WHOIS Lookup API

About the WHOIS Lookup API

WHOIS Lookup is a domain WHOIS API: it queries the registry for a domain name and returns its registration record (registrar, creation, update and expiry dates, EPP status codes and authoritative nameservers) plus domain age computed from the creation date. Paid plans extend it to IP address and ASN WHOIS.

What people use it for

Domain Portfolio Management

Domain portfolio managers inspect expiration dates and registrar details to schedule timely renewals before web properties lapse or drop.

Phishing Detection

Security teams flag newly created sender domains during user onboarding by reading domain age in days directly from the registration record.

Trademark Infringement Review

When auditing suspicious brand lookalikes, legal specialists identify the sponsoring registrar and nameserver hosts to route takedown notices accurately.

Vendor Infrastructure Auditing

Evaluate third-party vendor websites by verifying active domain status codes, current registration timelines, and authoritative nameserver delegations.

Ways to call it

One endpoint, many ways in — REST with JSON, XML, YAML and CSV, plus GraphQL and an MCP interface for AI agents.

JSON

Default REST response

XML

Markup format

YAML

Human-readable

CSV

Tabular export

Beta

GraphQL

Query language

New

MCP

For AI agents

How it compares

Side by side with the tools people weigh WHOIS Lookup against — what each one is better at, in plain terms.

Request parameters — GET /v1/whoislookup

Sent in the query string. Premium parameters are accepted on every plan but only take effect on plans that include them. Anything not listed here is dropped rather than passed through.

Required

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curl "https://api.apiverve.com/v1/whoislookup?domain=myspace.com" \
  -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY"

Authentication

Send your key in the x-api-key header. That is the only auth step — no token exchange, and no per-endpoint scope to configure.

Response — GET /v1/whoislookup

Every APIVerve endpoint returns the same three top-level keys, so one response handler covers your whole integration: status, error and data. Only data changes shape.

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{
  "status": "ok",
  "error": null,
  "data": {
    "domainName": "MYSPACE.COM",
    "registryDomainID": "3877095_DOMAIN_COM-VRSN",
    "createdDate": "1996-02-22T05:00:00Z",
    "expiryDate": "2029-02-23T05:00:00Z",
    "updatedDate": "2023-01-17T00:16:21Z",
    "domainStatus": [
      "client delete prohibited https://icann.org/epp#client delete prohibited",
      "client renew prohibited https://icann.org/epp#client renew prohibited",
      "client transfer prohibited https://icann.org/epp#client transfer prohibited",
      "client update prohibited https://icann.org/epp#client update prohibited"
    ],
    "dNSSEC": "unsigned",
    "registrar": "GoDaddy.com, LLC",
    "registrarIANAID": "146",
    "registrarURL": "http://www.godaddy.com",
    "registrarAbuseContactEmail": "abuse@godaddy.com",
    "registrarAbuseContactPhone": "tel:480-624-2505",
    "nameServers": [
      "ns-cloud-a2.googledomains.com",
      "ns-cloud-a3.googledomains.com",
      "ns-cloud-a4.googledomains.com",
      "ns-cloud-a1.googledomains.com"
    ],
    "statusDetails": [
      {
        "code": "clientDeleteProhibited",
        "setBy": "registrar",
        "description": "The registrar blocks deletion"
      },
      {
        "code": "clientRenewProhibited",
        "setBy": "registrar",
        "description": "The registrar blocks renewal"
      },
      {
        "code": "clientTransferProhibited",
        "setBy": "registrar",
        "description": "The registrar blocks transfer to another registrar"
      },
      {
        "code": "clientUpdateProhibited",
        "setBy": "registrar",
        "description": "The registrar blocks changes to the record"
      }
    ],
    "isTransferLocked": true,
    "isOnHold": false,
    "isPendingDelete": false,
    "registrantOrganization": "Domains By Proxy, LLC",
    "registrantCountry": "US",
    "isPrivacyProtected": true,
    "domain": "myspace.com",
    "fetchedAtUTC": "2025-12-17T01:54:05.069Z",
    "tld": "com",
    "status": "active",
    "domainAgeDays": 11094,
    "domainAgeYears": 30.4,
    "isRecentlyRegistered": false,
    "trustScore": 93,
    "trustLevel": "high"
  }
}

Response fields

Paths are relative to data. Premium fields are absent rather than zeroed on plans that do not include them, so check for presence instead of comparing to 0.

Response headers

Every response carries your balance, so your own code always knows where it stands without polling anything. All four are exposed to browsers through CORS.

Errors

Read the HTTP status first, then error for the specific reason. The body names the parameter that has to change.

What a call costs — 8 credits per call

Credits are shared across every APIVerve API — one balance, one key, one bill. Failed requests never count against it, so a rejected input costs nothing.

Calls are what the credits buy at this API's rate — spend them here, on any of the other APIs, or across both. Nothing is reserved per endpoint.

Zero-code embed — one snippet, no backend

Drop an interactive WHOIS Lookup form onto any page. The widget calls the API for you, so no key ever appears in your markup and there is nothing to deploy.

Changelog — WHOIS Lookup API

Every change to this endpoint, newest first. Breaking changes ship as a new version and the previous one keeps serving — response fields are added, never removed or retyped in place, so an integration written against v1 keeps working.

Currently v1Data refreshed realtime