What is domain propagation and how long does it take?

Domain propagation is also known as DNS propagation and are the same thing.

Domain Propagation is the delay or time it takes for changes to your domain name DNS settings to be distributed and updated across the internet.

DNS propagation takes two forms:

1. Zone updates – these updates are much quicker – typically a few hours at most as only a few servers need to be updated.
   • This could be something like creating or adding a subdomain in cPanel.
2. WHOIS updates – these take longer – typically between a few hours and 3 days.
   • Registering a new domain name falls under this category and usually takes a few hours to three days. I must say though we’ve never seen it take more than around 36 hours, but we’ve heard of customers updates taking as long as three days.