---
title: "RDAP (Registration Data Access Protocol) — monitoring…"
description: "Registration Data Access Protocol (RDAP) is the modern replacement for WHOIS. It returns structured JSON data about domain registration — registrar, expiry…"
canonical: "https://lemwatch.com/glossary/rdap"
source: "https://lemwatch.com"
---

# RDAP (Registration Data Access Protocol)

> Registration Data Access Protocol (RDAP) is the modern replacement for WHOIS. It returns structured JSON data about domain registration — registrar, expiry date, status flags, contact (where permitted) — over a secure HTTPS API.

## Definition

 RDAP solves WHOIS's structural problems: inconsistent text format, no encryption, no rate-limit signalling, no internationalisation. ICANN mandated RDAP support across all gTLD registrars by 2019.

 RDAP is the recommended source for programmatic domain monitoring: structured expiry dates, status codes (`clientTransferProhibited`, `autoRenewPeriod`, etc.) that reveal whether auto-renew is active, and well-defined error responses.

## Why it matters

 Reading RDAP status codes lets monitoring tools infer whether a domain has auto-renew enabled — which dramatically changes the urgency of renewal alerts. A domain with `autoRenewPeriod` is far less likely to expire than one without.

 See it in the product: [Domain monitoring](https://lemwatch.com/features).


## Related

- [Monitoring glossary](https://lemwatch.com/glossary)
- [Domain Expiry](https://lemwatch.com/glossary/domain-expiry)
- [DNS](https://lemwatch.com/glossary/dns)
- [Broken Link](https://lemwatch.com/glossary/broken-link)
- [Visual Regression](https://lemwatch.com/glossary/visual-regression)
- [All monitoring checks](https://lemwatch.com/features)
- [robots.txt](https://lemwatch.com/glossary/robots-txt)
- [Page Speed](https://lemwatch.com/glossary/page-speed)