dnstrace.dev
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WHOIS and RDAP

Understand who manages
a domain name.

Check registrar, registration and expiry dates, registry status, nameservers and public contact records.

Try
Your connection
Detecting… Checking IPv4
Locating network Checking provider

What the result means

Registration data without the WHOIS guesswork

RDAP is the structured successor to traditional WHOIS. DNSTrace.dev reads registry data first and follows the registrar link when available, while respecting redaction and privacy services. A missing contact is shown as unpublished instead of being guessed.

  • Registry and registrar RDAP
  • Lifecycle dates and status
  • Published contact roles

Diagnostic field guide

Use the evidence, not the guess.

Three practical ways to use this lookup, followed by the boundary the result cannot cross.

Reviewed Sep 2026
01

Check lifecycle dates

Review creation, change and expiry events before a renewal, transfer or acquisition.

02

Identify the registrar

Distinguish the registry responsible for the suffix from the sponsoring registrar managing the name.

03

Interpret status codes

Read transfer, deletion and update locks as published by the registry instead of guessing from website behavior.

How to read the result

  1. Confirm the normalized domain and registry response before reading any contact data.
  2. Treat lifecycle events and status codes as registration evidence, not uptime evidence.
  3. Follow registrar data only when RDAP publishes a referral and keep redacted fields unknown.

Common questions

Before you act on the result

What is the difference between WHOIS and RDAP?

WHOIS usually returns loosely formatted text. RDAP returns structured JSON with standardized entities, events, notices, links and status values, which makes referrals and missing fields easier to represent accurately.

Why is the domain owner hidden?

The registry or registrar may redact personal data or publish a privacy service. A lookup cannot recover fields the authoritative source does not make public.

Choose the question

One system, fourteen focused tools.

Each tool has its own indexable page and opens the report at the evidence that answers its question.

DNSDNS lookup

Every address, mail, verification and policy record.

A · AAAA · MX · TXT · NS GLBGlobal DNS

Live answers from probes across ten countries.

Answer · TTL · resolver · latency RDPWHOIS / RDAP

Registrar, dates, status and published contacts.

Registry + registrar data IPIP lookup

Network owner, route, reverse name and region.

IPv4 + IPv6 ASNASN lookup

Autonomous system, BGP prefix and RPKI state.

RIPEstat routing signals TLSSSL checker

Issuer, validity, names and fingerprint.

Live certificate check MXMX lookup

Receiving servers, preference and detected mail provider.

Mail routing records MAILEmail security

Complete validation across authentication and transport.

Seven policy controls SPFSPF checker

Sender policy, authorization strength and DNS-limit risks.

Policy syntax + safety DMARCDMARC checker

Enforcement, alignment, rollout and report destinations.

Anti-spoofing policy DKIMDKIM checker

Selector lookup, key presence, type and base64 form.

Public signing keys STSMTA-STS checker

DNS marker plus live HTTPS transport policy.

Encrypted inbound mail RPTTLS-RPT checker

SMTP TLS report policy and destination validation.

Transport visibility HDRSecurity headers

Browser protections from the final HTTPS response.

HSTS · CSP · framing · policy

Evidence before certainty

The internet has layers.
We keep them separate.

A nameserver identifies the DNS operator. An edge address identifies a public delivery network. An ASN identifies the organization announcing a route. None automatically proves where a hidden origin application runs.

ObservedCorrelatedUnknown stays unknown
Read the detection methodology →

Field notes

Read the signal correctly.

All guides →
DNS · 6 minDNS propagation is really cache expiry

Why locations disagree, what TTL controls and when to test again.

 REGISTRY · 5 minWHOIS text became structured RDAP

Where registration fields come from and why some remain unpublished.

 DELIVERY · 7 minAn edge address is not an origin

What public CDN and hosting signals can and cannot prove.

Agent-ready JSON

Give your script or your AI the same public evidence.

GET /api/dns?target=example.com&type=MX
API reference →llms.txt ↗

One input, several sources

What a full lookup includes

DNSTrace.dev resolves published DNS answers, follows the primary address to its network owner, and reads registry data for the domain or IP. Your own IP is detected separately and only when this page is open.

DNSRDAPASNGeo IP

Your public network address

What is “My IP”?

Your public IP is the address websites see for your internet connection. It is assigned by your ISP, mobile carrier, workplace, VPN, or proxy and is used to route traffic back to you.

Why it is useful Diagnose your connection

Inspect your ISP, ASN, approximate network location, reverse DNS, and whether traffic is passing through a VPN or hosting network.

What it cannot reveal Not your exact location

IP location usually identifies a city or network region. It does not expose your home address or your device's GPS position.

Privacy Relay-aware, not bypassing

The primary address comes from Cloudflare. An IPv4-only check uses ipify with icanhazip as fallback. Apple Private Relay is verified against Apple's published egress ranges. The original address hidden by a relay cannot be recovered.
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