# Social Handle Availability Checker (`aybo_bbc/social-handle-checker`) Actor

Instantly check username and brand availability across Instagram, TikTok, GitHub, Twitter / X, and Pinterest.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/aybo_bbc/social-handle-checker.md
- **Developed by:** [Aybo](https://apify.com/aybo_bbc) (community)
- **Security:** Limited permissions
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

$1.50 / 1,000 results

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## 🔍 Social Media Handle & Brand Availability Checker

Check the availability of usernames or brand names across multiple major social media platforms instantly, reliably, and without relying on paid APIs.

***

### 🚀 What can Social Handle Checker do?

If you are launching a new brand, building an agency portfolio, doing competitive research, or securing digital assets, checking handles manually across 5+ platforms is tedious.

**Social Handle Checker** extracts real-time public status data directly from platforms using smart headers, user-agent rotation, and BeautifulSoup parsing, ensuring high accuracy and zero reliance on heavy browsers or paid APIs.

***

### 📊 What you can check & what it returns

| Platform | URL Checked | How Status is Determined |
| :--- | :--- | :--- |
| **Instagram** | `instagram.com/{username}/` | HTTP status + Open Graph metadata (`og:title` / `og:image`) & error text check |
| **TikTok** | `tiktok.com/@{username}` | HTTP 404 (Available) vs HTTP 200 + Content analysis (Taken) |
| **GitHub** | `github.com/{username}` | HTTP 404 (Available) vs HTTP 200 (Taken) |
| **Twitter (X)** | `twitter.com/{username}` | HTTP status & profile page validation |
| **Pinterest** | `pinterest.com/{username}/` | HTTP status & metadata check |

***

### ⚙️ Input Configuration

The actor accepts a clean JSON input containing the list of usernames or brand names you want to scan.

```json
{
  "usernames": [
    "nike",
    "mybrand12345",
    "coolstartup"
  ]
}
```

#### 📤 Output Structure

The results are saved directly to the Apify Dataset in a structured JSON format, ready for export to CSV, Excel, or JSON.

```json
{
  "username": "nike",
  "platforms": {
    "github": {
      "status": "TAKEN",
      "url": "[https://github.com/nike](https://github.com/nike)"
    },
    "instagram": {
      "status": "TAKEN",
      "url": "[https://www.instagram.com/nike/](https://www.instagram.com/nike/)"
    },
    "tiktok": {
      "status": "TAKEN",
      "url": "[https://www.tiktok.com/@nike](https://www.tiktok.com/@nike)"
    }
  }
}
```

##### 🛡️ Built-in Anti-Bot & Reliability Features

User-Agent & Header Rotation: Simulates real desktop browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Safari) to bypass strict bot filters.

Smart Validation: Avoids false positives (e.g., Instagram returning HTTP 200 on missing pages) by checking Open Graph tags.

Automatic Retries & Delays: Features built-in request retries and polite delays (time.sleep) to guarantee stable execution without server stress.

Lightweight & Fast: Built on pure Python (requests + BeautifulSoup), keeping memory consumption extremely low (256MB RAM) and runs blazing fast.

# Actor input Schema

## `usernames` (type: `array`):

Enter the usernames or brand names you want to check (e.g. apple, nike)

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "usernames": [
    "nike",
    "apple",
    "coolstartup"
  ]
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

No description

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("aybo_bbc/social-handle-checker").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("aybo_bbc/social-handle-checker").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{}' |
apify call aybo_bbc/social-handle-checker --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,aybo_bbc/social-handle-checker"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/3FXi0t6oHAkgN0JmO/builds/oxdgL4U3i3VLlnxOT/openapi.json