Domain RDAP Lookup

Look up one fully qualified domain name and receive a compact, normalized view of its public registration data. Domain RDAP Lookup uses the IANA RDAP DNS bootstrap to find the authoritative registry for the domain's top-level domain, then queries that registry directly. It is a practical, modern alternative to parsing inconsistent WHOIS text.

What this Actor does

For each run, the Actor accepts one domain and returns one record. A record states whether the authoritative RDAP service found the domain and, when it did, includes the registry handle, domain status values, selected registration lifecycle events, nameservers, and the exact authoritative RDAP URL used. The default input is example.com, so you can run the Actor without a credential or additional configuration.

Why use it

RDAP is a structured registration-data protocol. This Actor removes the routing step: you do not need to maintain a list of registry endpoints or write custom parsers for each registry. The normalized result is small enough for an API workflow, a security playbook, a brand-research process, or an AI agent that needs traceable public registration data.

Common use cases

• Check whether a domain is registered before a brand, partner, or vendor review.
• Add registration status and nameserver context to a security investigation.
• Route a domain to its authoritative RDAP record from an automation or agent workflow.
• Build a bounded domain-enrichment step without scraping web pages or parsing WHOIS output.

Input

Provide a fully qualified domain name in domain. The Actor lowercases the value and accepts a URL-like input only to remove its scheme and path; use a normal hostname such as example.com for predictable results. Internationalized names, bare labels such as localhost, IP addresses, DNS lookups, subdomain discovery, bulk lists, and WHOIS fallback are not supported.

{
  "domain": "example.com"
}

Verified example

The following shape is the result produced by a successful validated example.com run. Registration handles, status values, lifecycle dates, and nameservers are registry-owned live data and can change; the Actor only includes event types returned by the registry for registration, expiration, and last changed.

{
  "domain": "example.com",
  "registered": true,
  "handle": "<registry-supplied handle>",
  "status": ["<registry-supplied status>"],
  "events": [
    { "eventAction": "registration", "eventDate": "<registry-supplied ISO 8601 date>" },
    { "eventAction": "expiration", "eventDate": "<registry-supplied ISO 8601 date>" }
  ],
  "nameservers": ["<registry-supplied hostname>"],
  "source_url": "<IANA-routed authoritative RDAP URL>"
}

The example is intentionally shown with registry-supplied values rather than fixed copied values. Run the default input to obtain the current authoritative response and its exact source_url.

Output fields

Field	Meaning
domain	The normalized domain submitted to the authoritative registry.
registered	true if the registry returned a domain record.
handle	The registry's domain-object identifier, when it supplies one.
status	Registry-provided domain status values; wording and availability vary by registry.
events	Registration lifecycle events returned by the registry, restricted to registration, expiration, and last-changed events.
nameservers	Hostnames supplied in the registry's RDAP response.
source_url	The authoritative registry endpoint used for this result. Use it for auditability or to inspect the full native RDAP record.

Pricing

Pricing is US$0.00005 per Actor start plus US$0.0005 for each returned domain record (US$0.50 per 1,000 returned records, excluding the small start charge). A successfully completed lookup returns at most one record. Invalid input, unavailable upstream services, and runs that cannot authorize delivery do not return a paid record.

Limitations and coverage

Coverage depends on the IANA bootstrap and on the authoritative RDAP service for the requested top-level domain. Public RDAP data is not a guarantee of domain ownership, availability, identity, DNS resolution, trademark rights, or legal status. Privacy redaction and registry policy can omit or alter fields. This Actor does not provide historical records, registrant contact enrichment, DNS records, TLS data, web crawling, monitoring, alerts, or a WHOIS fallback.

Errors and troubleshooting

Use a valid fully qualified domain, for example example.com. Invalid values fail before a paid record is returned. A registry can temporarily be unavailable or can decline a request; retry later rather than assuming a registration state. If the result is incomplete, check source_url: it is the registry's own public record and explains the fields that were available for that domain.

Data source and provenance

The Actor fetches the public IANA RDAP DNS bootstrap on each run, identifies the requested top-level domain's registered service, and queries that service. source_url in every result preserves the exact authoritative endpoint. No login, proxy, scraped search page, or customer-supplied contact detail is required.

API and integration

Run the Actor from the Apify console, via the Apify API, or as a step in an automation. Supply the same JSON input shown above. Read the default dataset after a successful run; it contains at most one normalized record. For API authentication and dataset retrieval, use your own Apify token according to the Apify API documentation.

FAQ

Is this WHOIS? No. It uses RDAP, the structured successor to traditional WHOIS services where an authoritative RDAP service is available.

Does registered: false mean I can buy the domain? No. It only means the authoritative RDAP lookup did not return a domain object. Confirm availability with an accredited registrar before making a business decision.

Can I look up many domains at once? No. This Actor deliberately processes one domain per run so the response, pricing, and provenance stay unambiguous.