WHOIS Lookup

Look up WHOIS registration data for any domain — registrar, creation date, expiry, name servers, domain age, and registrant contact info.

What does WHOIS Lookup do?

WHOIS Lookup queries WHOIS servers for domain registration data. It returns structured information about who registered the domain, when it was created, when it expires, which registrar manages it, and the name servers it uses. It also calculates the domain age in days and the number of days until expiry.

Use it to check domain availability, monitor expiry dates, investigate domain ownership, verify registrant information, or enrich domain lists with registration metadata.

Use cases

• Domain investors researching ownership and expiry dates before making acquisition offers
• Brand protection teams investigating who registered domains that infringe on trademarks
• IT administrators monitoring domain expiry dates across a corporate portfolio to prevent accidental lapses
• Security analysts looking up registrant details on suspicious or phishing domains
• Legal professionals gathering WHOIS evidence for domain dispute or cybersquatting cases

Why use WHOIS Lookup?

• Complete registration data — registrar, creation date, update date, expiry date, and status codes in one call
• Domain age calculation — age in days computed automatically from the creation date
• Expiry countdown — days until expiry calculated for proactive renewal monitoring
• Contact information — registrant, admin, and tech contacts when available (many registrars use privacy services)
• Raw WHOIS included — full raw WHOIS text preserved alongside structured fields for reference
• Bulk processing — look up many domains with built-in rate limiting to avoid WHOIS server bans
• Pay-per-event pricing — costs scale with actual usage, just $0.001 per domain

Input parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
domains	string[]	Yes	—	Domain names to look up. URLs are automatically cleaned (https://example.com/path becomes example.com). Duplicates are removed.

Example input

{
    "domains": ["apify.com", "google.com", "github.com"]
}

Output example

Field	Description
domain	The queried domain
registrar	Domain registrar name
registrarUrl	Registrar website URL
createdDate	Domain creation date
expiryDate	Domain expiry date
domainAgeDays	Domain age in days
daysUntilExpiry	Days until expiry
nameServers	Authoritative name servers
status	Domain status codes
registrant	Registrant contact (name, org, country, email)
rawWhoisText	Full raw WHOIS response
error	Error message if lookup failed

{
    "domain": "apify.com",
    "registrar": "Gandi SAS",
    "registrarUrl": "https://www.gandi.net",
    "createdDate": "2015-01-09T00:00:00Z",
    "expiryDate": "2027-01-09T00:00:00Z",
    "domainAgeDays": 4069,
    "daysUntilExpiry": 314,
    "nameServers": ["ns-1234.awsdns-56.org", "ns-789.awsdns-01.net"],
    "status": ["clientTransferProhibited"],
    "registrant": {
        "name": "REDACTED FOR PRIVACY",
        "organization": "Apify Technologies s.r.o.",
        "country": "CZ",
        "email": "REDACTED"
    },
    "rawWhoisText": "Domain Name: APIFY.COM\nRegistry Domain ID: ...",
    "error": null,
    "queriedAt": "2026-03-01T12:00:00.000Z"
}

How much does it cost?

WHOIS Lookup uses Apify's pay-per-event pricing:

Event	Cost
Run start	$0.035
Per domain looked up	$0.001

Examples:

• 5 domains: $0.035 + 5 x $0.001 = $0.04
• 100 domains: $0.035 + 100 x $0.001 = $0.135
• 1,000 domains: $0.035 + 1,000 x $0.001 = $1.035

Using the Apify API

The Apify API lets you control WHOIS Lookup 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/whois-lookup').call({
    domains: ['apify.com', 'google.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/whois-lookup').call(run_input={
    'domains': ['apify.com', 'google.com'],
})
items = client.dataset(run['defaultDatasetId']).list_items().items
print(items)

Integrations

Connect WHOIS Lookup with other apps and services using Apify integrations. You can integrate with Make, Zapier, Slack, Google Sheets, Google Drive, n8n, and many more. Schedule runs to monitor domain expirations across your portfolio and receive Slack alerts when a domain is within 30 days of expiry, or push registrant data to Google Sheets for compliance audits.

Tips and best practices

• Monitor expiry dates proactively — use the daysUntilExpiry field with scheduled runs to catch domains that need renewal before they lapse
• Expect privacy redaction — many registrars use WHOIS privacy services, so registrant fields may show "REDACTED FOR PRIVACY"; this is normal
• Use rate limiting wisely — the actor includes built-in rate limiting to avoid WHOIS server bans, but very large batches (10,000+) may benefit from splitting across multiple runs
• Combine with Domain Age Checker — if you only need age and dates without raw WHOIS text, Domain Age Checker uses RDAP and may return faster results
• Parse raw WHOIS when needed — the rawWhoisText field contains the full response, useful when you need fields not covered by the structured output

FAQ

Why are registrant details hidden for some domains? Most registrars offer WHOIS privacy protection, which replaces personal information with a privacy proxy. This is standard practice and does not indicate a problem with the lookup.

What is the difference between WHOIS Lookup and Domain Age Checker? WHOIS Lookup returns the full WHOIS record including registrant contacts, raw text, and status codes. Domain Age Checker uses the newer RDAP protocol and focuses on age and dates. Use WHOIS Lookup when you need the complete registration picture.

Can I look up country-code TLDs like .co.uk? Yes, as long as the TLD has a publicly accessible WHOIS server. Most common country-code TLDs are supported, but some may return limited data.

How often should I run WHOIS Lookup to monitor domain expirations? For active domain portfolios, a weekly scheduled run is sufficient to catch upcoming expirations. The daysUntilExpiry field lets you set thresholds (e.g., alert when below 30 days) and take action before a domain lapses.