WHOIS Alternative - Modern Domain Lookup API with RDAP

{ "name": "company", "results": [ { "domain": "company.com", "available": false, "source": "rdap", "registry_status": ["client transfer prohibited"], "rdap_events": [ { "eventAction": "registration", "eventDate": "1996-04-08T04:00:00Z" }, { "eventAction": "expiration", "eventDate": "2027-04-09T04:00:00Z" ...

Category Domain Availability

Endpoints 1

Key Features 8

Frequently Asked Questions 4

Used by people at amazing companies

Trust signals before you integrate

Transparent docs, authenticated requests, and visible reliability details make it easier to evaluate DomScan before you ship.

99.99% Uptime

Production-ready endpoints are designed for 99.99% uptime and documented status handling.

OpenAPI API artifacts

OpenAPI, Swagger, Postman, CLI, SDK, and MCP links are one click away.

API keys Protected access

Authenticated endpoints use API keys with clear credit costs before you call them.

10,000 Free allowance

Start with 10,000 monthly credits and upgrade only when usage grows.

What this API helps you ship

Use this page as a production brief: endpoints, examples, response shape, and the workflow pieces needed to plug DomScan into your own product.

Product workflows

Embed domain checks, DNS intelligence, risk signals, or enrichment into onboarding, search, and internal tools.

Analyst automation

Replace repeated manual lookups with scheduled jobs, alerting, and reproducible investigation steps.

Clean JSON data

Use predictable fields, documented status codes, and credit costs instead of scraping provider pages.

AI and ops tooling

Feed agents, dashboards, SOAR playbooks, and CRMs through OpenAPI, SDK, Postman, or MCP.

Integration workflow

A simple path from first request to repeatable production usage.

Authenticate once

Send your API key with the documented header and keep requests consistent across services.

Query with examples

Start from the curl and HTTP samples, then map the parameters into your application code.

Operate and monitor

Use status codes, credit costs, and response fields to build retries, logs, and alerts.

Developer kit

Jump from this page into machine-readable docs, request collections, SDKs, or agent tooling.

OpenAPI schema

Generate clients or inspect every request and response shape.

Postman collection

Import ready-made requests for manual testing and team handoff.

SDKs and CLI

Use maintained packages and command-line workflows instead of writing boilerplate.

MCP integration

Expose domain intelligence to AI agents and internal assistant workflows.

Parameters and response map

Scan the inputs, output fields, and status codes before wiring the endpoint into your client.

Request parameters

Parameter

nametlds

Response fields

Example Response

nameresults

Status coverage

HTTP Status Codes

200400402429500502503504

Endpoints

GET /v1/status

Credits: 1Authentication: optional

nametlds

Trust signals before you integrate

Transparent docs, authenticated requests, and visible reliability details make it easier to evaluate DomScan before you ship.

Uptime API artifacts

OpenAPI, Swagger, Postman, CLI, SDK, and MCP links are one click away.

API keys Protected access

Authenticated endpoints use API keys with clear credit costs before you call them.

Free allowance Sign Up for Free

Start with 10,000 monthly credits and upgrade only when usage grows.

Active Example Request

Start from the curl and HTTP samples, then map the parameters into your application code.

Key Features

Structured Data

JSON responses instead of unparseable WHOIS text. No regex needed.

Standardized Format

Consistent response format across all TLDs and registries.

Better Accuracy

RDAP queries authoritative sources, not outdated WHOIS proxies.

International Support

Proper handling of IDN domains and Unicode characters.

HTTPS Security

All queries over secure connections, unlike plaintext WHOIS.

No Parsing Required

Structured fields for status, dates, and availability.

Modern Protocol

ICANN-mandated replacement for legacy WHOIS infrastructure.

Registry Events

Access registration, expiration, and transfer dates directly.

Example Request

GET /v1/status bash

Open

curl -H "X-API-Key: $DOMSCAN_API_KEY" "https://domscan.net/v1/status?name=company&tlds=com,net,org"

Example Response

200 OK json

{
  "name": "company",
  "results": [
    {
      "domain": "company.com",
      "available": false,
      "source": "rdap",
      "registry_status": ["client transfer prohibited"],
      "rdap_events": [
        { "eventAction": "registration", "eventDate": "1996-04-08T04:00:00Z" },
        { "eventAction": "expiration", "eventDate": "2027-04-09T04:00:00Z" }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Frequently Asked Questions

Why should I switch from WHOIS to RDAP?

WHOIS returns unstructured text that varies by registry, requiring complex parsing. RDAP provides standardized JSON responses that are easy to work with programmatically.

Is RDAP replacing WHOIS?

Yes! ICANN has mandated RDAP as the replacement for WHOIS. Most registries now support RDAP, and some have deprecated WHOIS entirely.

Does RDAP have the same data as WHOIS?

RDAP provides registration data in a structured format. Due to privacy regulations like GDPR, both WHOIS and RDAP may have limited registrant contact information.

Is DomScan a WHOIS lookup tool?

DomScan uses RDAP, not WHOIS. We focus on domain availability checking with accurate, structured data from authoritative RDAP servers.

Related Tools & Resources

HTTP Status Codes

We document the HTTP status codes you should handle so you can distinguish successful responses, auth issues, credits, rate limits, missing data, and upstream failures.

OK 200

Request successful

Bad Request 400

Invalid parameters

Payment Required 402

Not enough credits to run this request.

Too Many Requests 429

Rate limit exceeded

Server Error 500

Internal error

Bad Gateway 502

Upstream RDAP error

Service Unavailable 503

Upstream service unavailable or temporarily rate limited.

Gateway Timeout 504

Upstream lookup timed out.

Try the Modern WHOIS Alternative

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