About W.is

What W.is does

Every domain name has a registration record kept by the registry that manages its top-level domain, such as Verisign for .com or DENIC for .de. W.is asks the registry directly and turns its answer into a single, consistent result page.

You can look up domain names under generic and country-code TLDs alike, including internationalized (IDN) domains — for example google.com. If you type a bare name without a dot, W.is looks up the .com domain.

Every result has its own address (for example w.is/example.com), so you can bookmark it or send it to someone.

How a lookup works

W.is prefers RDAP, the Registration Data Access Protocol that replaces WHOIS, and falls back to WHOIS where RDAP is not available. If you are new to RDAP, start with What is RDAP? and RDAP vs WHOIS.

1. Domains with RDAP. W.is keeps a built-in map of registry RDAP servers, derived from IANA's root zone database and RDAP bootstrap registry and checked by hand for a few registries. It currently covers 1,207 TLDs across 594 RDAP endpoints — see the full RDAP server list. The query goes straight to the registry that operates the TLD.
2. Filling gaps. If the RDAP answer is missing the registrar, the creation date or the name servers, W.is also asks the WHOIS server and merges the two answers, preferring the RDAP values.
3. Not found. If the registry's RDAP server says the domain does not exist (HTTP 404), W.is reports it as not found. That usually means the name is not registered, although it may still be reserved or blocked by the registry.
4. WHOIS fallback. If the RDAP server fails for another reason, or W.is has no RDAP endpoint for the TLD, it queries the registry's WHOIS server on port 43 instead — see the WHOIS server list.

Because lookups go to the authoritative registry servers, you see the current registration record rather than an old copy from a third-party database.

What you get in a result

• Registrar details: name, website and IANA registrar ID.
• Key dates: creation, last update and expiration, with a “Newly Registered” or “Expiring Soon” label when either is within 30 days. Read more about domain expiration and renewal.
• Domain status codes such as clientTransferProhibited, linked to plain-English explanations in the domain status code reference, plus labels for pending deletions and transfers.
• Name servers (each one copyable with a click) and the DNSSEC state.
• Registrant details such as organization and country when the registry publishes them. Many registries now redact personal contact data — our guide on finding a domain owner explains your options.
• The raw RDAP or WHOIS response, which you can copy or download as a text file, and a label showing which protocol the data came from.
• A screenshot button that saves the result card as an image.
• Price hints for many domains — registration and renewal prices and whether the name is premium — with a link to compare registrars on our sister site TLDhub.com.

Coverage

W.is tracks every top-level domain in IANA's root zone database. The figures below come from the data W.is uses for lookups (IANA records updated up to 2026-09-23).