ENS Grace Period Explained: What Happens When a .eth Name Expires
Expiry is the point at which most people lose a .eth name they wanted to keep. Understanding the exact sequence gives you three separate chances to act, and knowing the timings tells you how long you realistically have.
The three stages after expiry
- Expiry. The name passes its expiry date. You can no longer use its records for resolution, but nothing has been lost.
- Grace period, 90 days. Only the existing owner can renew. The name is reserved for you. Nobody else can register it during this window.
- Temporary premium, 21 days. The name is released for anyone to register, at a premium that declines from its starting point to zero across a 21-day Dutch auction.
After the premium auction ends, the name is a normal available name. Anyone can register it at the standard price.
If you are still deciding whether to register at all, how to register a .eth name walks through the process.
Why the grace period exists
The grace period exists so that an expired name is not taken from under its owner the instant a date passes. It is a recovery window. During it, only you can renew, and renewal restores the name to normal use.
What you cannot do during the grace period
The name is effectively frozen while it sits in the grace period. For wrapped .eth names, Name Wrapper operations on the name are restricted during this window. You retain the right to renew, but the name is not fully functional until you do.
If the name is emancipated or locked
For names that are Emancipated or Locked, expiry carries an additional consequence. When the grace period ends, the name itself expires and the owner loses ownership. This is a specific case worth checking if you hold a name with raised fuses.
Wrapped names and the two expiry dates
For .eth second-level names, the end of the name's grace period from the .eth Registrar is used as the expiry inside the Name Wrapper. If a name's expiration date in the Registrar is 1 January, the expiry shown in the Name Wrapper reflects that date plus the grace period of 90 days.
This matters when reading expiry figures from different tools. Check which date you are being shown: the registrar expiration or the wrapped expiry at the end of the grace period.
Subnames have no grace period
For all other names, such as subnames, there is no grace period. Our ENS subnames guide explains who controls a subname and why the safety net differs. The expiry is simply the expiration date for that specific subname. If you rely on subnames, do not assume the 90-day safety net applies.
The temporary premium in detail
The premium is a Dutch auction: the price starts high and decreases exponentially until it reaches zero or someone registers the name. This is why a recently released premium name can be extremely expensive on day one and close to the standard price by day twenty-one.
How to avoid ever reaching the grace period
- Know your expiry dates across every name you own, including names held in different wallets.
- Set reminders well before expiry, not on the day.
- Renew in bulk so a portfolio is handled in one transaction rather than tracked name by name.
- Extend for multiple years where the name matters, which removes the annual decision entirely.
Next steps
See the ENS learning hub for the full set of ENS guides. Read how ENS renewals work for the renewal process itself, or managing an ENS portfolio if you hold several names.
Sources
- ENS Documentation - grace period, expiry, and Name Wrapper behaviour
- ENS Documentation - temporary premium auction
- ENS Support - registration and renewal fees