# Domain WHOIS & DNS Lookup – RDAP, Registrar & Domain Age (`lepidata/domain-lookup`) Actor

Domain research and due diligence: registrar, creation and expiry dates, domain age, status, nameservers and DNS records (A/MX/TXT/NS) from official registry RDAP. No owner contact data.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/lepidata/domain-lookup.md
- **Developed by:** [Lepi Data](https://apify.com/lepidata) (community)
- **Categories:** Developer tools, SEO tools, Business
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $2.20 / 1,000 domain looked ups

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

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

## Domain WHOIS & DNS Lookup – RDAP, Registrar, Age

Registration and DNS details for domain research and due diligence, from the registries' own official RDAP services (the modern replacement for WHOIS). Give it up to **500 domains per run** and get one clean row per domain: registrar, created, updated and expiry dates (domain age), status codes, nameservers, DNSSEC, plus the DNS records you pick (A, AAAA, MX, NS, TXT, CNAME, SOA).

**This is not a domain availability checker.** A name with no record comes back as a free `not-found` row, and that does not mean the name can be registered.

### Acceptable use

The output **may not be used for unsolicited marketing, spam, cold email, cold calls or any other outreach**, or to contact domain owners. It contains no owner contact data, and the Actor is not designed to find any. Use it for portfolio and expiry tracking, security and brand-protection research, vendor and partner due diligence, IT inventory, and nameserver and DNS audits.

### Limits per run

- **500 domains per run.**
- **.com and .net: at most 100 per run** (free `cap-reached` rows past that), and a hard daily limit of 2,000 across all users of this Actor (UTC day). When the daily limit is used up, .com/.net domains still in the 24-hour cache are returned; the others come back as free `daily-limit-reached` rows. Run them again after 00:00 UTC.
- **Free-plan limit:** Apify Free-plan runs can process about 33 domains per run (each domain uses 1 to 3 operations on the shared cache, limit 100 per run). Domains past that come back as free `run-limit-reached` rows. Paid plans get the full 500 domains per run.
- **Shared daily capacity:** the shared cache has a daily limit across all users. If it is used up, the remaining domains come back as free `service-busy` rows; try again after 00:00 UTC.
- During maintenance, a run returns a single free `service-paused` row and does nothing else.
- Generic TLDs only (about 80% of them; not .shop or .art, among others). Country-code TLDs return free `tld-not-supported` rows.

### How it works

- **Registry RDAP only.** Each domain's registry RDAP server is found through IANA's official bootstrap file (`https://data.iana.org/rdap/dns.json`). Registrar RDAP servers are never queried, and port-43 WHOIS is never used.
- **No personal data.** Rows are built field by field: only the registrar's name and IANA ID, dates, status, nameservers and the DNSSEC flag are kept. Registrant, admin, tech, billing and abuse contacts (names, emails, phones, addresses) are dropped, even when a registry publishes them. Email addresses inside TXT records are removed.
- **Polite.** One request at a time to each registry, with a pause of at least 1 second between requests (longer if the registry's robots.txt asks). If a registry answers 429, the Actor waits as long as `Retry-After` asks and slows down for the rest of the run. Each registry's robots.txt is respected.
- **24-hour cache.** A domain looked up in the last 24 hours is answered from a cache instead of asking the registry again, so results can be up to 24 hours old.
- **DNS** comes from the platform's own resolver by default. You can switch to Cloudflare's DNS-over-HTTPS; if you do, the hostnames you look up are sent to Cloudflare.

### Input

- `domains` (required): domain names or URLs, up to 500 per run. URLs are reduced to their hostname; Unicode names are converted to punycode.
- `dnsRecordTypes`: any of A, AAAA, MX, NS, TXT, CNAME, SOA (default A, MX, NS). Leave empty for RDAP only.
- `dnsResolver`: `system` (default) or `cloudflare-doh`.
- `onlyChangedSinceLastRun` + `stateKey`: domains unchanged since your last run with the same `stateKey` are skipped and not charged.

### Output

One row per domain. `status` tells you what the row is:

- `ok` (paid): `registrarName`, `registrarIanaId`, `createdAt`, `updatedAt`, `expiresAt`, `domainStatus`, `nameservers`, `dnssec`, `dns`, `dnsErrors`, `rdapServer`, `changeType`, `checkedAt`.
- Free status rows: `invalid-domain`, `tld-not-supported`, `tld-disabled`, `not-found`, `cap-reached`, `daily-limit-reached`, `run-limit-reached`, `service-busy`, `service-paused`, `rdap-error`, `rate-limited`, `charge-limit-reached`.

Example `ok` row (from a test run on Oct 11 2026):

```json
{
  "domain": "wikipedia.org",
  "registeredDomain": "wikipedia.org",
  "tld": "org",
  "status": "ok",
  "registrarName": "MarkMonitor Inc.",
  "registrarIanaId": 292,
  "createdAt": "2001-01-13T00:12:14.754Z",
  "updatedAt": "2026-08-12T08:47:19.410Z",
  "expiresAt": "2027-01-13T00:12:14.000Z",
  "domainStatus": ["client delete prohibited", "client transfer prohibited", "client update prohibited"],
  "nameservers": ["ns0.wikimedia.org", "ns1.wikimedia.org", "ns2.wikimedia.org"],
  "dnssec": false,
  "dns": {
    "A": ["208.80.154.224"],
    "MX": [{ "priority": 10, "exchange": "mx-in1001.wikimedia.org" }, { "priority": 10, "exchange": "mx-in2001.wikimedia.org" }],
    "NS": ["ns0.wikimedia.org", "ns1.wikimedia.org", "ns2.wikimedia.org"]
  },
  "dnsErrors": null,
  "rdapServer": "rdap.publicinterestregistry.org",
  "changeType": "new",
  "checkedAt": "2026-10-11T18:34:44.701Z"
}
```

### Pricing

**$2.20 per 1,000 domains with an `ok` row** (pay per event `domain`), the same price on every Apify plan. Every status row is free. Set a maximum charge per run and the Actor stops cleanly when it is reached.

### Not affiliated

This Actor is not affiliated with or endorsed by IANA, ICANN, Verisign or any domain registry or registrar. Their names are used only to describe the public RDAP services it reads.

# Actor input Schema

## `domains` (type: `array`):

Domain names or URLs (reduced to their hostname). Unicode names are converted to punycode. Generic TLDs only (.com, .net, .org, .info, .app...); country-code TLDs return a free tld-not-supported row. Up to 500 per run.

## `dnsRecordTypes` (type: `array`):

Which DNS records to return for each domain. Leave empty for registration (RDAP) details only. Email addresses inside TXT records are removed, and the SOA hostmaster mailbox is never returned.

## `dnsResolver` (type: `string`):

Where DNS records come from. The default uses the platform's own resolver. Cloudflare DNS-over-HTTPS is opt-in: it sends every hostname you look up to Cloudflare.

## `onlyChangedSinceLastRun` (type: `boolean`):

Skip (and don't charge for) domains whose registrar, dates, status, nameservers, DNSSEC or DNS records (other than A/AAAA, which rotate) are the same as in your previous run with the same state key. The first run returns everything.

## `stateKey` (type: `string`):

Name for this monitor, so separate domain lists don't overwrite each other's saved state.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "domains": [
    "apify.com",
    "wikipedia.org",
    "example.net"
  ],
  "dnsRecordTypes": [
    "A",
    "MX",
    "NS"
  ],
  "dnsResolver": "system",
  "onlyChangedSinceLastRun": false,
  "stateKey": "default"
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `domains` (type: `string`):

All domain and status rows from this run.

# 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 = {
    "domains": [
        "apify.com",
        "wikipedia.org",
        "example.net"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("lepidata/domain-lookup").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 = { "domains": [
        "apify.com",
        "wikipedia.org",
        "example.net",
    ] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("lepidata/domain-lookup").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 '{
  "domains": [
    "apify.com",
    "wikipedia.org",
    "example.net"
  ]
}' |
apify call lepidata/domain-lookup --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,lepidata/domain-lookup"
        }
    }
}
```

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/hlDnW8SdTtHZtmXYW/builds/AWGktlfhyv6GmzTtE/openapi.json