When you register a domain, your name, address, phone, and email become part of the public WHOIS database — searchable by anyone, scraped by spammers, indexed by data brokers. WHOIS privacy hides those details behind proxy contact info.
How we handle it
- Free, on most TLDs.
- On by default when you register or transfer in a domain.
- Toggleable from your domain detail page in Domains.
For the vast majority of domains, you don't need to think about it — it just works.
What WHOIS privacy does
When privacy is on, public WHOIS lookups for your domain show:
- A proxy contact email (forwarded to you).
- A generic privacy-service mailing address.
- Generic contact phone (forwarded if necessary).
- Your domain registration details (registrar, dates, nameservers) remain visible — those are required by ICANN.
Spammers, data brokers, and casual lookups can't extract your personal info.
What WHOIS privacy doesn't do
Privacy is about hiding your contact details from public lookup. It doesn't:
- Hide ownership from us — we know who you are (you signed up with us).
- Hide ownership from law enforcement with proper legal process.
- Anonymize the domain itself — the domain is still publicly registered.
- Affect DNS, hosting, email, or anything technical.
TLDs that don't allow WHOIS privacy
A handful of TLDs prohibit privacy under their registry rules:
.us— registry policy requires real registrant info..in— same..ca— has its own built-in privacy for individuals; for businesses, contact info is public.- Some other country-codes — varies.
If your TLD doesn't allow privacy, the toggle in the portal is disabled and we explain why.
For these, common workarounds:
- Use a business address rather than home address.
- Use a generic email (
whois@yourcompany.com) rather than personal. - Get a virtual mailbox if you don't want your home address public.
GDPR and the WHOIS landscape
Since GDPR (2018), most major registrars have started redacting personal data from WHOIS lookups by default for individuals in the EU — even without explicit privacy. We honor that for any registrant who indicates EU residency.
Our paid privacy proxy is a stronger guarantee — it works for all TLDs that allow it, regardless of where you live.
Toggling privacy
To turn privacy on or off:
- Go to Domains and click the domain.
- Find the WHOIS Privacy tile.
- Toggle it.
Changes take a few minutes to propagate to the public WHOIS database.
Renewal
Privacy stays on as long as you have the domain with us. There's no separate renewal — it's bundled.
If you transfer the domain out to another registrar, you'll need to ask the new registrar about their privacy options. The privacy we apply is specific to our registration; it doesn't follow the domain.