.org WHOIS Lookup
.org is a generic extension operated by the nonprofit Public Interest Registry. Look up a .org address and see what the record contains.
- 1.494 extensions
- IANA 1601 ICANN accredited
- 2 protocols — RDAP and WHOIS
Your IP address 216.73.216.31
.org WHOIS Lookup: The Public Interest Registry Record
.org is one of the original extensions in the root zone, delegated on 1 January 1985 according to IANA and operated by Public Interest Registry, a non-profit. Queries are answered on port 43 by whois.publicinterestregistry.org, and the extension also runs an RDAP endpoint at rdap.publicinterestregistry.org. In our measurement on 12 August 2026 the port 43 reply carried fifteen fields, and the zone held a DS record in the root.
Not one line in that reply belongs to the registrant. The registry gives you the name of the registrar that sold the domain, its IANA number, its WHOIS server and both an email address and a phone number for abuse reports; for identity data the terms-of-use line points explicitly at the registrar's own service. The record we measured held one more detail: the Registry Domain ID field carried the value REDACTED instead of a real identifier, so even the internal key was closed.
The two channels do not carry the same scope. The RDAP reply lists events separately, and in our measurement it included a transfer event alongside registration, expiration and last change — information with no counterpart in the port 43 output. For anyone reading the same record through both channels, the practical consequence is plain. To see an extension whose port 43 closed entirely, try the .info WHOIS lookup; for another extension under the same rules, the .net WHOIS lookup page.
About the .org extension
- Extension
- .org
- WHOIS server
- whois.publicinterestregistry.org
- RDAP endpoint
- https://rdap.publicinterestregistry.org/rdap
- Registry
- Public Interest Registry (PIR) — a non-profit operator
- Delegated
- 1 January 1985
- Fields measured
- 15 fields (12 August 2026)
- RDAP events
- registration, expiration, transfer, last changed
- Withheld
- The registrant's name and contact data are not opened at registry level
WHOIS FAQ
Why does a .org WHOIS lookup show no registrant?
Because Public Interest Registry does not publish registrant identity or contact data at registry level; in the 12 August 2026 measurement no such field appeared at all. The terms-of-use line at the end of the reply is where the trail continues: it points to the service run by the registrar that sold the name. Since 2018 most registrars publish natural-person lines masked, while the organisation line often survives for companies.
Does a .org record show the creation date and domain age?
It does. The reply returns the creation date in Creation Date, the last modification in Updated Date and the end of the sponsorship term in Registry Expiry Date, all in UTC. In the record we measured the creation date fell in 1998. Our result screen derives the domain's age and its remaining term from those three values, so there is nothing to work out by hand.
Where is the RDAP endpoint for .org and what does it add?
IANA's bootstrap registry routes .org queries to rdap.publicinterestregistry.org, and that endpoint answered in our 12 August 2026 measurement. The difference is not only formatting: RDAP lists events by type, and ours carried a transfer event next to registration, expiration and last change. Port 43 output has no transfer information at all. A JSON reply is also safer for automated systems than parsing free-form text field by field.
Why does Registry Domain ID read REDACTED in a .org record?
The registry can withhold the internal identifier of the record too; in the one we measured that field carried REDACTED rather than a value. The number addresses the record uniquely in transactions between registrars, so exposing it brings no direct benefit to a visitor. A closed field here does not mean an incomplete record: the dates, the registrar, the status codes and the name servers all arrive in full in the same reply.
What is the Registry Lock notice at the top of a .org record?
That line reports that the domain is protected by an additional lock service at registry level, and in the record we measured it stood right at the top of the reply. On a locked name, transfer, deletion and update requests do not go through on their own; lifting the lock runs through the holder's own registrar. On high-value names the service is a deliberate defence against domain theft, so do not read the notice as a sign of trouble.
Who sets .org status codes and who can remove them?
The codes come from ICANN's shared EPP vocabulary, and the prefix tells you who set them. Codes beginning with client are set by the registrar managing the name, which can lift them on request; codes beginning with server are set by the registry and the registrar cannot lift them. The record we measured carried three of each: deletion, transfer and update were locked at both layers. Our result screen explains each code it displays.
What does the DNSSEC line in a .org reply describe?
It describes the domain you queried, not the extension: it reads signed when a DS record has been published for that name and unsigned when it has not. The .org zone itself holds a DS record in the root and is signed, which we verified separately during the measurement. So the extension supports DNSSEC, while whether it is switched on for one address depends on a setting made at the registrar.
How does an available .org name appear in a lookup?
Query a name nobody holds and the registry reports that no match was found; none of the date, registrar or name server fields arrive. That means the name looks free to register. We cache such answers for five minutes only, because a name that looks free can be taken within minutes, against six hours for registered ones.