Recommended tools
Grouped by the job, not by vendor. We are not paid to list any of these — where that changes, it will say so on the page.
Catching a domain as it drops
An expiring name is caught within seconds, so you place a backorder before the drop rather than trying to register it after. Catchers compete, so a second backorder elsewhere is worth it on a name you really want. SnapNames, DropCatch, Dynadot backorders.
Registering something already free
For a name that is available now, the questions are renewal price and whether transfers are painless. Porkbun, Namecheap, Cloudflare Registrar.
Checking what a name has been
Our score is about what a name could become, so the past is a separate question. On the strongest names we read the web archive ourselves and fold what we find into the score. For everything else, and for the things we do not look at — backlinks, and whether Google still indexes the site — the checks are the Wayback Machine, Ahrefs' free backlink checker and Google Search Console.
Not buying a lawsuit
We filter out blatant brand abuse, but trademark rights are jurisdictional and our filtering is best-effort. On anything brandable, check yourself: USPTO trademark search for US marks, EUIPO eSearch for EU ones.
Selling one on
If you are flipping rather than building, Afternic has the widest distribution and Sedo is better for negotiated sales.