Domain Availability Checker

Check if domains are registered or available for purchase. Uses DNS and WHOIS lookups 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 first performs a fast DNS lookup to check for existing records, then a detailed WHOIS query to get registration information including the registrar, creation date, expiry date, and name servers. Pass in a list of domains and get back a clear available: true/false verdict for each one.

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?

• Dual-method detection — combines DNS lookup (fast) with WHOIS query (detailed) for reliable results
• 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

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	Detection method used (dns, whois, or both)
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

Using the Apify API

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"

Setup for Claude Desktop, Cursor, or VS Code

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com"
        }
    }
}

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 first performs a DNS lookup. If no DNS records exist, it follows up with a WHOIS query to confirm. A domain is marked as available only when both methods indicate it is not registered.

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 processes domains sequentially with WHOIS rate limiting to avoid server bans. For very large batches (10,000+), consider splitting across multiple runs to stay within WHOIS server rate limits and keep run times manageable.

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 includes built-in WHOIS rate limiting to avoid server bans, which intentionally slows down large batches. For very large lists (10,000+), split them across multiple runs to keep individual run times manageable. The DNS check portion is fast -- the WHOIS followup is what takes time.

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