Pronounced as “who is“, these sites/tools help you find out who owns a domain name as well as other vital domain registry information such as registration date, expiry date, last update, name servers etc. There are thousands of whois tools that provide more or less the same data – some provide more than others and present the information in different ways. Below I’ve listed the ones that I use the most…
You’ll most likely find one at every domain registrar and as I’ve said there are probably thousands of other ones – but it is a good idea to use trusted whois tools when you’re checking for available domain names because most of these query tools mine the data and can use your searches to register good names for the owners. Some of the tools out there even place holds on certain names after you’ve checked them – so you’re only able to register that particular name at their registry.
The tools I’ve listed above are all safe to use. They do not mine data.
If you use other whois services that you know are 100% safe from data mining then please leave a comment with the url and I’ll add them to this list.