Note: The ENS App and ENS Explorer are both currently on Sepolia testnet. Behaviour and available features may change before mainnet.
A .eth name is yours for the time you pay for. No one can take it from you, and it can only be released as part of the normal name lifecycle if you do not renew it.
While the name is active, you can renew at any time. Early renewal just adds time to what's left. If you don't renew and the name expires, it enters a 28-day grace window. The name stops working during this time, but you can still renew and keep it. If it passes through the grace window, the name enters a Price Cooldown phase and becomes open to anyone — an additional fee starts high and falls to zero over a few weeks. Once it hits zero, anyone can register it at the normal rate.
What you can do at each stage depends on which window the name is in.
Timeline
Stage | What it means |
Registered / Owned name | Name resolves. You can renew, edit records, and transfer at any time. |
Grace period (0–28 days after expiry) | Name stops resolving, shows as expired. No transfers or record edits. You can still renew at standard price — doing so restores the name. |
Price Cooldown (21 days) | Open to anyone. An additional fee starts at $100 million and drops exponentially to $0. First come, first served. |
Available again | Normal annual price. First come, first served. |
Available
The name is not owned and is available to register.
Registered & Owned
You own the name and control its records — ETH Address, text records, subnames — until the registration expires.
Good to know
A
.ethname can't be burned, destroyed, or released before its expiry date.The expiry date can't be made shorter.
Anyone can extend any
.ethname at any time. Extending doesn't change ownership.
What you can do: Change records, transfer the name, set a Primary Name, create subnames. Extend the registration at any time to push the expiry date forward — see How do I extend my .eth name?
Expires into Grace Period
The registration's end date has passed and it moves into Grace Period.
Grace Period (28 days)
A .eth name stays in Grace Period for 28 days after expiry. The name stops working during this time, but you can still renew at the standard renewal price — nobody else can register it. Anyone can extend any .eth name; extending doesn't change ownership.
Important: When you extend a name in Grace Period, the added time runs from the original expiry date, not from today. If a name expired 25 days ago and you extend by 10 days, it's still in Grace Period for another 15 days. To fully exit Grace Period, extend by more than the time already past expiry.
90 or 28 day grace period?
Names not yet upgraded to v2 keep the 90-day grace period as part of their name lifecycle. The grace period end date is the same whether a name is on v1 or v2 — the shorter v2 grace is balanced by the one-time 62-day renewal added at upgrade — so there's no advantage to staying on v1.
What you can do:
Extend the name at the standard renewal price to bring it back to active registration. See How do I extend my .eth name?
Do nothing and lose the name when the 28 days run out — at which point it enters Price Cooldown and has to be registered as new.
For the deeper Grace Period guide, see What is a Grace Period?
Released into Price Cooldown + available to register
The grace period end date has passed and the name is released and available to register again.
Price Cooldown (21 days)
After Grace Period ends, the name enters Price Cooldown and has to be registered as new — not extended. Anyone can register the name by paying the current additional fee plus the standard annual registration fee.
The additional fee starts at $100 million and decays to $0 over 21 days. You can watch the price drop in real time in the ENS App.
What you can do:
Register now at the current additional fee. The name is yours.
Wait for the price to drop, knowing anyone can register at any point — waiting carries the risk that someone else registers first.
For the full guide, see What is Price Cooldown?
Available (again)
If nobody registers the name during the 21-day Price Cooldown, the additional fee drops to $0 and the name returns to normal availability — the same as any other open name. Register it at the standard fee: 3-character names $640/yr · 4-character $160/yr · 5+ character $8/yr. See ENS Pricing.
Common questions
Does extending a name in Grace Period transfer ownership?
No. Anyone can extend any .eth name; extending doesn't change ownership. If a different wallet extends the name during Grace Period, the name stays with its current owner — the payer just pushes the expiry date forward as a courtesy.
Can I extend a name that's in Price Cooldown?
No. Once Grace Period ends, the name has to be registered as new — not extended. The previous owner has no priority over anyone else trying to register it.