This domain age checker gives you a domain's registration date and age in one lookup. Enter a domain in the tool at the top of this page. It's free, with no sign-up and no API key.

Domain age is the time since a domain was first registered, read from registration data. One limit matters up front: this is registration age, not how long a site has been live. Those two can differ by years.

How to check when a domain was registered

Three steps. No account.

Enter the domain. Put the domain you want to look up into the checker.
Read the registration date. That's when the domain was first registered, according to registration data.
Read the age. That's the time between the registration date and today.

That covers "check domain age", "check website age" and "check when domain was registered". Same lookup, different phrasing. One caveat on "website age": the tool tells you when the domain was registered. It can't tell you when a site first went live on it.

Want the whole record? Registrar, expiry date, nameservers? Use the full WHOIS lookup.

What domain age does and doesn't tell you

Three dates get mixed up all the time:

Date	What it means	Does the checker show it?
Registration date	When the domain was first registered	Yes
First-site-live date	When real content first appeared on it	No
Ownership change	When a different party took over the domain	No

A domain can be registered in 2012 and sit parked until last month. It will show an old registration date and carry a brand-new site. Nothing is broken. The tool is reading the registration, not the site.

The current registrant may also not be the original one. Domains get sold, transferred and dropped. Age tells you how long the name has existed. It doesn't tell you how long the current owner has held it.

Is domain age an SEO signal?

A weak, indirect one at best. Don't build a plan on it. Older domains have had more time to collect links and history, and those are what matter. Age alone is a number, not a ranking lever. Anyone selling "age boosts rankings" is selling something.

Where domain age is actually useful

Vetting an expired or aftermarket domain. A long registration history is a prompt to check what the domain was used for. Not a green light.
Sanity-checking a link prospect. A site claiming ten years of authority on a domain registered last spring deserves a second look.
Spotting a brand-new domain behind a sketchy email or site. A domain registered days ago that sends "urgent invoice" emails is a classic. Age is one quick flag among several.
Competitor research. Registration date gives you a rough timeline. Cross-check it against when they actually launched.

Check domain age with an API (curl)

No browser needed. Domain age is a free public REST endpoint. No key, no sign-up.

The domain age checker API reference is the source of truth for the request path, parameters and response fields. We don't copy the schema into this page, because a stale copy is worse than a link. You can pull the reference straight from your terminal:

curl -sL https://domainee.dev/docs/free-apis/domain-age-checker

Copy the path from there, add your domain, and you have the call.

The real limits:

30 requests/min per IP
500 requests/day per IP
CORS-enabled, so you can call it straight from a browser

Domain age is one of 18 free public endpoints. Neighbours include WHOIS/RDAP, DNS lookup and SSL check. Browser versions of the free tools are listed at /free-tools.

Building something around it? See the domain age API page. Running a batch job? Mind the daily cap. 500 lookups per IP goes fast.

Related checks worth running next

Age is one data point. Pair it with these:

Is the domain available? Use the domain availability checker.
What does the DNS look like? Use the DNS record lookup.
Who holds the full record? Use the full WHOIS lookup.

These free tools come from Domainee, the custom domains API for SaaS, by Common Ninja.

FAQ

How do I check how old a domain is?

Enter the domain in the checker at the top of this page. It returns the registration date and the age. No sign-up or key needed.

How do I check when a domain was registered?

Same lookup. The registration date is read from registration data. For the full record, including registrar, expiry and nameservers, use the full WHOIS lookup.

Is domain age a Google ranking factor?

Treat it as a weak, indirect signal at best. Older domains have had more time to earn links, but age by itself is not something you can count on for rankings.

Does the age of a domain reset when it's transferred or the owner changes?

The tool reports registration age from registration data. It doesn't track ownership changes, so a sale or transfer isn't visible in the age. The current registrant may not be the original one.

What's the difference between domain age and website age?

Domain age is time since registration. Website age is how long a site has actually been live. This tool measures the first one only.

Can I check the age of any domain, including a new one?

Enter the domain you want to look up and the tool reads its registration data. A newly registered domain should simply show a young age. We don't list which TLDs or registries are covered, so if a lookup comes back empty, try the full WHOIS lookup.

Is there a free API to check domain age?

Yes. Domainee's domain age endpoint is a free public REST endpoint. It needs no API key and is CORS-enabled. See the domain age checker API reference.

What are the rate limits on the domain age API?

30 requests per minute and 500 requests per day, per IP. The same limits apply across Domainee's 18 free public endpoints.

Why does a domain show an old registration date but a brand-new site?

Because the date is when the domain was registered, not when content went live. A domain can be registered years ago, sit parked, and get a new site much later. It may also have changed hands.

Where can I see the full registration record for a domain?

Use the full WHOIS lookup. It shows the full record, including registrar, expiry and nameservers.

Check a domain now

Check a domain now, no sign-up. Building a SaaS where users bring their own domain? Domainee's free tier covers 20 custom domains and 100 GB/month, free forever, and the docs at /docs cover the API.