Free Tool to See Who Owns a Domain

Whether you are a business owner, web designer or purchaser, it would be helpful to know who owns a particular domain. This information will help solve the question of whether the chosen domain is bought for you, traces the history of a website or can even reveal an online resource of your competitor. Luckily, all this can be discovered using free tools that would save you a ton of time and avoid expensive blunders.

In this tutorial, we cover everything you might want to know about domain ownership and how you could use free tools to determine who owns a domain. We'll also clarify what kind of information you're likely to retrieve and discuss the various free services out there to achieve that.

What Is Domain Ownership?

Now, before we get into the specifics of the tools, let me define what is domain ownership. Domain name actually refers to a web address-for example, www.example.com-combining a host and domain. It designates a unique internet location. A domain name is a valuable digital asset for business and individuals alike.Who Owns a Domain?

A domain owner is the one whose name is reflected in the "Registrant" of the domain registration records, which are actually kept by the domain registrars. The latter manages a database of all registered domains. The ownership of a domain provides the rightful control over the corresponding website, email addresses, and any other online services that come with the connected domain.

Why Do You Need to Know Who Owns a Domain?

There are so many practical applications of this kind of information. For example,

Buying a Domain: You should want to buy a particular domain. Knowing the owner puts you directly in touch so that you can contact that party in order to negotiate the purchases.

Security and Legal Reasons: Sometimes, you may want to know who owns a website domain just in case you suspect something fishy is going on or just to sort out some legal issues.

Brand Protection: You may be able to monitor potential misuse of your brand name or track a competitor using a similar domain name by tracking domain ownership.

Website History Tracking: Information about past ownership can tell you the history, content, and even reputation of a website.

What Type of Information May You Obtain Regarding Domain Ownership?

Information you may be able to retrieve when searching for who owns a domain includes:

Registrant Name: The name of the person or entity that registered this domain name.

Contact information : All email addresses and phone numbers provided with this domain (in case these have been masked by privacy protection services.)

Registration dates : When the domain was originally registered as well as the date it is set to expire.

Domain registrar: The company which manages this domain name.

DNS Information: This reveals the details of the domain's DNS settings and name servers.

But the laws on privacy and protection services for domain names may not be that informative to the public. Most domain owners utilize these kinds of services to make sure that their personal details cannot be accessed. This makes it even more challenging to trace back his identity directly.

How to Find Who Owns the Domain

There are several free tools that can quickly point out who owns a domain. These tools perform WHOIS lookups, which query databases of domain registrars for information about the owners of a domain. Let's go through some of the top free choices available for you:

1. ICANN WHOIS Lookup

Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) manages the domain registration as well as ensures smooth internet operations. Their tool, WHOIS Lookup, is one of the most trusted and reliable sources when you would like to know who a domain name belongs to.

How to use ICANN WHOIS Lookup:

Step 1 : visit the website for ICANN WHOIS.

Step 2 : Enter the Domain name you would like to search

Step 3 : Click the "Lookup" button so that you will get the ownership details.

The outcomes will show who the domain registrar is, when they registered the domain, its status, and sometimes even the contact details of the registrant.

Advantages
Free and safe
The full information from the domain registrar

Disadvantages
Only basic contact data because of services like domain privacy.

2. Whois.com

Another popular method for discovering who owns a domain is Whois.com, which provides a simple interface for searching any domain's information. This website allows one to easily search for ownership information about millions of domains.

How to use Whois.com:
Proceed to Whois.com
Insert the domain name you want to investigate.
Click on "Search" to display the information.
Generally speaking, the results will show the domain ownership details, registrar details and expiry dates of a domain.

Advantages
Ease to use interface
Free to anyone for basic domain search

Disadvantages
Limited data since the websites have implemented privacy protection

3. DomainTools

They provide free and paid domain lookup services at DomainTools. The free WHOIS search offers standard registration and ownership information for a domain. For other advanced stuff, such as history and DNS records, they can be availed only through paid plans.

How to Use DomainTools:
Head to DomainTools WHOIS Lookup.
Copy and paste the domain name into the search field.
Click "Search" to view the results.
The tool shows the following: registration dates, availability details of ownership, and further technical information.

Advantages:
Free access to basic WHOIS information.
Premium features are only available in the paid plans.

Disadvantages
Base results are limited with the free version.

4. Web Digital Mantra Whois Domain

Are you working with multiple domains or researching multiple sites at one time? You will need a multi-WHOIS-lookup tool that takes the pain out of verifying the registrant on dozens of domains. Services like webdigitalmantra.in let you verify ownership information on multiple domains all at once, and take it out of your hands.

Visit Web Digital Mantra Whois Domain
Input your list of domains you would like to look up Click "Who Is Domain" to pull in the ownership details on all of those domains.
This tool is good for monitoring many domains, and users may include website flippers, SEO professionals or digital marketers.

Advantages:
Saves time checking multiple domains.
Suitable for bulk monitoring.

Disadvantages:
Limited free access; paid plans will probably be required to monitor bigger lists

What If a Domain's Ownership Is Private?

Many domain owners take advantage of domain privacy services that mask their contact information, using proxy data from the registrar in place of personal details. So you cannot see the actual name, address, or email directly through a typical WHOIS lookup.

In these cases, the WHOIS likely to be returned is that of the privacy service rather than the actual registrant. You may have to communicate with the owner through the domain registrar, or contact a service like Domain Agents who provides for anonymous domain transactions.

Other Alternative Ways of Identifying Who Owns a Domain

Apart from WHOIS lookups, other methods include finding information on the ownership of a domain name or the person in charge of a given website:

Information in the Footers: Many websites specify who owns the website or their contact in the foot or "About Us" section.

Contact Forms: If the website has a contact form, you can directly ask about the ownership of the domain name or whether it is available for sale.

Historical WHOIS: You can use services like DomainTools or Archive.org that will enable you to see historical WHOIS data, possibly with some older owner data that was published before the Privacy Protection was enabled.

Social Media: Sometimes you can find the owner through the social media profiles linked to the site.

Conclusion

Having this information is key for organizations, businesses, and individuals with websites that maintain or expand online branding or domains for sale. Fortunately, one can easily verify a domain owner using the widely available free WHOIS search tools.

Whatever platform you use, whether it is ICANN, Whois.com, DomainTools, or another one, all of them offer very interesting information on domain registration, ownership details, and contact information, free of charge. Needless to say, domain privacy protection services limit the publicly available data. However, free tools are a good starting point when trying to find out who owns a website's domain.

FAQ’s

1.How can I check who owns a domain?
You can use free WHOIS lookup tools like ICANN, Whois.com, or DomainTools to check domain ownership details.

2.What information can I find using a WHOIS lookup?
A WHOIS lookup typically reveals the domain owner’s name, contact information, registration dates, and the domain registrar.

3.Can I find out who owns a domain if privacy protection is enabled?
If privacy protection is enabled, the real owner’s details will be masked, and you may only see proxy information.

4.Are there any free tools to check who owns a domain?
Yes, free tools like ICANN WHOIS Lookup, Whois.com, and GoDaddy’s WHOIS tool allow you to check domain ownership without cost.

5.Can I contact the domain owner through a WHOIS lookup?
If the contact details are not masked, you can directly reach out to the owner through the provided email or phone number. If privacy is enabled, you'll need to go through the registrar.

Written By :

Ganesh B R