WHOIS and RDAP: The Public Domain Record

WHOIS is the historical protocol and service through which anyone could request data about a domain: the owner, contacts, registrar, nameservers and dates. RDAP (Registration Data Access Protocol) is its replacement: the same data, but structured, over HTTPS and with the ability to hide fields depending on who is asking.

What the record shows

• The registrar and the registry, the registration, update and expiry dates.
• Domain statuses: clientTransferProhibited, clientHold and others.
• Nameservers.
• The registrant, administrative and technical contacts: name, organisation, address, phone, email. These are the fields privacy services hide and GDPR restricts.

How RDAP differs from WHOIS

The old WHOIS returned free-form text and could not differentiate access. RDAP returns JSON, supports authorisation and field redaction: a public query sees less, law enforcement on request sees more. In 2025 ICANN completed the gTLD transition from mandatory WHOIS to RDAP, but the word "WHOIS" stayed in everyday use.

How to look up a record

Any domain lookup service, a registrar's lookup page or the registry's RDAP server. At Riki Domains the client's data does not enter the public record if the privacy option is enabled in a standard zone, and in Platinum and Titan zones the registration is done with the service's details.