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Business Name & Domain Availability Checker
Check a business name across .com, .co.uk, .io, .net and more, using live registry data.
In short
The Business Name & Domain Availability Checker takes a business name and queries the live domain registries for the common extensions — .com, .co.uk, .io, .net, .org and others — to show which are unregistered. It reads registry records directly rather than a reseller's inventory, so results reflect what is actually registered. It is free, instant and needs no signup.
How do I check if a business name is available as a domain?
Enter the name and check it against the registries for each extension you care about. A domain is available when no registry record exists for it. Registry data is authoritative for registration status, but it does not tell you whether the name is free to trade under — a domain being unregistered does not mean the name is unclaimed as a trade mark or a company name.
How to choose a domain that still works in five years
Most domain advice optimises for the wrong thing. Keyword-stuffed domains — bestplumberlondon24.com — have not carried a ranking advantage for well over a decade, and they age badly the moment you expand beyond the keyword or the city. A short, pronounceable, spellable name outperforms a descriptive one over any real timeframe, because the traffic that matters is people who already know who you are.
The practical test is the phone test: say the domain aloud and have someone type it without asking you to spell anything. Hyphens fail it. Numbers fail it. Words with a common alternative spelling fail it. Anything that needs the phrase 'with a Z' fails it.
Which extension to register
The .com remains the default assumption, which is exactly why it is the one worth owning even when it is not the one you use. If a customer half-remembers your name, .com is what they will try, and if a competitor owns it you have handed them your traffic.
Country extensions carry genuine local signal. A .co.uk tells a UK buyer they are dealing with a UK business, and that trust is worth more in a local market than the generic alternative. Newer extensions like .io, .app and .ai are well established in their niches, though they cost more to renew and a portion of non-technical customers will still type .com out of habit.
- Register the .com even if you do not use it, and redirect it
- Use the country extension as your primary if you trade in one country
- Check the matching handle on the social platforms you will actually use
- Avoid hyphens and numbers — they fail the phone test
What to check beyond the domain
Availability of a domain says nothing about your right to the name. Before you print anything, search your national companies register for an identical or confusingly similar registered company, and search the trade mark database for your goods or services class. In the UK that is Companies House and the IPO; in the US, the state register and the USPTO. Both searches are free and take a few minutes.
Then check the social handles you plan to use. A consistent handle across your website, your invoices and your profiles is the small thing that makes a new business look established, and it is far cheaper to secure a matching set on day one than to rebrand a year later because the handle you wanted went to someone else.
Frequently asked questions
Where does the availability data come from?
From RDAP, the Registration Data Access Protocol, which is the registries' own successor to WHOIS. When a registry returns no record for a domain, it is unregistered. This is the same source registrars query, so it is not a reseller's stock list.
Does an available domain mean the business name is free to use?
No. Domain registration and name rights are separate. A name can be unregistered as a domain while being an active trade mark or a registered company name, and using it could still infringe. Check your national company register and trade mark database before committing.
Why does one extension say 'unknown' instead of taken or available?
Not every registry publishes an RDAP endpoint, and some rate-limit or time out. Where we cannot get an authoritative answer we say so rather than guessing — a wrong 'available' is worse than an honest 'could not check'.
Should I buy the .com even if I plan to use a country domain?
Usually yes, if it is affordable. The .com is the address people type and mistype, and the one a competitor can use against you later. If you trade in one country, the country extension is often the better primary — .co.uk carries local trust for UK buyers — with the .com registered and redirected to it.
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