GitHub Username Checker — User or Organization

What does GitHub Username Checker do?

GitHub Username Checker tells you whether a GitHub user or organization login is available or already taken. Paste a list of logins (or profile URLs), pick one entityType per run (default user), and download clean JSON / CSV / Excel from the dataset.

Built for bulk handle research (up to 100,000 logins per run). Large lists are auto-split into ~3,000-item child runs on Apify, with auto-heal on API rate limits. Uses the official GitHub REST API - 256 MB, no browser.

This Actor is not affiliated with GitHub. Optional personal access tokens raise rate limits; without a token, unauthenticated limits apply.

Key features

• Bulk checks - up to 100,000 logins per run (invalid / duplicate inputs filtered before work starts)
• One mode per run - user or organization (never both in one paid call)
• Auto-sharding - runs above ~3,000 split into child runs; one parent dataset
• Auto-heal - on 429 / rate limits: backoff and lower concurrency
• Official API - 404 = available, 200 = taken (with display name when present)
• Optional token - raise GitHub API rate limits for large batches
• Success-only billing - only conclusive checks charge PPE result
• Export anywhere - JSON, CSV, Excel, HTML from the Apify dataset

Why Clovys

Clovys is a nonprofit organization driven by a single mission: to make the internet safer, faster, more reliable, and universally accessible.

We believe that data should not be locked behind exorbitant paywalls or complex technical barriers. By building lightweight, highly optimized Apify Actors, we help developers, researchers, and organizations access the information they need to innovate without friction.

As a nonprofit initiative, we do not optimize for margins. Our pricing is kept as low as possible and is strictly calculated to cover the raw infrastructure costs of data extraction - such as Apify compute units and proxy bandwidth.

For GitHub specifically, Clovys uses the public REST API so results stay accurate and cheap - add a token for serious volume.

Use cases

• Brand / product naming - reserve matching GitHub users or orgs
• Open-source launch - check org names before creating a community
• Agency workflows - bulk-screen client handle ideas
• Multi-platform suites - pair with other Clovys username checkers

How to use

1. Open GitHub Username Checker in Apify Console
2. Paste logins in Usernames
3. Leave entityType as user, or switch to organization for a separate run
4. Optionally add a GitHub token for higher rate limits
5. Click Start and download the Dataset

Input

Field	Type	Default	Description
usernames	string[]	-	Logins or profile URLs (required, up to 100,000)
entityType	string	user	user or organization - single value only
maxConcurrency	integer	5	Parallel checks (1-20)
maxRetries	integer	2	Retries on network / rate-limit responses
requestDelayMs	integer	100	Pause after each check (0 = off)
githubToken	string	-	Optional PAT to raise API rate limits (secret)

Output example

You can download the dataset in JSON, HTML, CSV, or Excel.

{
 "platform": "github",
 "entityType": "user",
 "username": "torvalds",
 "available": false,
 "displayName": "Linus Torvalds",
 "profileUrl": "https://github.com/torvalds",
 "method": "github_api",
 "checkedAt": "2026-09-26T01:00:00.000Z",
 "error": null
}

Taken and available rows are successful results. Rate-limited / failed rows keep available: null and error set - they are not billed.

Data fields

Field	Description
platform	Always github
entityType	user or organization
username	Normalized login
available	true = free, false = taken, null = inconclusive
displayName	Name when taken
profileUrl	Canonical GitHub URL
method	Always github_api
checkedAt	ISO timestamp
error	Error message if the check failed

Pricing

Pay-per-event pricing (platform usage is billed separately by Apify):

Event	When charged	Price
result	Each conclusive check (available true or false)	$0.004 ($4 / 1,000)
Actor Start	Once when the run starts (scaled by memory GB)	$0.001

Example: 1,000 conclusive checks ~ $4.00 in PPE result (+ Actor Start + Apify platform usage).

Only conclusive results are charged as result. Failed / rate-limited rows are free on the PPE event. Checking both user and organization means two runs (billed separately).

Recommended settings

Goal	Settings
Production / Store	256 MB, concurrency 5, delay 100 ms
Large batches	Add githubToken, concurrency 8-15
Huge lists	up to 100,000 logins - auto-shard handles the rest

FAQ

How many usernames per run? Up to 100,000. Lists above ~3,000 are auto-split into child runs; invalid / duplicate inputs are dropped before sharding.

Is "taken" billed? Yes. Both available: false (taken) and available: true (free) are conclusive result events. Only error / inconclusive rows are free.

Can I check users and orgs in one run? No. entityType is a single value. Run once for user, once for organization (separate billing).

Do I need a GitHub token? Not for small lists. For hundreds/thousands of checks, a PAT avoids long rate-limit waits and wasted compute.

Do I need proxies? No. The Actor talks to api.github.com.

Is this official GitHub data? The Actor uses GitHub-s public REST API but is not an official GitHub product.

Support

Questions, bugs, or feature requests: use the Actor Issues tab on Apify, or contact Clovys through the Store profile.