Twitter Username Checker
for the handle you actually want.
Type a handle and find out whether it's taken on X. If it's gone, you'll get close alternatives you can check one at a time. Free, no signup, and nobody is notified.
What “taken” actually means.
A handle is taken when there is a live account sitting on it. That account can have four followers, one post from 2013, and a default egg avatar — it still owns the name, and X will not give it to you because you would use it better.
Free is the more interesting answer, because it is softer than it looks. X returns nothing for a handle nobody ever registered, and it also returns nothing for one whose account is suspended or deactivated. A separate list of names is held back and never issued to anyone. That is why this page says looks free: no live account is using it, which is the useful thing to know before you print it on anything, but it is not a promise from X that the name is yours.
And when a check fails — X being slow, or rate-limiting us — you get unknown, never free. A wrong “free” is the one answer that costs you something real: a logo, a domain, and a launch built on a handle somebody else already has.
The rules X actually enforces.
Four worth knowing, and this page enforces the two that can make a handle impossible — length and characters — before it spends a lookup, so an impossible handle comes back instantly instead of after a round trip.
- 15 characters, maximum. This is the wall most brand names hit. “theweeklystandup” is 16 and cannot exist.
- Letters, numbers and the underscore only. Dots and hyphens are the two people try most, and neither is allowed. Nor are spaces, emoji, or accented letters.
- Capitals do not make a new handle. @YourBrand and @yourbrand are one account. Capitals are yours to display, not to claim with.
- Your display name is a different field. The name above your handle takes spaces, emoji and far more characters. People confuse the two constantly and give up on a handle that was never the problem.
When the one you want is gone.
It usually is. Every dictionary word went years ago, and so did most two-word combinations worth having. What works is a handle that still reads as the name out loud: a short qualifier on the front or the back, so someone hearing it once can still find you.
The patterns that survive being said aloud are get, try and the on the front, and hq, app, io, co or a trailing underscore on the back. Those are the ones this page suggests. The patterns that do not survive are trailing numbers, a deliberate misspelling, and stacked underscores — all three read as the account that could not get the real one, and two of them get typed wrong every time you say them out loud.
One more thing worth doing before you commit: check the same name on the platforms you will actually use, and say it into a phone. A handle you have to spell out twice is a handle that costs you followers for as long as you keep it.
Frequently asked questions.
Is the username checker free?
Yes. No account, no card, no email. Each check asks X directly, which costs us a small amount, so there is a daily limit per visitor — enough to work through a long list of names in one sitting. Nothing you type is stored beyond a short cache of the result.
What characters can a Twitter username contain?
Letters, numbers and the underscore, up to 15 characters. No spaces, no dots, no hyphens, no emoji, no accented letters. Capitals are allowed but they do not create a different handle — @YourBrand and @yourbrand are the same account, which is why this page checks in lowercase.
Can I get a taken username released?
Usually not. X does not hand over a handle because it looks abandoned, and there is no waiting list to join. X's inactive account policy says it may remove accounts that have gone unused for a long time, but it makes no promise about when, and the handle is not reserved for whoever asked. Buying or selling handles breaks X's rules and can get both accounts suspended. The one real route is a trademark claim, filed through X's support forms, and only if you hold the mark.
Does checking a username notify anyone?
No. We ask X's public API whether an account exists on that handle. It is not a profile visit, the account owner sees nothing, and nothing appears in anyone's notifications.
Why does it say a handle is free when I cannot sign up with it?
A suspended or deactivated account returns nothing, exactly like a handle nobody ever took. X also holds back names it does not let anyone register. So free here means no live account is using it — which is why the tool says looks free rather than promising it is yours.
Why are the suggested alternatives not checked automatically?
Every check is a real lookup with a real cost, and checking eight names to answer a question you did not ask is how a free tool stops being free. You click the ones you would actually use.