Domain Availability Checker

What does Domain Availability Checker do?

Domain Availability Checker is a fast, no-API-key domain availability checker that queries IANA RDAP directly to determine whether any domain is registered or free to purchase. It supports bulk domain lookup across hundreds of prefix × TLD combinations in a single run, making it the ideal domain registration API replacement for founders, domain investors, and SEO researchers. Results include registrar name, registration dates, expiry countdown, and smart analytics fields like domain value estimate and crypto-project fit score.

Why use Domain Availability Checker?

Domain hunters and growth teams use this actor because it turns hours of manual checking into a minutes-long automated sweep.

• Startup name research — Generate dozens of name ideas and instantly check availability across .com, .io, .ai, and .co simultaneously using the bulk combination mode.
• Domain portfolio management — Monitor a list of owned domains and flag those expiring within 30 days before they drop into the open market.
• Drop-catching opportunities — The actor flags drop_catching_opportunity for registered domains with imminent expiry, giving buyers advance notice for competitive auctions.
• Competitor and SEO research — Scan competitor domains to surface registrar, creation date, and expiry data useful for market timing and competitive intelligence.
• Crypto and Web3 project naming — Built-in crypto keyword detection scores how well a domain name fits DeFi/Web3 branding, accelerating naming decisions for blockchain projects.

How to use Domain Availability Checker

1. Click Try for free on the Apify Store listing — no API key needed.
2. Simple mode: enter a list of domains in the domains field (e.g. ["myapp.com", "myapp.io"]).
3. Bulk mode: enable checkBulk, enter name prefixes in bulkPrefixes (e.g. ["myapp", "coolstartup"]) and TLDs in tlds (e.g. [".com", ".io", ".ai"]). The actor generates and checks every combination.
4. Optionally adjust maxConcurrency (1–20) to balance speed against rate-limit risk.
5. Click Start. Results appear in the dataset within seconds per domain.
6. Filter results by available: true and sort by domain_value_estimate to prioritize the best picks.

Input

Field	Type	Required	Default	Description
domains	string[]	No	["example.com"]	Specific domains to check; used when checkBulk is false
checkBulk	boolean	No	false	Enable bulk domain lookup — generates all prefix × TLD combinations
bulkPrefixes	string[]	No	[]	Base name prefixes for bulk mode (e.g. ["myapp", "getfoo"])
tlds	string[]	No	[".com", ".org", ".io"]	TLDs to combine with prefixes in bulk mode
maxConcurrency	integer	No	5	Parallel RDAP lookups (1–20); higher = faster but increases rate-limit risk

Example Input — bulk name search

{
  "checkBulk": true,
  "bulkPrefixes": ["myapp", "coolstartup", "getlaunch"],
  "tlds": [".com", ".io", ".ai"],
  "maxConcurrency": 5
}

Output

One record per domain checked:

{
  "domain": "myapp.io",
  "available": true,
  "status": [],
  "registrar": null,
  "expires": null,
  "expires_in_days": null,
  "checked_at": "2026-09-02T10:00:00+00:00",
  "tld_tier": "tier_1",
  "availability_signal": "available",
  "domain_value_estimate": "high",
  "crypto_project_fit": "strong",
  "brand_strength_score": 72,
  "registration_urgency": "act_now",
  "typosquat_risk": false,
  "drop_catching_opportunity": false
}

For a registered (taken) domain:

{
  "domain": "google.com",
  "available": false,
  "status": ["clientDeleteProhibited", "clientTransferProhibited"],
  "registrar": "MarkMonitor Inc.",
  "expires": "2028-09-14",
  "expires_in_days": 742,
  "checked_at": "2026-09-02T10:00:00+00:00",
  "tld_tier": "tier_1",
  "availability_signal": "taken",
  "domain_value_estimate": "premium",
  "brand_strength_score": 100,
  "typosquat_risk": false,
  "drop_catching_opportunity": false
}

Data fields

Field	Description
domain	Normalized domain name (lowercase)
available	true if the domain appears unregistered and free to purchase
status	RDAP EPP status codes (e.g. clientTransferProhibited)
registrar	Registrar name from RDAP (if registered)
expires	Expiry date YYYY-MM-DD (if registered)
expires_in_days	Days until expiry — negative means already expired
tld_tier	TLD quality tier: tier_1 (.com/.io/.co), tier_2 (.ai/.app/.dev), geo, or other
availability_signal	available, taken, premium_opportunity, expiring, error, or unknown
domain_value_estimate	Relative market value: premium, high, medium, or low
crypto_project_fit	How well the name fits Web3/DeFi branding: strong, moderate, weak, or none
brand_strength_score	0–100 score based on length, pronounceability, and keyword signals
registration_urgency	Urgency signal: act_now, monitor, low, or not_applicable
typosquat_risk	true if the domain is suspiciously close to a major brand name
drop_catching_opportunity	true if registered but expiring imminently — watch for auction
checked_at	ISO 8601 timestamp of the RDAP check

Cost estimation

$0.002 per domain checked (Pay-Per-Event).

Scenario	Domains	Estimated Cost
Quick spot check	5	$0.01
Startup name sweep (3 prefixes × 5 TLDs)	15	$0.03
Portfolio monitoring	500	$1.00
Large bulk scan	2,000	$4.00

No base fee beyond Apify's standard platform usage.

FAQ

Does this require a paid API key? No. The actor uses the IANA RDAP bootstrap registry directly — no API key from any third-party service is needed. RDAP is the official successor to WHOIS and is free and public.

How accurate is the availability check? Very high accuracy for standard gTLDs (.com, .io, .net, .org) and most ccTLDs. A domain is flagged available when RDAP returns a 404 (not found) response, which is the definitive IANA-standard signal for unregistered domains. Rare premium/reserved domains may show as available if the registry does not publish RDAP data.

Can I use this to monitor for domains about to expire? Yes. Run the actor on a scheduled basis against your watch list and filter results where expires_in_days < 30. The drop_catching_opportunity flag highlights domains expiring within days that may become available for registration or auction soon.

---

Data source: IANA RDAP Bootstrap Registry with TLD-specific RDAP server routing. No active port scanning or scraping. All lookups use the official RDAP protocol (RFC 9082).

---

Related actors

• Domain DNS Checker — DNS records (A, MX, NS, TXT) for domains found available or registered via this actor
• Domain Breach Checker — HIBP breach history for registered domains you're researching
• SSL Certificate Monitor — TLS expiry and certificate chain for domains you're monitoring

Feedback

If this actor helps your domain research, a review helps others find it: Leave a review on Apify Store

---

Keywords: domain availability checker, domain RDAP, bulk domain check, domain expiry lookup, domain registrar data, TLD availability, WHOIS alternative, nameserver lookup, domain hunter tool, brand domain check, domain registration status, IANA RDAP, SEO domain research