Port-43 WHOIS is dying. RDAP is the new ICANN standard for domain registration lookups. Here is how privacy redaction works, who still charges $10/year for it, and who gives it away free forever.
The death of the plain-text phonebook
For thirty years, checking who owned a website meant sending a text query to port 43 on a registry server. Anyone with a terminal could harvest names, phone numbers, and physical home addresses of domain owners.
When GDPR went into effect in 2018, ICANN had to fundamentally rebuild domain registration lookup. The result is RDAP, an authenticated, encrypted, HTTPS-based standard that delivers structured JSON while masking personal data.
The paid privacy fee racket
Even though registries now redact personal data by default, certain legacy registrars still charge $9.99 to $14.99 per year for "Private Registration". Over three years, this hidden fee can double the cost of owning a domain.
Modern registrars treat privacy as a baseline standard: Porkbun, Cloudflare, Spaceship, and NameSilo never charge extra for WHOIS privacy. That is why our rating formula awards 15% weight to free privacy.
Questions this article answers
Is WHOIS privacy legally required?
Registrars are required by ICANN and GDPR to redact personal identifiable data (names, home addresses, phone numbers) for individuals, but some registrars still charge an annual fee for an anonymized proxy email service.
Which registrars include WHOIS privacy for free?
Porkbun, Cloudflare, Spaceship, and NameSilo include full WHOIS privacy free forever. Registrars like Network Solutions or legacy brands still charge $9.99 to $14.99 per year.
What is RDAP?
RDAP (Registration Data Access Protocol) is the RESTful, JSON-based protocol that replaced plain-text WHOIS on port 43. It supports internationalized domains, granular access control, and encrypted HTTPS queries.