Domain Availability Checker

Check if domains are registered or available for purchase. Uses authoritative RDAP with DNS checks and a rate-limited WHOIS fallback to determine registration status, registrar, creation date, and expiry date.

What does Domain Availability Checker do?

Domain Availability Checker determines whether domain names are registered or available for purchase. It checks DNS and queries the TLD registry's authoritative RDAP service, then falls back to rate-limited WHOIS when RDAP is unavailable or inconclusive. Up to 10 domains are checked concurrently so bulk lists complete faster without overwhelming fallback WHOIS servers. Pass in a list of domains and get back a clear available: true/false verdict for each one. For .ai domains, results are intentionally conservative: domains without DNS records are not marked available because .ai registrars can premium/reserve names outside public DNS/WHOIS.

Use it for domain name research, brand protection monitoring, bulk domain checking, or finding available domains for new projects. The dual-method approach (DNS + WHOIS) provides a reliable and detailed result for each domain checked.

Who is it for?

• 🏢 Domain investors — scanning bulk domain lists for available registration opportunities
• 🚀 Startup founders — finding available domain names for new business ventures
• 🔍 Brand managers — checking if brand-related domains are taken or available
• 💻 Web agencies — searching domain availability on behalf of clients
• 📊 Domain resellers — monitoring expiring domains for acquisition opportunities

Use cases

• Entrepreneurs searching for available domain names for a new business or product launch
• Brand protection teams monitoring whether typosquatting or look-alike domains have been registered
• Domain investors bulk-checking lists of expired or potentially available domains for acquisition
• Marketing agencies finding available domains for client campaigns and landing pages
• Legal teams investigating whether infringing domain names have been registered by competitors
• Startup founders validating that a shortlist of candidate domain names is still open before committing to a brand name

Why use Domain Availability Checker?

• Authoritative registry checks — uses IANA-discovered RDAP services, DNS corroboration, and rate-limited WHOIS fallback
• Faster bulk runs — bounded parallelism checks up to 10 domains concurrently while protecting WHOIS servers
• Registration details included — returns registrar, creation date, expiry date, and name servers for registered domains
• Batch processing — check hundreds of domains in a single run instead of one at a time
• Clear verdict — each result includes available and registered booleans for easy filtering
• Timing data — checkTimeMs shows how long each check took for performance visibility
• Pay-per-event pricing — costs scale with actual usage, just $0.002 per domain checked
• Structured JSON output — parsed fields ready for filtering available vs. registered domains in downstream tools

Fast-start recipe

1. Paste the smallest input that matches your job: one keyword, one URL, one listing ID, one username, or a short domain list.
2. Keep the first run small (result limit of 10-50) to validate fields and cost.
3. Export the dataset as CSV/Excel for spreadsheet review, or use the Apify API/webhooks for scheduled monitoring.
4. Scale the same input pattern once the sample output matches your workflow.

Exact domains only

Enter exact domains such as example.com, brand.ai, or brand.co. This actor checks the domains you provide; it does not generate alternative names or TLD suggestions.

First run recommendation

Start with 5-20 domains, normalized without protocol, path, or query string. Use the returned DNS/WHOIS method and errors to review ambiguous domains.

Workflow ideas

Use Google Search Results Scraper for brand conflict checks, MX/email verification actors for infrastructure checks, and Company Domain Finder-style enrichment when validating lead lists.

Input parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
domains	string[]	Yes	—	List of domain names to check availability for. Enter bare domain names (e.g., example.com).

Example input

{
    "domains": ["example.com", "google.com", "xyznotregistered12345.com"]
}

Output example

Each domain produces one result object with availability status, detection method, and registration details when the domain is registered.

Field	Description
domain	The queried domain name
available	Whether the domain is available for registration
registered	Whether the domain is currently registered
method	Decisive detection method (rdap, dns, whois, or error)
registrar	Registrar name (if registered)
createdDate	Domain creation date (if registered)
expiryDate	Domain expiry date (if registered)
nameServers	Name servers (if registered)
checkTimeMs	Time taken for the check in milliseconds
error	Error message if check failed
checkedAt	ISO timestamp of the check

{
    "domain": "google.com",
    "available": false,
    "registered": true,
    "method": "whois",
    "registrar": "MarkMonitor Inc.",
    "createdDate": "1997-09-15T04:00:00Z",
    "expiryDate": "2028-09-14T04:00:00Z",
    "nameServers": ["ns1.google.com", "ns2.google.com"],
    "checkTimeMs": 1234,
    "error": null,
    "checkedAt": "2026-03-01T12:00:00.000Z"
}

How to check domain availability

1. Go to Domain Availability Checker on Apify Store
2. Enter one or more domain names to check (e.g., example.com, mybrand.io)
3. Click Start and wait for the run to finish
4. Review the availability status, registrar, and expiry date for each domain
5. Download your results as JSON, CSV, or Excel from the Dataset tab

How much does it cost to check domain availability?

Domain Availability Checker uses Apify's pay-per-event pricing:

Event	Price	Description
Start	$0.035	One-time per run
Domain checked	$0.002	Per domain checked

Examples:

• 10 domains: $0.035 + 10 x $0.002 = $0.055
• 100 domains: $0.035 + 100 x $0.002 = $0.235
• 1,000 domains: $0.035 + 1,000 x $0.002 = $2.035

API usage with Apify

The Apify API lets you control Domain Availability Checker programmatically. Schedule runs, read datasets, manage webhooks, and more. See the Apify API reference for details.

Node.js

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' });
const run = await client.actor('automation-lab/domain-availability-checker').call({
    domains: ['example.com', 'google.com', 'xyznotregistered12345.com'],
});
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
console.log(items);

Python

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient('<YOUR_API_TOKEN>')
run = client.actor('automation-lab/domain-availability-checker').call(run_input={
    'domains': ['example.com', 'google.com', 'xyznotregistered12345.com'],
})
items = client.dataset(run['defaultDatasetId']).list_items().items
print(items)

cURL

curl "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/automation-lab~domain-availability-checker/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=YOUR_TOKEN" \
  -X POST \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"domains": ["example.com", "myawesomestartup.com"]}'

Use with AI agents via MCP

Domain Availability Checker is available as a tool for AI assistants via the Model Context Protocol (MCP).

Setup for Claude Code

$claude mcp add --transport http apify "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=automation-lab/domain-availability-checker"

Setup for Claude Desktop, Cursor, or VS Code

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=automation-lab/domain-availability-checker"
        }
    }
}

Example prompts

• "Is myawesomestartup.com available?"
• "Check if these 20 domain names are available for registration"
• "Which .io domains from this list are still open for registration?"

Learn more in the Apify MCP documentation.

Integrations

Connect Domain Availability Checker with other apps and services using Apify integrations. You can integrate with Make, Zapier, Slack, Google Sheets, Google Drive, n8n, and many more. Set up a webhook to get a Slack notification when a watched domain becomes available, or push results to Google Sheets to maintain a live inventory of domain availability across your brand portfolio.

Tips and best practices

• Check variations systematically — generate a list of domain name variations (typos, different TLDs, hyphens) and check them all in one batch
• Filter results by availability — use the available field to quickly isolate domains that are open for registration
• Monitor periodically — schedule daily or weekly runs to detect when previously registered domains expire and become available
• Combine with WHOIS Lookup — for registered domains where you need full registrant contact details, run WHOIS Lookup as a follow-up
• Review the method field — the method field tells you whether the result came from DNS alone or a full WHOIS query, which indicates the confidence level
• Export results for analysis — download as JSON, CSV, or Excel from the dataset tab to share availability reports with your team or import into a spreadsheet

Legality

This tool analyzes publicly accessible web content. Automated analysis of public web resources is standard practice in SEO and web development. Always respect robots.txt directives and rate limits when analyzing third-party websites. For personal data processing, ensure compliance with applicable privacy regulations.

FAQ

How does the actor determine if a domain is available? It checks DNS and the TLD registry's authoritative RDAP endpoint. If RDAP is unavailable or inconclusive, it falls back to WHOIS. A domain is marked available only after an explicit RDAP or WHOIS not-found response; ambiguous checks remain conservatively unavailable.

Can I check domains across different TLDs? Yes. You can mix TLDs in a single run (e.g., example.com, example.net, example.io). Each domain is checked independently.

Why do some domains show as registered but have no registrar information? Some TLDs or registrars return limited WHOIS data. In those cases, the domain is confirmed as registered via DNS, but the detailed registration fields may be empty or null.

Does the actor check if a domain is available for purchase on the aftermarket? No. The actor checks whether a domain is currently registered in the DNS/WHOIS system. It does not query aftermarket platforms like Sedo or GoDaddy Auctions. A domain reported as "registered" may still be listed for sale by its owner through those channels.

Is there a limit on how many domains I can check? There is no hard limit. The actor checks up to 10 domains concurrently via RDAP while serializing WHOIS fallbacks to avoid registry bans. For very large batches (10,000+), consider splitting across multiple runs to stay within the Actor timeout and upstream rate limits.

A domain shows as available but I cannot register it. Why? Some domains are reserved by registries (e.g., premium domains, country-specific restrictions) or are in a redemption grace period after expiration. The actor checks DNS and WHOIS, but registration eligibility depends on the registrar and TLD policies. Always verify at your registrar before assuming a domain can be purchased.

The run is slow for large batches. How can I speed it up? The actor uses bounded RDAP concurrency for fast bulk checks and rate-limits only the WHOIS fallback. For very large lists (10,000+), split them across multiple runs to keep individual run times manageable.

Other DNS and domain tools

• DNS Lookup — Look up all DNS record types for any domain
• DNS Propagation Checker — Check DNS propagation across global resolvers
• DMARC Record Checker — Check DMARC email authentication policies
• SPF Record Checker — Check SPF records for email sender authorization
• MX Record Checker — Check MX records for mail server configuration
• TXT Record Checker — Look up TXT records for any domain
• AAAA Record Checker — Check IPv6 AAAA records
• CNAME Record Checker — Check CNAME alias records
• NS Record Checker — Check authoritative name servers
• SSL Certificate Checker — Check SSL/TLS certificate details
• WHOIS Lookup — Look up domain registration details
• Domain Age Checker — Check domain registration age