The (Possible) End of an Era - A Story about Freenom
TLDR: There is a good chance I will lose my domain name, adrianiainlam.tk, after 2026-07-31. If you want to see my stuff after this date, save my alternate email addresses now, and email me (cantab or gmail) if you can’t find my page next month. If you’re still reading this on adrianiainlam.tk after this date, then whew, everything worked out fine.
Background
Freenom maintains the registry for the .tk ccTLD (and a few others). As their company name suggests, they used to give out most of their .tk domain names for free, with the condition that they must be manually renewed every year. They made their money with “premium” names, as well as registrations of generic TLDs.
Meta, the bully
Because most domain names were free, inevitably it attracted some abusers. Meta (Facebook), for some odd reason, decided to hold Freenom accountable for said abusers, and sued Freenom for half a billion in damages for alleged typosquatting and trademark infringement. See, e.g., https://domainincite.com/29520-freenom-settles-500-million-meta-lawsuit-and-will-exit-domain-business.
Let’s be clear: this is absolutely insane. This is like suing Royal Mail for assigning postcodes to allegedly fraudulent businesses. Domain names have always been first come first served. If abusers are actively phishing and infringing trademarks, fine, sue them. There is no sane reason for an entity that registers DNS records to be involved in said lawsuit.
Alas, Meta is a big strong bully, and Freenom is a small company. They buckled under pressure and “settled” the lawsuit, and announced they will exit the domain registration business.
But what about the legitimate users?
I don’t remember the exact date and time, but following Freenom’s surrender, my domain names didn’t resolve for about 2 days.
I sent an email to Freenom about this at 2024-02-10T16:43:17Z. Two days later, the issue was fixed:
From: Freenom Support <info@freenom.com>
Subject: Apologies for the inconvenience. Your domains are working again.
Date: Mon, 12 Feb 2024 11:16:28 +0000 (UTC)
To: <redacted>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Dear registrant,
We have changed the PENDING status of your domains to AUTHORIZED.
To ensure that this doesn't happen again we have registered the
domains as 'Paid Domains' in our systems. Rest assured, you don't
need to pay anything, they are 'paid for' for the next 9 years.
Thank you for using Freenom.
Kind regards,
Freenom Support
Subsequently, I could see the domain expiry date set to 2033. There is still the looming question of what would happen when the time comes – similar to the 1997 and 2047 problems of Hong Kong – but for the time being, all was well.
Sudden renewal notice
At the start of this month I suddenly received a renewal notice:
Date: Wed, 01 Jul 2026 07:14:41 +0000 (UTC)
From: Freenom <info@freenom.com>
Subject: Upcoming Domain Renewal Notice
MIME-Version: 1.0
Reply-To: Freenom <info@freenom.com>
To: Adrian Iain Lam <redacted>
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
boundary="b1_6cyoFAZfW7VAB3CcI3YhRRpNSo3ZqVvXhZMpwIlnE"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
--b1_6cyoFAZfW7VAB3CcI3YhRRpNSo3ZqVvXhZMpwIlnE
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Dear Adrian Iain Lam,
The domain(s) listed below are due to expire within the next 30 days.
adrianiainlam.tk - 31/07/2026 (30 Days)
To ensure the domain does not expire, you should renew it now. You can do this from the domains management section of our client area here: https://my.freenom.com/
Should you allow the domain to expire, you will be able to renew it for up to 30 days after the renewal date. During this time, the domain will not be accessible so any web site or email services associated with it will stop working.
Freenom - A Name for Everyone
--b1_6cyoFAZfW7VAB3CcI3YhRRpNSo3ZqVvXhZMpwIlnE
This came as a surprise but not a shock. I completely sympathise with the fact that, after the lost legal battle, they may need some sort of financial support. They were asking for 10 USD per domain name per year, and honestly, having used my currently domain name for free for almost 10 years, the price felt reasonable. But, I was also slightly sceptical about the sudden charge. I thought it could have been a repeat of what happened two years ago. So I decided to renew for just one year and see how it goes. I completed the payment within the same hour:
From: Verotel Billing Solutions <livesupport@verotel.com>
Reply-To: livesupport@verotel.com
To: <redacted>
Subject: Your Receipt
Date: Wed, 01 Jul 2026 07:56:16 +0000 (UTC)
=0D
Dear A I LAM=0D
Thank you for your order Freenom - Invoice #<redacted> at:=0D
=0D
http://www.freenom.com=0D
=0D
Placed on 01-Jul-2026 07:56:16 UTC timezone.=0D
Amount USD 10.35.=0D
=0D
This transaction was successful and is now being processed by http://www.fr=
eenom.com=0D
=0D
=0D
'vtsup.com*Internet P' will appear on your credit card =0D
or bank statement as the beneficiary of this transaction.=0D
=0D
Should you have any questions concerning your order, please refer =0D
all non-billing questions to support section at http://www.freenom.com.=0D
=0D
For billing enquiries, quote your order number and =0D
contact livesupport@verotel.com. =0D
=0D
Kind regards,=0D
=0D
Verotel Support =0D
=0D
=0D
---------------------------------------------------------------------------=
-----------------------=0D
My bank also shows the amount deducted in my credit card statement:
However, TO THIS DAY (2026-07-21), Freenom’s online portal still says my invoice is unpaid and my domain name will expire by the end of the month.
I tried to contact Freenom about this on multiple occasions.
I wrote a support ticket on their online portal, 24 hours after my payment, and subsequently followed it up a week later.
I sent emails to Freenom, once to support@freenom.com on 2026-07-03 and once to info@freenom.com on 2026-07-07.
I even sent a physical letter to Freenom’s office (ignore the wrong date on the post office stamp).
Which they have received and signed for.
So far, the only “response” I have received from Freenom is (presumably) an automated email, which is basically the same as the first renewal notice except “30 days” is replaced with “15 days”.
Date: Thu, 16 Jul 2026 07:16:02 +0000 (UTC)
From: Freenom <info@freenom.com>
Subject: Upcoming Domain Renewal Notice
MIME-Version: 1.0
Reply-To: Freenom <info@freenom.com>
To: Adrian Iain Lam <redacted>
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
boundary="b1_PC9jtKL6CvQzIdi2fx5EUOFIdXmyDOEZegiJPOepM"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
--b1_PC9jtKL6CvQzIdi2fx5EUOFIdXmyDOEZegiJPOepM
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Dear Adrian Iain Lam,
The domain(s) listed below are due to expire within the next 15 days.
adrianiainlam.tk - 31/07/2026 (15 Days)
To ensure the domain does not expire, you should renew it now. You can do this from the domains management section of our client area here: https://my.freenom.com/
Should you allow the domain to expire, you will be able to renew it for up to 30 days after the renewal date. During this time, the domain will not be accessible so any web site or email services associated with it will stop working.
Freenom - A Name for Everyone
Other than that, I have heard nothing from Freenom. The invoice is still “unpaid”, and my domain still expires by the end of the month.
Other users
There is, of course, a Reddit post with multiple users having similar issues. https://www.reddit.com/r/Domains/comments/1uko56l/no_longer_free_freenom_domains/.
On the same day as my “15 days remaining” email, at least three users (who presumably have not paid to renew) received emails from Freenom saying their domains have been restored to 2033.
u/DoktorXNetWork
Just recived email from them
“Hi,
During a recent system cleanup, your special domain extension accidentally got reset.
We have manually fixed this, and your domain is now safely restored to 2033 at no cost. You do not need to make any payments or take any further action.
Thank you so much for your patience and understanding while we resolved this.
Kind regards,
Support team”
u/jweaver0312
I got the same email, though I’m starting to migrate to a new domain now anyhow, might as well get ahead of the program
u/asha009
I got the same mail! Support freenom not dead! And this good news. I hope this change for 2033 year will be really work!
On the other hand, users who have paid to renew do not seem to have such luck.
u/JasperNLxD2
I paid the invoice but it’s never processed >:( Anyone has any info?
u/xmtscf
I’m experiencing the same issue. I was even considering generating a new invoice and paying again, but I’ve realized I would probably just lose more money and still lose my domain.
u/xmtscf even shared his response from Freenom saying that a renewal fee is required to keep the domain.
u/xmtscf
02/07/2026
Laura StaffHi ****,
Thank you for contacting Freenom Support.
Please note that Freenom has permanently discontinued its free domain tier. As part of this final transition, any remaining free domain registrations have had their expiration dates adjusted to July 31, 2026, which marks the official end of the free service tier.
To keep your domains active beyond this date, they must be transitioned into paid registrations, which is why a renewal fee is now required.
If you wish to maintain these domains, you will need to complete the paid renewal process through your account dashboard before the July 31, 2026 deadline.
Kind regards,
Support team
Why they’re helping their free users, but ignoring their paying customers, I have no idea.
Going forward
I have zero idea whether I can keep my domain name next month. If I can’t, well, it’s been a nice (almost) ten years. I’ll probably register another domain name, but it will be a pain to set everything up again. I can probably get my bank to reverse the credit card payment (so I don’t understand why Freenom is doing this to me – just to scam $10 from me for a month before I reverse it?).
I’ll try to keep this blog updated if I hear anything back, but at this point I’m not holding my breath.