Instagram Username Availability Checker

Check whether Instagram usernames are available or already taken, hundreds at a time, without logging in. Paste a list of handles, get back a clean table that says available, taken, or invalid for each one, plus who currently owns the taken names and ready-made alternatives that are free.

What you get

For every username you enter, one record with:

• Status — available, taken, invalid (breaks Instagram's naming rules) or error
• Reason — a plain-English explanation, including a warning when a free-looking name contains a word Instagram reserves at signup
• Owner details for taken names — user ID, display name, verified badge, private flag, business flag, category, follower / following / post counts, bio, external link and profile picture URL
• Alternative suggestions — when a name is taken, the checker can test common variants (name_, the.name, name.official, namehq, name2026, …) and tell you which ones are free
• Profile URL and an ISO checkedAt timestamp on every row
• Export to JSON, CSV, Excel or Google Sheets directly from the Apify console

Use cases

• Brand and product naming — confirm your handle is free before you register the domain and file the trademark
• Rebrands and launches — check a shortlist of candidate usernames across all your markets in one run
• Handle monitoring — re-run on a schedule to catch the moment a wanted username frees up
• Agency onboarding — validate client-supplied handle lists and catch typos, dead accounts and impostors
• Username research — see who owns a name, how big their audience is, and whether it's a parked or abandoned account

How to use

1. Enter one or more usernames (with or without @, profile URLs are fine too)
2. Optionally set Alternatives to check when taken (0–10) to get free variants for every taken name
3. Leave Include owner profile details on to see who holds each taken name
4. Run the actor — one row per checked handle appears in the Dataset tab

Invalid names (over 30 characters, illegal characters, a trailing period or consecutive periods) are reported without an external check and are not billed.

Output format

{
  "username": "natgeo",
  "status": "taken",
  "available": false,
  "reason": "An account already uses this username",
  "profileUrl": "https://www.instagram.com/natgeo/",
  "alternativeFor": null,
  "userId": "787132",
  "fullName": "National Geographic",
  "isVerified": true,
  "isPrivate": false,
  "isBusiness": true,
  "category": "",
  "followerCount": 268605896,
  "followingCount": 194,
  "mediaCount": 31964,
  "biography": "Step into wonder and find your inner explorer with National Geographic 🌎",
  "externalUrl": "http://visitstore.bio/natgeo",
  "profilePicUrl": "https://...",
  "checkedAt": "2026-09-07T02:58:11.000Z"
}

An available name looks like this:

{
  "username": "my.brand.new.handle_2026",
  "status": "available",
  "available": true,
  "reason": "No account uses this username",
  "profileUrl": "https://www.instagram.com/my.brand.new.handle_2026/",
  "alternativeFor": null,
  "checkedAt": "2026-09-07T02:58:11.000Z"
}

Alternative suggestions carry the original name in alternativeFor so you can group them in a spreadsheet.

Good to know

• Available means no public account currently uses the name. Instagram may still refuse it at signup if it was deleted or banned recently, or if it contains a reserved brand word such as "instagram". The reason field flags the reserved-word case.
• Deactivated (temporarily disabled) accounts also show as available, because Instagram hides them completely while they are disabled.
• Names are normalized to lowercase and duplicates are removed before checking, so @NatGeo and natgeo count once.
• Each checked handle costs one result. Invalid names are free.

Related actors

• Instagram Account Age & Country Checker — find out when a taken username's account was created and where it is based
• Bulk Social Handle Checker — check the same handle across Instagram, TikTok and X at once