Expiry tracking

Expiry tracking that turns scattered deadlines into one countdown

An SSL certificate's expiry date lives in a hosting dashboard. A domain's lives with the registrar. A licence's is in a PDF, a subscription's in an old email. Expiry tracking pulls every one of those dates into a single countdown, checks the ones it can check itself, and gets louder as each deadline gets closer.

Why expiry dates slip through

Every system involved keeps its own clock and doesn't share it. A registrar knows when a domain expires; it doesn't know you also have a certificate expiring the same week, or an insurance policy renewing the month after. Each one only speaks up inside its own dashboard or its own inbox, so the only place all of it comes together is whoever happens to remember — until they don't.

Expiry is also less forgiving than a typical "renewal." A subscription that auto-renews late might just cost you a day's grace. An SSL certificate that expires stops a site or an API working the instant the clock passes zero. A domain left to lapse can enter a redemption window where getting it back costs far more than renewing it would have. A licence that expires mid-project can lock you out of a tool you're actively using. Expiry tracking exists specifically to catch these before the cutoff, not to clean up after it.

What good expiry tracking looks like

The details that decide whether an expiry tracker actually gets checked, or gets set up once and forgotten.

One countdown, not six logins

SSL certificates, domains, licences, insurance, and subscriptions each expire on their own schedule. A real expiry tracker holds every category in one list instead of leaving you to check a different dashboard for each one.

Automatic checks where a check is possible

SSL certificate and domain expiry is public record. Software that only lets you type a date in and never re-checks it is a calendar with extra steps, not expiry tracking.

Urgency that escalates

The right response to "expires in two months" and "expires tomorrow" isn't the same email. Alerts should get more frequent and more pointed as the deadline actually gets close, not fire once and go quiet.

The alert itself isn't the upsell

If the warning that stops an outage sits behind a paywall, the tool fails exactly the person on the free tier who needed it most.

An account worth protecting is protected

A tool holding the expiry dates of every certificate, domain, and policy you own is worth breaking into. Two-factor authentication shouldn't be reserved for the priciest tier.

Clear ownership on a shared list

The moment more than one person relies on the same list, it needs to be clear who can edit an entry and who's just there to see it and get the alert.

How RenewKeeper tracks expiry

✓One countdown

Spaces hold every category side by side — ten built-in types including SSL, domain, licence, subscription, and insurance, plus custom categories for anything else with a date attached.

✓Automatic checks

SSL certificates and domains are checked automatically every day, so the countdown updates itself without anyone re-entering a date.

✓Escalating urgency

Alerts fire at multiple points as an expiry date approaches, and a weekly digest groups everything by how urgent it is, so a distant expiry and an imminent one never look the same.

✓Never paywalled

Expiry alerts and the weekly digest are included on every plan, including the free one, forever — the warning is a safety basic, not an upgrade incentive.

✓Account security

Two-factor authentication (TOTP) is available on every plan, including Free, not held back for higher tiers.

✓Clear ownership

Owner, admin, and member roles on shared Spaces make it explicit who can edit an entry versus who just needs visibility and the alerts.

Who relies on expiry tracking

Agencies & freelancers

Managing certificates, domains, and licences across several client accounts, where every one of them has its own expiry date and its own consequence for missing it.

IT & ops teams

Certificates and domains that keep a site or an API online, tracked in the same countdown as the software licences and contracts that keep the business running.

Small teams & founders

Insurance, subscriptions, and contracts that used to depend on one person's memory. A shared countdown means an expiry stops being any single person's problem to remember.

Common questions

What is expiry tracking?

Expiry tracking is the practice of keeping every hard deadline you're responsible for — an SSL certificate, a domain, a software licence, an insurance policy, a subscription — in one place, with something checking the clock for you and warning you before the deadline passes, rather than leaving each date buried in a different account or inbox.

What kinds of things need expiry tracking?

Anything with a hard cutoff rather than a soft reminder: SSL certificates and domains, which stop working the moment they expire; software licences and contracts, which can lock a tool or a service mid-use; and insurance policies or subscriptions, where lapsing can mean a gap in cover or an auto-renewal at a price nobody signed off on.

Does expiry tracking check dates automatically, or do I have to enter them?

Both, depending on the item. SSL certificates and domains have a public, checkable expiry date, so a good expiry tracker checks them itself on a schedule. Things without a public record, such as an insurance policy or a software licence, still need the date entered once — after that, the same alerts and digest apply regardless of how the date got in.Domain checks rely on WHOIS records, so a domain with WHOIS privacy enabled may not expose an expiry date to check automatically.

How is expiry tracking different from a renewal reminder?

A renewal reminder is usually a single alert tied to one thing. Expiry tracking treats the deadline itself as the unit — it holds every category of expiry date in one list, escalates from a first warning to a final one as the date gets closer, and keeps working the same way whether the item renews itself, needs a manual click, or simply stops.

Is there a free way to do expiry tracking?

RenewKeeper's free plan tracks up to 10 items in one Space, with no card required and no time limit. Automatic checks, expiry alerts, and the weekly digest are included on every plan, including the free one, since the alert that prevents an outage or a lapse shouldn't be the thing you have to pay to unlock.

Start tracking expiry dates for free.

10 items, 1 Space, no card required. Upgrade whenever your list outgrows it.