Domain Availability Checker
Is the domain you want taken? Ask the registry itself, from your browser — and if it is, see when it expires and who has it.
Your browser asks the domain's registry directly — the lookup never passes through zeal.tools. A URL or subdomain works too; the registered name is what gets looked up.
Enter a domain to see who registered it, when it expires and where it points.
Table of contents
Why ask the registry rather than a shop
Every domain ending is run by one registry — Verisign for .com, Identity Digital for .io, Nominet for .uk — and the registry is the only place that actually knows whether a name is taken. Registrars and resellers are shops in front of it. Their search box asks the registry for you, and in doing so learns what you are about to buy.
This page asks the registry itself, from your browser. Registries publish RDAP, the modern replacement for WHOIS, with a header that lets a web page read it, so no server sits in the middle — not ours, not a reseller's. If the registry has no record, the name is shown as not registered.
When you are ready, buy it from any registrar you like. First-year prices are often discounted to win you over; the renewal price is what you will pay every year after, and that is the number worth comparing.
When the name is taken
A taken name is not the end of the road, and the lookup shows what you need to decide. The expiry date and status tell you whether it is being looked after: a long-registered domain with transfer and update locks is someone's working address, while one in its auto-renew or redemption period may be about to lapse.
The nameservers and DNS records tell you whether it is in use. A domain with no A record and parking nameservers is often for sale; one with mail records is somebody's inbox, and they will not part with it cheaply.
And it is worth checking the other endings. If the .com is gone, the .io, .dev or your country's ending may not be — look each one up here before settling.
Frequently asked questions
Almost always. It means the registry has no record of the name. The exceptions are names the registry has reserved — short names, trademarks of the registry, geographic names on some endings — and premium names sold at a higher price, which also have no record until someone buys them. Your registrar's checkout is the final word, and it will tell you the price.
The practice has a name — domain front-running — and ICANN's Security and Stability Advisory Committee reported on it in 2007. Reputable registrars do not do it, but a search on a reseller's site does tell that reseller exactly what you want, and some aftermarket sites price accordingly. Here the question goes from your browser to the registry and no further, so there is no search history on our side for anyone to act on.
Look at the expiry date and the status. Most domains auto-renew and never come free. If one is not renewed, it typically goes through an auto-renew grace period of up to 45 days, then a 30-day redemption period in which the old owner can still buy it back, then about five days of pending delete before anyone can register it. The tool explains each of those statuses when it sees them.
Often, yes. Owner details are usually withheld, but many registrars publish a contact form that relays a message to the owner, and the results link it when the registry provides one. Some domains also point at a "this domain is for sale" page — try visiting it.
Every ending whose registry runs RDAP, which covers almost all generic endings and many country ones. A few, such as .jp and .cn, still offer only the old WHOIS protocol, which a web page cannot use; the tool tells you when that is the case.
The Zeal Promise
Non-negotiable, on every tool we ship.
- No sign-up — ever
- No watermarks on any output
- No ads near the download button
- Works fully on mobile
- Privacy-first: processing stays in your browser
- Open source (MIT) — audit it, contribute, self-host
- Zero runtime dependencies in tool logic