Updated 2026-09-28
A domain check watches a domain's registration expiry — not its certificate — so a missed renewal at your registrar doesn't quietly take everything down.
How it works
Domain checks don't run from probes like the other check types. Instead, Status looks up the domain's registration record daily (via RDAP, the registry lookup protocol) and tracks its expiration date.
If the lookup fails outright, or the domain has actually lapsed, the check itself goes down — it opens an incident, sends your alerts, and counts toward that check's uptime percentage, the same as any other check type.
Expiry warnings
Separately from that up/down state, domain expiry also uses a set of thresholds — by default 30, 14, and 7 days before the registration expires. You get a warning at each threshold as the date approaches. These advance warnings are informational — unlike an actual lookup failure above, a warning does not open an incident or count against uptime. See SSL and domain expiry warnings for details and how to adjust the thresholds.
When to use it
Any domain your business depends on, especially ones registered years ago that renew on autopilot (or don't). This is a different failure mode than a certificate lapsing or a site going down — a domain check is the only thing that watches registration itself.