DomainTools Warning About “Possible Deprecation of Whois Services”

I use DomainTools on a daily basis for domain name research. From learning about domain names that changed hands to tracking the history of domain name Whois records, DomainTools offers some of the most comprehensive records dating back 30+ years.

This morning while researching a domain name, I saw a message on the top of a DomainTools Whois lookup page warning about a “possible deprecation of Whois services” that would impact the services DomainTools offers. Clicking the banner gave the following message:

Notice: Possible deprecation of WHOIS services after January 28, 2025 for ICANN TLDs

ICANN is in the process of transitioning registries and registrars from using WHOIS to provide domain registration data to a replacement protocol, RDAP. This could happen as soon as January 28, 2025. In cases where registries and/or registrars turn off their Whois services, whois.domaintools.com can no longer provide updated WHOIS records. DomainTools is adding RDAP to our enterprise products, Iris Investigate, Iris Detect and the Iris Enrich API. Domain registration data will continue to be provided in those applications.

See this FAQ for more details on RDAP and how it will be integrated into Iris Investigate, Enrich and Detect.

Please contact us at enterprisesupport@domaintools.com with any questions.

DomainTools has a FAQ page about RDAP, which provides a detailed background about RDAP and how it will be integrated into the tools DomainTools offers.

During the past several years, Whois records have changed tremendously due to changing privacy laws. This has rendered the current Whois record database a much less useful tool for tracking domain name ownership. As a result, it has become more difficult to get in touch with domain name registrants and former domain registrants. I think the upcoming change will make it even more challenging.

I don’t think domain investors need to be alarmed by the forthcoming changes, but it is a bit concerning and something to understand.

Sidenote: I am very fortunate to be given a complementary journalist account at DomainTools.