🚀 Corporate Death Signal Aggregator

Is a business you work with still operational? Are your vendors, competitors, or prospects showing early warning signs of failure? The Corporate Death Signal Aggregator checks multiple public signals for any list of domains and tells you exactly how at-risk each one is - before the lights go out.

This tool checks three independent layers of evidence: domain registration health via RDAP/WHOIS, DNS resolution status, and SSL certificate records. Each signal is weighted and combined into a single risk score from 0 to 100, with a clear risk level of low, medium, high, or critical. You get a plain-language explanation for every flag raised so you always know why a domain is considered risky.

No authentication required. No proxy setup needed. The tool uses entirely free, public infrastructure - just paste in your domains and run.

✨ What Does It Do

• Domain expiry detection - Checks registration data to find domains expiring within your chosen warning window. A business letting its domain lapse is one of the clearest signs of shutdown.
• DNS resolution check - Verifies that each domain actually resolves to a live IP address. A domain that no longer resolves means the website is effectively gone.
• SSL certificate lookup - Searches public certificate transparency logs to confirm whether a valid SSL cert exists. Dropped or expired certs signal that no one is maintaining the site.
• Deletion status detection - Flags domains in "pendingDelete", "redemptionPeriod", or "pendingRestore" states - the final stages before a domain is permanently released.
• Risk score and level - Combines all signals into a single score (0-100) with four levels: low, medium, high, and critical.
• Human-readable signal explanations - Each flag includes a plain-language description of exactly what was found and what it means.
• Registrar and registration date - Shows who registered the domain and when, useful for context and cross-referencing.
• Bulk analysis - Analyze up to 1,000,000 domains in a single run. Free users can analyze up to 100 domains.

🎬 Demo Video

Demo video coming soon.

🔧 Input

The tool takes a list of domain names and two optional settings.

Field	Description	Default
domains	List of domain names to analyze (e.g. acme.com, example.org)	Required
maxItems	Maximum number of domains to process	10 (free: max 100)
expiryWarningDays	Flag domains expiring within this many days	90

Accepted formats: Plain domain names (acme.com), URLs with www (www.acme.com), or full web addresses. The tool normalizes all formats automatically.

Example input:

{
  "domains": [
    "blockbuster.com",
    "toys-r-us.com",
    "sears.com",
    "kodak.com",
    "radioshack.com"
  ],
  "maxItems": 10,
  "expiryWarningDays": 90
}

📊 Output

Each domain produces one result record with its full risk profile. Results can be downloaded as CSV, Excel, or JSON.

Example output:

[
  {
    "domain": "toys-r-us.com",
    "riskScore": 90,
    "riskLevel": "critical",
    "domainExpiresAt": "2026-04-04T04:00:00Z",
    "domainDaysUntilExpiry": 44,
    "domainStatus": ["client transfer prohibited"],
    "domainRegistrar": "CSC Corporate Domains, Inc.",
    "domainRegisteredAt": "1995-10-24T04:00:00Z",
    "dnsResolvable": false,
    "dnsARecords": [],
    "sslCertFound": true,
    "sslCertExpiresAt": "2026-06-01T00:00:00Z",
    "sslCertDaysUntilExpiry": 102,
    "signals": [
      {
        "type": "dns_failure",
        "severity": "critical",
        "description": "Domain does not resolve in DNS - site is likely down or abandoned"
      },
      {
        "type": "domain_expiry_warning",
        "severity": "medium",
        "description": "Domain expires in 44 days (within warning window)"
      }
    ],
    "scrapedAt": "2026-02-19T18:00:00.000Z"
  },
  {
    "domain": "blockbuster.com",
    "riskScore": 5,
    "riskLevel": "low",
    "domainExpiresAt": "2027-03-10T05:00:00Z",
    "domainDaysUntilExpiry": 384,
    "domainStatus": ["client transfer prohibited", "client update prohibited"],
    "domainRegistrar": "GoDaddy.com, LLC",
    "domainRegisteredAt": "1994-09-15T04:00:00Z",
    "dnsResolvable": true,
    "dnsARecords": ["34.102.136.180"],
    "sslCertFound": false,
    "sslCertExpiresAt": null,
    "sslCertDaysUntilExpiry": null,
    "signals": [
      {
        "type": "ssl_not_found",
        "severity": "low",
        "description": "No SSL certificate found in crt.sh - site may not have a public certificate on record"
      }
    ],
    "scrapedAt": "2026-02-19T18:00:00.000Z"
  },
  {
    "domain": "sears.com",
    "riskScore": 5,
    "riskLevel": "low",
    "domainExpiresAt": "2028-05-20T04:00:00Z",
    "domainDaysUntilExpiry": 821,
    "domainStatus": ["client transfer prohibited"],
    "domainRegistrar": "Network Solutions, LLC",
    "domainRegisteredAt": "1994-03-14T05:00:00Z",
    "dnsResolvable": true,
    "dnsARecords": ["52.204.19.43"],
    "sslCertFound": false,
    "sslCertExpiresAt": null,
    "sslCertDaysUntilExpiry": null,
    "signals": [
      {
        "type": "ssl_not_found",
        "severity": "low",
        "description": "No SSL certificate found in crt.sh - site may not have a public certificate on record"
      }
    ],
    "scrapedAt": "2026-02-19T18:00:00.000Z"
  }
]

Output field reference:

Field	What it means
domain	The normalized domain name analyzed
riskScore	Composite risk score from 0 (healthy) to 100 (critical)
riskLevel	Plain-language risk tier: low, medium, high, or critical
domainExpiresAt	Date the domain registration expires
domainDaysUntilExpiry	Number of days until expiry (negative means already expired)
domainStatus	RDAP status codes on the domain (e.g. "pendingDelete")
domainRegistrar	The registrar holding the domain registration
domainRegisteredAt	Date the domain was originally registered
dnsResolvable	Whether the domain resolves to a live IP address
dnsARecords	List of IP addresses the domain resolves to
sslCertFound	Whether any SSL certificate was found in public certificate logs
sslCertExpiresAt	Expiry date of the most recent SSL certificate
sslCertDaysUntilExpiry	Days until the SSL cert expires (negative means expired)
signals	Array of individual risk flags with type, severity, and description
scrapedAt	Timestamp of when the analysis was performed

💎 Why Choose the Corporate Death Signal Aggregator?

Most tools tell you a company exists. This tool tells you whether it is still alive.

Three independent data sources. Checking only DNS or only WHOIS misses critical signals. This tool combines domain registration data, DNS resolution, and SSL certificate history into one unified risk profile. A business can keep paying for DNS while letting its SSL lapse - or maintain its domain registration while the website goes dark. This tool catches all of it.

Risk scores that actually mean something. Every signal is weighted by severity. DNS failure is treated differently from a domain expiring in 85 days. The resulting score reflects real-world urgency - you can prioritize your review list at a glance instead of reading through raw data.

Plain-language explanations. Every flag comes with a human-readable description explaining exactly what was detected and why it matters. No cryptic status codes to decode.

Completely free public data. The tool uses only publicly available infrastructure - RDAP, DNS, and certificate transparency logs. No paid data subscriptions, no access credentials, no proxy setup.

Built for scale. Analyze individual targets or upload thousands of domains at once. Paid users can process up to 1,000,000 domains per run.

📋 How to Use

No technical skills required. The whole process takes under five minutes.

1. Sign Up: Create a free account w/ $5 credit
2. Open the Actor: Search for "Corporate Death Signal Aggregator" in the Apify Store, or navigate directly to the actor page.
3. Enter your domains: Paste in the domain names you want to analyze - one per line. You can enter plain domains (acme.com), www addresses, or full URLs.
4. Set your warning window: Adjust "Expiry Warning Days" if you want to flag domains expiring sooner or later than the 90-day default.
5. Run the actor: Click the green "Start" button and the tool will analyze all domains in parallel.
6. Download your results: Once complete, export as CSV, Excel, or JSON for further analysis or reporting.

🎯 Business Use Cases

Due Diligence and Vendor Risk

Before signing a contract or extending credit, check whether a prospective partner's digital presence is deteriorating.

• Monitor key vendors monthly for early warning signs of financial distress
• Flag suppliers whose domains are entering their final weeks of registration
• Detect counterparties whose websites have gone dark despite appearing active on LinkedIn
• Include domain health checks as a standard step in vendor onboarding

Competitive Intelligence

Track how your competitors' digital infrastructure is holding up over time.

• Monitor competitor domains for signs of retreat or wind-down
• Identify market gaps when struggling competitors start abandoning their web presence
• Detect domain consolidation activity that signals a competitor is restructuring
• Build early-warning dashboards across your entire competitive set

Investment and Credit Research

For analysts, investors, and lenders who need objective signals beyond financial statements.

• Cross-reference domain health against public filings or news to build a fuller picture
• Screen large portfolios of companies quickly before deeper analysis
• Identify portfolio companies showing silent distress signals
• Add a low-cost data layer to standard credit underwriting workflows

Sales and Lead Qualification

Stop wasting time on prospects who are already on their way out.

• Remove critical-risk domains from outbound lists before campaigns launch
• Prioritize follow-up on companies showing strong, stable domain health
• Identify companies in distress as potential acquisition targets or turnaround opportunities
• Clean and validate prospect databases on a recurring schedule

Journalist and Research Teams

Uncover stories behind the data before they become public knowledge.

• Identify businesses quietly winding down ahead of public announcements
• Cross-reference domain signals with corporate registry data for investigative leads
• Build timelines of digital deterioration for companies under scrutiny
• Monitor a watchlist of entities continuously with scheduled runs

❓ FAQ

How does the tool check for business failure signals? The tool queries three public data sources for each domain: RDAP (the modern WHOIS standard) for domain registration and expiry data, Google's public DNS resolver to confirm the domain resolves to a live IP, and the crt.sh certificate transparency database to check SSL certificate status. All three checks run in parallel and their results are combined into a single risk score.

Does this require any credentials or setup? No. The tool uses entirely free, publicly available infrastructure. There is nothing to configure and no accounts to create beyond your Apify account.

How accurate is the risk scoring? The score reflects the weight of observable technical signals, not a prediction of business health. A critical score means multiple serious signals were detected simultaneously - like DNS failure combined with an expiring domain. A low score means the domain appears technically healthy. The signals are objective facts; interpreting their business significance is up to you.

Can I analyze thousands of domains at once? Yes. Free users can analyze up to 100 domains per run. Paid users can process up to 1,000,000 domains per run. The tool processes domains in parallel batches so large lists complete quickly.

Can I schedule regular monitoring runs? Yes. Apify's scheduling feature lets you run the actor on a recurring basis - daily, weekly, or monthly - so you can track changes in domain health over time. Combined with Slack or email notifications, you can build an automated early-warning system.

What if a domain returns an error? If a domain fails to process (for example, due to an unsupported TLD or a network timeout), the result record will include an error field explaining what went wrong. Other domains in the batch continue processing normally.

What if I need help or have custom requirements? Use the contact form linked below. We can build custom monitoring solutions, integrate domain signals with your own data sources, or adapt the output format for your workflow.

🔗 Integrate Corporate Death Signal Aggregator Scraper with any app

Connect this actor with your favorite tools:

• Make - Automate workflows
• Zapier - Connect 5000+ apps
• GitHub - Version control integration
• Slack - Get notifications
• Airbyte - Data pipelines
• Google Drive - Export to spreadsheets

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🆘 Need Help?

Check the FAQ section above for answers to the most common questions. For platform-related questions, visit the Apify Help Center. If you need a custom monitoring solution, a tailored output format, or integration support, reach out using the contact form below - we are happy to help.

📞 Contact

Contact us to request a new scraper, propose a custom data project, or report a technical issue with this actor at https://tally.so/r/BzdKgA

⚠️ Disclaimer

This Actor is an independent tool and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by RDAP, WHOIS, crt.sh, or any domain registry or certificate authority. All trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners.