Free tool
Is this domain name available?
The answer is not in your browser and not in a ping: it is held by the registry of the extension, the only place where registered names are listed. We ask it over RDAP and hand you what it publishes — the state, the registration date, the expiry, the registrar. Nothing to buy afterwards.
Two readings
The browser gives a hint, the registry gives the proof
The reflex is to type the name into the address bar and look at what comes up. Here are three situations where that glance gives you the exact opposite of the truth.
What the browser shows
This site can't be reached
Server address could not be found
What the registry publishes
- state
- current registration
- registered
- 31 August 1995
- expires
- 30 August 2027
What we conclude: Nothing on it: the name must be free.
What is true: It has been registered since 1995 and renewed every year. A name is under no obligation to publish anything — no site, no mail, not a single DNS record — and plenty are kept in reserve showing nothing at all.
Three cases built on the names reserved for documentation (RFC 2606). The mechanisms are real; only the dates in the first case are those its registry publishes.
Two instruments
What a browser tests, what a registry knows
Line by line: on the left the reasoning we all do, on the right what the authoritative source answers.
What we infer
What the registry says
The address doesn't answer, the name must be free.
A registered name is under no obligation to publish anything. Silence is not availability.
A page shows up, so someone has taken it.
A page can come from a resolver, a parking service or a catch-all answer from the extension. Only the registration counts.
The site has been abandoned for years, it will come free.
The registry publishes an expiry date and statuses. They are what says whether the name is leaving, not the state of the site.
It's available: it's mine if I register it.
The registry knows nothing of trademarks or company names. Available means “no registration”, not “no obstacle”.
What we can really check
Not every extension publishes a registry you can query
And when there is none, no tool can answer — ours says so, which is already a useful answer.
1,200
extensions whose registry server IANA publishes
The 1,130 generic extensions (.com, .net, .app, .store…) are among them, along with 70 country extensions, including .fr.
178
country extensions with no published server
Out of the 248 that exist in the root. Some do have one, simply undeclared: we have checked five by hand and we query them.
4
possible answers
Available, taken, reserved, no answer. The fourth is the one no domain seller ever shows.
Counted on 16 September 2026 in IANA's RDAP table (published 9 September 2026) and in the list of root extensions.
Reading the answer
Four answers, not just two
An ordinary checker says yes or no. The registry publishes four different situations, and confusing them is expensive — a name marked “taken” that will be released in five days is not a lost name.
- Available
- The registry knows of no registration under this name. It is the strongest answer you can get: it comes from whoever holds the list. What remains is checking that no trademark stands in the way, which no tool can do for you.
- Taken
- A registration is current. The published dates say since when and until when: a name registered twenty years ago and renewed every year will not come free; one registered last year and expiring in two months might.
- Reserved
- The registry publishes the “reserved” status. The name exists in its records without a holder: it has been set aside. No registrar can sell it to you, whatever price is shown elsewhere.
- No answer
- The registry server did not respond, or the extension publishes none that can be found. We then show “no answer” rather than an invented verdict. It is the one box where we do not know, and we would rather tell you.
What misleads
The four traps of availability
They all look alike: a binary answer laid over a situation that is not binary.
Concluding a name is free because the address does not answer
What causes it: A browser, a ping or a resolution command only test DNS publication. A registered domain can have no records, no site, no mail — and stay someone's property for years.
What fixes it: Ask the registry. That is what this tool does, and it is the only answer that counts on the day you register.
Assuming a name that “works” must be taken
What causes it: Some internet providers replace the “this name does not exist” answer with a search page, and some extensions have published catch-all answers. The page you see then proves nothing at all.
What fixes it: Here too, the registry settles it. A 404 from the registry is a fact; a page in a browser is an impression.
Taking “available at the registry” for “yours”
What causes it: The registry only knows about registrations. It knows nothing of trademarks, company names, or names a registrar files under special pricing at checkout.
What fixes it: Before registering a name that echoes a trademark or a company name, check the trademark registers of the country you are aiming at. A registration protects you from nothing if it is contested.
Giving up on a name because it is taken today
What causes it: An expired domain is not released the next day: it goes through a grace period, then a redemption period of about thirty days where only its former holder can take it back, then a few days of pending deletion. A checker answering “taken” shows none of that.
What fixes it: Read the published statuses. “redemption period” and “pending delete” say the name is on its way out, and our monitoring tells you the day the record changes.
Reference
The statuses a registry publishes, and what they change for you
These words come from the EPP protocol, spoken by every registry. They are what the tool shows under the verdict, untranslated into approximations.
| Published status | What it means | Can the name become yours? |
|---|---|---|
| ok / active | The registration is current and nothing is blocking it. | No, unless its holder abandons it at expiry. |
| reserved | The registry has reserved the name. It has no holder and is not for sale. | No. No registrar can offer it. |
| clientTransferProhibited | Transfer lock set by the registrar, often by default. | Not relevant: it protects the current holder, it is not a state of availability. |
| clientHold / serverHold | The name is pulled out of the DNS: nothing answers, although it is still registered. | No. This is exactly the case where a browser test gets it wrong. |
| autoRenewPeriod | Automatic renewal has just happened; the registrar can still cancel it. | No, not in the short term. |
| redemptionPeriod | The registration has expired. Only the former holder can restore it, against a restoration fee, for about thirty days. | Not yet. Wait for what follows, with nothing to register in the meantime. |
| pendingDelete | Recovery is no longer possible, not even for the holder. The registry is about to delete the name. | Soon. A few days later it becomes registrable again — first come, or by auction depending on the extension. |
Durations set by ICANN policy for generic extensions; country extensions set their own, and some have no redemption period at all.
Questions
What we get asked about availability
Why don't you offer to buy the domain?
Because we do not sell domain names. Plenty of availability checkers belong to a registrar: the answer there is the first step of a purchase funnel, and the extensions suggested are the ones with the best margin. We monitor domains that are already registered; the answer this tool gives is therefore just an answer.
Can a name that is available here be refused when I register it?
Yes, and it is the most important point on this page. The registry only knows about current registrations: it ignores trademarks, company names, and names a registry files under special pricing. “Available” means “no registration”, not “no obstacle”.
Why do some names get no answer?
Because not every extension publishes a server that can be found. IANA lists 1,200 of them, including only 70 country extensions out of the 248 that exist. For the others we add the servers we have checked by hand, and we say “no answer” when we have none — rather than guessing.
The name I want is taken. Will I know if it comes free?
Not with this tool, which only takes a snapshot. An expiring domain goes through several weeks of waiting periods during which its registry record changes more than once; that is exactly what DomainVigil watches on the domains entrusted to it, with a message the day the record moves.
How is this different from a whois?
RDAP and whois answer the same question, but the first returns structured data, with normalized dates and an official server per extension. The second returns free-form text, formatted differently by every registry. We query RDAP; our WHOIS page shows the full record of a name that is already registered.
Are my searches passed on to a registrar?
No. The request goes from our servers to the registry of the extension, and nothing else leaves. We do not keep the list of names you try, and we have nobody to sell it to.
Where we stand
We have nothing to sell you here.
Plenty of availability checkers belong to a registrar. Their answer is the first step of a purchase funnel, and the extensions they suggest when a name is taken are the ones with the best margin. We monitor domains that are already registered. Here, the answer is just the answer.
- noextension suggestions
- nopurchase links
- noaccount to create
Vocabulary
The words you will read in the answer
They come from the registries and have no exact everyday equivalent. Here they are, as they are written.
RDAP- The protocol a registry uses to publish its records as structured data. It is slowly replacing whois, which returned free-form text.
NXDOMAIN- The DNS answer “this name does not exist”. It says no zone is published, never that no registration exists at the registry.
reserved- The registry keeps the name for itself. No holder, no possible sale, whatever price is shown elsewhere.
redemptionPeriod- The name has expired and its former holder can still take it back, alone, against a restoration fee.
pendingDelete- Nobody can recover it any more. The registry will delete it within days, and it will become registrable again.
premium- A name a registry sells above the standard price. It looks available everywhere, and its price only appears at checkout.