What is RDAP?

The Registration Data Access Protocol (RDAP) is the modern successor to the old WHOIS protocol. Instead of returning difficult-to-read plain text, RDAP provides data in a standardized, machine-readable JSON format. This allows for cleaner, more reliable, and more secure access to domain and network registration information.

Common Terms

Registrar

The organization that manages the registration of the domain name (e.g., GoDaddy, Namecheap, Cloudflare).

Registrant

The individual or organization that has registered the domain name. For privacy reasons, this information is often redacted.

Domain Status

These codes indicate the status of a domain. For example, clientTransferProhibited is a common status that prevents unauthorized transfers, acting as a security lock.

Nameservers (NS)

The servers that translate a domain name (like example.com) into an IP address. They are a critical part of the Domain Name System (DNS).

A Note on Privacy

You will often see contact information listed as "Redacted for Privacy" or similar. This is a feature, not an error. Due to privacy regulations like GDPR, registrars now offer services that shield the owner's personal information from the public WHOIS/RDAP record to prevent spam and protect their identity.