

The name is purged from the registry and anyone can register it, first come, first served.

From 1 to 10 years. A renewal can't take the total remaining term past 10 years.

Ask the registry's RDAP server, https://rdap.verisign.com/net/v1/, or type the name in the box above and nmspc asks the same server for you. IANA's RDAP bootstrap file lists that server for .net; if it doesn't answer, nmspc falls back to WHOIS at whois.verisign-grs.com.

If you move a .net to another registrar within the 45 days after it expires, the automatic renewal is cancelled, so the transfer adds one year rather than two.

Verisign (VeriSign, Inc.) runs the .net registry under an agreement with ICANN. You buy and renew a .net through an ICANN-accredited registrar.

Add a .net 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

• .net Registry Agreement (1 July 2023), Appendix 7
• ICANN: Expired Registration Recovery Policy
• ICANN: FAQs for registrants, domain name renewals and expiration
• Verisign: top-level domain zone file information
• 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.