How do I check if my transaction is pending?
A pending transaction is one your wallet broadcast and the network has accepted but not yet included in a block. Most confirm in 1–2 minutes; busy networks can take 5–15 minutes or longer.
To check the status, copy the transaction hash from your wallet and paste it into Etherscan. What Etherscan shows tells you which case you're in:
Pending — broadcast and waiting. Skip to "Pending for too long".
Success — confirmed onchain; refresh the ENS App.
Not found — the transaction never reached the network. Skip to "Not on Etherscan".
If you're mid-registration and stuck on "Almost there", skip to the last section — that case is special.
Good to know
Speeding up or cancelling both replace the original transaction using the same nonce — neither double-spends.
Both speed-up and cancel still cost gas. The original transaction's gas isn't refunded.
Pending for too long
If Etherscan shows your transaction as Pending and it's been under 10 minutes, give it more time — busy networks routinely take 5–15 minutes to include a transaction.
If it's been longer than 10–15 minutes, the gas fee is probably too low. You have two options: speed up (pay more gas) or cancel (drop it for a small fee).
Speed up in MetaMask:
Open MetaMask and find the pending transaction under Activity.
Click the transaction, then Speed up.
Pick a higher gas fee and approve in your wallet.
Cancel in MetaMask:
Open the pending transaction under Activity.
Click Cancel and approve the $0 replacement.
Other wallets have the same controls under different labels.
Important: don't speed up the commit transaction during .eth registration (Step 1 of 3). The ENS App tracks a hash stored in your browser; replacing the commit strands your registration on "Almost there". If the commit is slow, wait it out — see Registration Troubleshooting.
Not on Etherscan
If Etherscan can't find the hash, the transaction never reached the network — that's a wallet-connection issue, not a transaction issue.
Common causes:
MetaMask Smart Transactions intercepting the send.
A dropped link between MetaMask and a hardware wallet.
The wallet logging the transaction in its history without actually broadcasting it.
See Wallet Connection Troubleshooting for the fix.
Stuck on "Almost there" during registration
The ENS App lost track of the commit hash stored in your browser. This usually happens when the commit transaction was sped up or replaced.
The recovery path is in Registration Troubleshooting.
What's next?