Domain WHOIS & DNS Lookup

What does Domain WHOIS & DNS Lookup do?

Domain WHOIS & DNS Lookup retrieves comprehensive registration and DNS data for any list of domain names. It performs WHOIS lookups to get registrar information, registration dates, expiration dates, nameservers, registrant organization, and domain status. It also queries DNS to return A, AAAA, MX, NS, TXT, CNAME, and SOA records. Both lookups run in parallel for fast batch processing.

The actor accepts domains in any format (with or without protocol, www prefix, or trailing paths) and normalizes them automatically. It processes domains concurrently in configurable batch sizes and returns one structured result per domain, including a registration status flag and any errors encountered during lookup.

Features

• WHOIS registration data — Registrar, creation date, update date, expiration date, nameservers, DNSSEC status, registrant organization, country, and state
• Full DNS records — A, AAAA, MX, NS, TXT, CNAME, and SOA record types
• Registration detection — Boolean flag indicating whether the domain is registered
• Batch processing — Look up hundreds of domains in a single run with configurable concurrency
• Flexible input — Accepts example.com, https://example.com, www.example.com, or https://www.example.com/path and normalizes automatically
• Selective lookups — Toggle WHOIS and DNS independently to get only the data you need
• Configurable DNS types — Choose exactly which DNS record types to query
• Domain status codes — Returns EPP status codes (clientTransferProhibited, serverDeleteProhibited, etc.)
• Error resilience — Reports per-domain errors without stopping the entire batch
• Concurrent lookups — Processes multiple domains simultaneously for fast results

Input Configuration

{
  "domains": ["google.com", "github.com", "example.org"],
  "includeWhois": true,
  "includeDns": true,
  "dnsRecordTypes": ["A", "AAAA", "MX", "NS", "TXT", "CNAME", "SOA"],
  "maxConcurrency": 5,
  "requestDelay": 500
}

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
domains	string[]	["google.com", "github.com"]	List of domains to look up
includeWhois	boolean	true	Retrieve WHOIS registration data
includeDns	boolean	true	Retrieve DNS records
dnsRecordTypes	string[]	["A","AAAA","MX","NS","TXT","CNAME","SOA"]	Which DNS record types to query
maxConcurrency	integer	5	Simultaneous domain lookups (1-20)
requestDelay	integer	500	Delay between batches in milliseconds (100-5,000)

Output Format

Each domain produces one result:

{
  "domain": "github.com",
  "isRegistered": true,
  "whois": {
    "registrar": "MarkMonitor Inc.",
    "registrarUrl": "whois.markmonitor.com",
    "createdDate": "2007-10-09T18:20:50.000Z",
    "updatedDate": "2024-09-07T09:18:12.000Z",
    "expiresDate": "2026-10-09T18:20:50.000Z",
    "status": ["clientDeleteProhibited", "clientTransferProhibited"],
    "nameservers": ["dns1.p08.nsone.net", "dns2.p08.nsone.net"],
    "dnssec": "unsigned",
    "registrantOrg": "GitHub, Inc.",
    "registrantCountry": "US",
    "registrantState": "CA"
  },
  "dns": {
    "a": [{ "type": "A", "value": "140.82.121.3" }],
    "aaaa": [],
    "mx": [{ "type": "MX", "value": "alt1.aspmx.l.google.com", "priority": 5 }],
    "ns": [{ "type": "NS", "value": "dns1.p08.nsone.net" }],
    "txt": [{ "type": "TXT", "value": "v=spf1 ip4:192.30.252.0/22 include:_netblocks..." }],
    "cname": [],
    "soa": [{ "type": "SOA", "value": "dns1.p08.nsone.net hostmaster.nsone.net (serial: 1, refresh: 43200...)" }]
  },
  "errors": [],
  "scrapedAt": "2026-03-11T12:00:00.000Z"
}

Usage Examples / Use Cases

• Domain availability checking — Quickly check registration status for a batch of domain names for acquisition or brand protection
• Expiration monitoring — Track when competitor or partner domains expire for acquisition opportunities or renewal reminders
• DNS auditing — Verify MX records, SPF/DKIM TXT records, and nameserver configuration across your domain portfolio
• Security research — Investigate suspicious domains by checking registration details, nameservers, and hosting infrastructure
• SEO analysis — Check domain age, registrar, and DNS configuration as part of competitive SEO research
• Compliance and due diligence — Verify domain ownership and registration details for business partnerships or legal matters
• Email deliverability — Check MX records and SPF/DMARC TXT records to diagnose email delivery issues

Pricing

This actor uses Pay-Per-Event (PPE) pricing: $1.30 per 1,000 domains looked up ($0.0013 per event).

Pricing includes all platform compute costs — no hidden fees.

FAQ

Does this actor need a proxy or API key?

No. WHOIS lookups use the standard WHOIS protocol and DNS lookups use the system DNS resolver. No proxy, API key, or external service subscription is required. The actor runs entirely on Apify infrastructure.

How many domains can I look up in one run?

There is no hard limit. The actor processes domains in concurrent batches based on your maxConcurrency setting. For very large batches (1,000+ domains), increase the run timeout in your Apify run configuration. Typical throughput is 5-10 domains per second depending on WHOIS server response times.

Why is WHOIS data missing for some domains?

Some TLDs and registrars redact WHOIS data to comply with GDPR or local privacy regulations. You may see null values for registrant organization, country, or contact fields. The isRegistered flag will still be accurate based on nameserver presence, and DNS data is unaffected by WHOIS privacy.

Can I look up subdomains?

DNS lookups work for subdomains (e.g., blog.example.com). WHOIS lookups are only meaningful for registered domain names, so the actor strips subdomains for WHOIS queries. If you only need DNS data for subdomains, set includeWhois to false.

What domain formats are accepted?

The actor normalizes any format: example.com, https://example.com, http://www.example.com/path/page, www.example.com. Protocol, www prefix, and paths are all stripped automatically before lookup.

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