Domain Documentation

WHOIS Privacy

When you register a domain, your contact information — name, address, email, and phone number — is added to the public WHOIS database. Anyone can look up this data.

WHOIS privacy replaces your personal details with generic registrar contact information, keeping your data out of public view.

How It Works

With WHOIS privacy enabled, public WHOIS lookups show the registrar's proxy contact details instead of yours. Your actual information remains on file with the registrar and is only shared when legally required.

WHOIS privacy does not affect domain ownership. You remain the registered owner and retain full control over your domain.

Enabling WHOIS Privacy

  1. Open the Domains section in your dashboard
  2. Select the domain you want to protect
  3. Toggle WHOIS Privacy to on

The change takes effect immediately. You can verify it by running a WHOIS lookup on your domain.

Disabling WHOIS Privacy

Follow the same steps and toggle WHOIS Privacy to off. Your personal contact details will become visible in WHOIS lookups again within a few minutes.

TLD Support

Not all TLDs support WHOIS privacy. Some registries (particularly country-code TLDs) require accurate public WHOIS data by policy. If WHOIS privacy is not available for your domain, the toggle will be disabled and marked as not supported.

Common TLDs that support WHOIS privacy include .com, .net, .org, and most generic TLDs. Country-code TLDs like .de, .uk, or .us may have their own privacy rules set by the registry.

Using the API

You can also manage WHOIS privacy through the Sitequest API:

PUT /api/v1/domains/{id}/whois-privacy

Request body:

{ "enabled": true }

Requires the domains:manage scope. See the API documentation for details.

Things to Keep in Mind

  • WHOIS privacy only hides your contact details from public lookups — it does not anonymize domain ownership with the registrar
  • Some TLDs require verified WHOIS data, and enabling privacy may not be possible
  • If you transfer a domain to Sitequest, WHOIS privacy settings from the previous registrar are not carried over — enable it again after the transfer
  • Certain legal or dispute processes (e.g. UDRP) may require disclosure of your actual contact information regardless of privacy settings