# How to check domain availability in bulk without getting front-run > Paste your shortlist into a bulk domain availability checker that queries registries over RDAP, one name per line with the TLD. Available names are unregistered at the registry; taken names come back with registrar and expiry. Confirm the price at a registrar before you fall in love, because premium names show as available but cost far more. Source: https://rankcert.com/blog/bulk-domain-availability-check Published: 2026-10-31 ยท Updated: 2026-10-31 --- Naming a product means burning through dozens of candidates. Checking them one at a time in a registrar's search box is slow, and it hands your shortlist to a company that sells domains. ## Why bulk, and why RDAP A registrar search box checks one name, then tries to sell you ten others. A bulk checker takes the whole list and answers one question per name: is it registered? The right source for that answer is the registry itself. RDAP is the protocol ICANN made mandatory for gTLD registries, replacing WHOIS in January 2025. It returns structured data: status, registrar, creation and expiry dates. No scraping, no guessing from a parked page. Free tool: [Bulk Domain Checker](https://rankcert.com/tools/bulk-domain-availability) - Check whether 25 domains are registered or free in one pass, straight from the registry over RDAP, with no signup and no upsell to a registrar. ## How to run a check 1. **Write every candidate with its TLD.** `acme.com` and `acme.io` are separate registrations at separate registries. One per line. 2. **Batch in groups of 25.** Registries rate-limit single callers. A tool that respects that is slower per batch and faster overall. 3. **Sort available to the top.** Those are your real shortlist. 4. **Read the taken ones too.** The registrar and expiry tell you whether a name is an active business or a forgotten registration. ## Reading the results **Available.** No registration at the registry. Usually you can buy it at list price today. **Available but premium.** Unregistered, but the registry reserved it for a higher price. Short and dictionary words on new TLDs land here constantly. A bulk check tells you it is free; the registrar tells you it costs $2,000. **Registered.** Someone holds it. Check how long: Free tool: [Domain Age Checker](https://rankcert.com/tools/domain-age-checker) - Find out exactly how old a domain is, when it was registered, when it was last changed and when it expires. A name registered last month by a parking company is likely for sale. A name registered in 2004 to a real company is not. **Unconfirmed.** A few ccTLD registries, `.de` among them, do not publish RDAP. A good checker says so instead of guessing, because a false "available" is the worst possible answer. ## Expiry dates are not buy dates A taken domain expiring next week is not yours next week. After expiry come roughly a 30-day grace period and a 30-day redemption period, and most owners renew. Use backorder services if you must, but plan your launch around a name you can buy today. ## Avoiding front-running Front-running is a registrar or a party watching search logs registering a name right after you search it. It has historically come from registrar search tools, not registry lookups. Three habits keep you safe: - Check availability through RDAP-based tools, not registrar search boxes. - Register a name you want the same day you check it. A domain costs about $10 a year; losing it costs a rebrand. - Do not post a shortlist publicly before you own the winner. ## Picking from the available list Once you have ten free names, cut on these: - **Say it once.** If someone hears it on a call, can they type it? Drop hyphens and numbers. - **Search it.** A name that collides with a big brand fights for every branded search, forever. - **Check the handles.** The same name free on X and GitHub saves you a mismatched identity. - **Prefer .com if it is clean.** Otherwise pick a TLD that fits the audience. Developers accept `.dev` and `.io`; consumers type `.com` by habit. Then look up the full record of any taken name you still want: Free tool: [WHOIS Lookup](https://rankcert.com/tools/whois-lookup) - Look up any domain's registrar, registration date, expiry, status codes and nameservers using live RDAP registry data.