Collectors · OSINT & security

WHOIS API in Python

Domain registration data over RDAP — registrar, dates, status, nameservers. One POST from Python with domains, rows back as JSON with 11 fields, $0.005 per delivered domain. No proxies or parsers to maintain.

Get an API key See the collector

A Python requests snippet that posts { — A Python requests call to the whois_domain collector returns one dict per domain, at $0.005 each.

First call

Install, call, read the rows.

pip install requests

The only dependency.

import os, requests

r = requests.post(
    "https://api.quanticdata.io/v1/scraper/collectors/whois_domain/run",
    headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {os.environ['QD_API_KEY']}"},
    json={
        "domains": "<domains>",
    },
    timeout=120,
)
r.raise_for_status()
run = r.json()["payload"]
print(run["count"], "rows,", run["cost"]["usd"], "USD")
for row in run["results"]:
    print(row.get("domain"), row.get("registrar"), row.get("registrar_iana_id"), row.get("created"))

Python: one WHOIS / RDAP domain lookup run, printing domain, registrar, registrar_iana_id, created

The key comes from an environment variable, never from the code. The run answers in the same request when it finishes in time; payload.results holds the rows and payload.cost what they cost.

Request parameters

What the collector takes.

Input of the WHOIS / RDAP domain lookup collector
Parameter	Type	Required	Meaning
`domains`	array	yes	Bare domains or URLs.
`max_results`	integer	no	How many domains to deliver at most (1–25). You pay only for delivered domains.

Response fields

11 fields per domain.

Fields of each row (domain)
Field	Type	What it holds
`rank`	integer	1-based position.
`domain`	string	Domain.
`registrar`	string, nullable	Registrar name.
`registrar_iana_id`	string, nullable	IANA registrar id.
`created`	string, nullable	Registration date.
`expires`	string, nullable	Expiration date.
`updated`	string, nullable	Last change.
`status`	string[]	EPP status codes.
`nameservers`	string[]	Delegated nameservers.
`dnssec`	boolean, nullable	DNSSEC delegation signed.
`url`	string	RDAP record URL.

Add ?format=csv to the runs endpoint to get the same rows as CSV.

Long runs

Run in the background, then poll.

A run that needs more time can go to the background: send "async": true, get 202 with the run id, and poll the runs endpoint until the status is done. Reading a run is free.

import os, time, requests

H = {"Authorization": f"Bearer {os.environ['QD_API_KEY']}"}
r = requests.post("https://api.quanticdata.io/v1/scraper/collectors/whois_domain/run", headers=H,
                  json={**{"domains":"<domains>"}, "async": True}, timeout=30)
run_id = r.json()["payload"]["run_id"]
while True:
    run = requests.get(f"https://api.quanticdata.io/v1/scraper/collectors/runs/{run_id}", headers=H, timeout=30).json()["payload"]
    if run["status"] in ("done", "failed"):
        break
    time.sleep(5)
print(run["status"], run["count"])

Python: background run and polling

Errors

What can come back, and what is billed.

Collector run errors
Status	Meaning	Billed
`400`	The input does not match the collector (`payload.errors`)	No
`401`	Missing or wrong API key	No
`402`	Balance and free credit do not cover the run: top up	No
`422`	The input can never resolve; retrying the same input cannot help	No
`424`	The run failed at the source (blocked, timed out, layout changed); safe to retry	No
`429`	Rate limit or a per-account brake; wait for `Retry-After`	No

Only delivered rows are billed: a run that delivers nothing costs nothing.

Price

$0.005 per delivered domain.

What WHOIS / RDAP domain lookup rows cost at list price
Rows	Cost
1	$0.005
1,000	$5.00
10,000	$50.00

Up to 25 domains per run; split larger jobs into several runs. The $2 free credit every month covers about 400 domains. No subscription; paid tiers lower the unit price. All collector prices: collector pricing.

Before you run it

Questions developers ask

Is there a free WHOIS / RDAP domain lookup API?

Every account gets $2 of free usage each month, about 400 domains of this collector at $0.005 each, with no card.

Do I have to handle proxies, retries or blocks?

No. The collector runs on our network and handles them; a run blocked at the source returns 424 and is not billed.

How many rows can one run return?

Up to 25 domains per run (the max_results input, where the collector has one).

Can an AI agent run it?

Yes: the MCP server exposes it as the run_collector tool, with the same input and price. See the MCP server.

Run it on the free credit.

Create an API key, export it as QD_API_KEY and run the example. $0.005 per delivered domain, no subscription.

Get an API key WHOIS API