--- title: "Domain expiry monitoring from the registry" description: "Domain expiry monitoring with registry lookups (RDAP or WHOIS) every 6 hours: alerts 30 days before a domain expires and when its registrar, nameservers or DNSSEC keys change." url: https://spectate.net/features/domain-monitoring last_updated: 2026-10-26 --- # Never lose a domain to a missed renewal > Spectate looks up each domain in the registry every 6 hours, warns 30 days before it expires and tells you when its registrar, nameservers or DNSSEC keys change. - **From the registry.** Expiry, registrar and nameservers over RDAP or WHOIS. - **30 days' notice.** Or anything from 1 to 365 days, per domain. - **Registry change alerts.** When the registrar, nameservers or DNSSEC keys change. ## Expiry dates from the registry itself Spectate looks up each domain at its registry every 6 hours. An alert fires 30 days before expiry by default, a critical one if it actually expires, and renewing resolves it on the next lookup. - Checked every 6 hours - Threshold per domain, 30 days by default - Domains don't count towards your monitors ## Know when someone changes your domain A domain that moves registrar or changes nameservers can take your site and email with it. Spectate compares every lookup with the last one and alerts on each change. - Registrar, nameserver and DNSSEC key changes - On or off per domain ## Watch the records, not only the domain DNS monitors query A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, NS, TXT, CAA or SOA records, expect the values you set, and can alert whenever the answer changes, with the records before and after. - Default, custom or authoritative resolver - Contains or exact match - Before and after diff when an answer changes ## Everything in domains - **Every TLD with public data.** RDAP where the registry offers it, WHOIS for the country domains that don't. - **Threshold per domain.** Critical domains can warn months ahead. - **Registry statuses.** Transfer and update locks as the registry reports them. - **DNSSEC records.** Stored and compared on every lookup. - **Projects and routing.** Group domains with their monitors and route alerts per project. - **No extra cost.** Domains don't count towards your monitors. ## Frequently asked questions ### How does Spectate know when my domain expires? Spectate looks up each domain at its registry every 6 hours: over RDAP, the protocol registries use to publish registration data, or over WHOIS for the country domains that don't offer RDAP. It reads the expiry date, registrar, nameservers, DNSSEC records and statuses, and retries later when a registry is temporarily unavailable. Some registries, such as those for .de, .nl, .eu and .be, don't publish expiry dates at all; for those domains Spectate still tracks the registrar, nameservers and statuses. ### When will I get a domain expiry alert? 30 days before the domain expires by default. You can set the threshold per domain to anything from 1 to 365 days. If the domain does expire, a critical alert follows. Once you renew, the next lookup sees the new date and resolves the alert. ### Does Spectate alert when nameservers change? Yes. With registry change alerts on, which you can switch per domain, Spectate compares each lookup with the previous one and alerts when the registrar, the nameservers or the DNSSEC keys change. That catches unexpected transfers and DNS hijacks as well as changes someone forgot to mention. ### Can I monitor DNS records? Yes, with a DNS monitor. It queries A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, NS, TXT, CAA or SOA records through the default resolver, a resolver you choose or the zone's authoritative nameservers. It can check for expected values and alert when the answer changes, showing the records before and after. ### Does domain monitoring cost extra? No. Domain monitoring is included on every plan and domains don't count towards the monitors you pay for. DNS monitors, which check individual records from the checkers, are regular monitors and count like any other. ## Pricing Included on every plan, from €15 a month (€0.50–€0.75 per monitor). 14-day trial, no credit card. See https://spectate.net/pricing. ## Related - [SSL certificates](https://spectate.net/features/ssl-monitoring): SSL certificate monitoring that checks leaf, intermediates and root from Spectate's checkers. Expiry alerts 14 days ahead, hostname and trust errors, issuer changes. - [Uptime monitoring](https://spectate.net/features/uptime-monitoring): Uptime monitoring with HTTP(S), keyword, ping, TCP, DNS and mail checks every 30s from Europe, North America, Asia or Oceania. From €0.50 per monitor. - [Alerting](https://spectate.net/features/alerting): Alerts by email, Slack, Teams, Discord, Telegram, Pushover, webhook, SMS and phone call, with escalation paths that branch on severity, working hours, source and labels.