Lean Domain Search Alternatives That Check .com Availability

Lean Domain Search has not shut down. As of November 2026 it still runs searches, and it signs itself "An Automattic Jam". Matt Mazur launched it on Hacker News in January 2012, and Automattic, the company behind WordPress.com, bought it in July 2013. Its FAQ says it pairs your word with common domain keywords, is free to use, and sends every purchase to WordPress.com.

What changed is the results page. A search for "coffee" now returns WordPress.com style blocks named Top results, Exact match and More suggestions, each name with a price and an Add to cart button. The page has no sort or filter controls, and only a dozen or so suggestions show before a Show more results button. If you want a longer list, or a registrar other than WordPress.com, the eight tools below check availability as they generate names.

For premium brandable names sold by marketplaces, see our Brandbucket alternatives. For more domain checkers, read Instant Domain Search alternatives, and for social handles, Namechk alternatives.

Prices below are as of November 6, 2026. Our method is on How we review tools.

Quick comparison

Instant Domain Search

The domain generator does what Lean Domain Search used to do, then goes further. Type one keyword and it adds prefixes, suffixes and brand modifiers, which the page says gives 100+ permutations per keyword. You can feed it several keywords at once and filter by Available, Premium, Aftermarket or Taken.

Availability checks cover 800+ extensions in real time, and the home page also offers WHOIS lookup, bulk checks and trademark search. No account is needed. Developers get a free plugin for Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and Grok, plus an MCP server, according to the home page.

Best for: Anyone who liked Lean Domain Search's keyword pairing and wants it across far more extensions and registrars.

Pricing:

• Free, no signup.
• Instant earns referral fees. Its FAQ puts typical .com, .net and .org prices at about $8 to $15 per year, .io at $25 to $50 and .ai at $50 to $90, set by the registrar.

Watch out for:

• An available domain is not a cleared brand. The generator page says it does not check trademarks and points you to a separate search.
• Buy links go to partner registrars that pay Instant a referral fee, so compare the final price at checkout.

Official site: Instant Domain Search. Our listing: Instant Domain Search.

Namecheap Beast Mode

Paste up to 5,000 keywords or domains, or upload a CSV of the same size, and Beast Mode checks them in one search. Namecheap added it in June 2019 for domain investors and startups buying several names at once.

It has built-in prefix and suffix lists and a domain hack finder for ideas. A price range filter pushes names within budget to the top and drops the rest. You can hide premium domains, share a search with a teammate, and check out many names in one cart.

Best for: People who already have a long word list and want to know which combinations are free, fast.

Pricing:

• All Beast Mode search functions are free.
• The page lists no domain prices. Namecheap shows them per name in the results and cart.

Watch out for:

• It checks what you give it. Apart from the prefix, suffix and domain hack lists, there is no AI naming, so you still need a keyword list.
• Every result checks out through Namecheap only.

Official site: Namecheap Beast Mode. Our listing: Namecheap Beast Mode.

DomainWheel

Themeisle makes DomainWheel. You enter keywords, it suggests names with AI and checks each one on its own. A Select Filter control includes or excludes extensions.

Below the main results sit three extra lists: Sounds Like, Rhymes With and Random Suggestions. Click any word in them to start a new search. That chain of searches is handy when your first keyword is too common and every pairing is taken.

Best for: Brainstorming when your obvious keyword is gone and you need sound-alike or rhyming options.

Pricing:

• "100% free", no signup.
• No paid tier is listed. Registration costs depend on the registrar you pick.

Watch out for:

• The View Details button shows "options for domain registration and web hosting" without naming the registrar on the home page, so check where you land before paying.
• The site does not appear to have had a content update since December 2024.

Official site: DomainWheel.

NameBounce

NameBounce lets you lock the first, second or third word of a name and vary the others. If "coffee" must stay at the front, you lock it and browse what follows. Two-word searches need a space between the words.

• Core extensions: .com, .net, .org, .ai, .co, .io.
• More: .app, .ca, .co.uk, .com.au, .de, .dev, .in, .me, .online, .shop, .store, .studio, .tech, .tv, .us, .xyz.
• Or no extension at all, for naming only.

Best for: Founders who know one word of the name already and want to test what goes around it.

Pricing:

• The FAQ says the generator is "100% free".
• It promotes a 30% discount on Tailor Brands plans, an affiliate offer.

Watch out for:

• The site does not explain how names are generated or which registrar its domain discount link at /go leads to.

Official site: NameBounce. Our listing: NameBounce.

Namelix

Brandmark.io runs Namelix, which uses its own language model to invent short brand names rather than pairing dictionary words. It learns from the names you save, and you can filter by length, keyword or extension.

Before results, the app asks you to pick a style. The options are Brandable (Google, Rolex), Evocative (RedBull), Short phrase (Dollar Shave Club), Compound words (FedEx), Alternate spelling (Lyft, Fiverr), Non-English words (Toyota) and Real words (Apple). Each name shows domain availability, and you can turn a pick into a logo.

Best for: Startups that want a coined, trademark-friendly brand name instead of keyword plus keyword.

Pricing:

• Name generation is free.
• Logo packages from Brandmark are one-time: Basic $35, Designer $95, Enterprise $195.

Watch out for:

• Alternate spelling and Non-English styles produce names that fail the "radio test" Lean Domain Search applies, where a name should be clear when spoken. Pick Real words or Compound words to avoid that.
• The free logo preview leads to a paid Brandmark package if you want the files.

Official site: Namelix.

NameMesh

Instead of a keyword box, the NameMesh generator takes a description of your business of up to 500 characters. It works out your industry, generates names, checks availability, then ranks and filters them. Category and Style fields steer it toward Exact match, Branded, Compound, Action-oriented or Metaphorical names.

The home page bundles three tools: the domain generator, a domain search that suggests alternatives when your first choice is taken, and a business name generator.

Best for: People who can describe the business in a sentence but have no keyword yet.

Pricing:

• "Generate, search, and check availability, all free".

Watch out for:

• The generator page names .com and .ai and then just says "more", so the full extension list is unclear.
• The home page FAQ, including "Is NameMesh free to use?", lists questions without answers.

Official site: NameMesh.

Shopify Domain Name Generator

Shopify's domain name generator returns exact-match domains across extensions plus combinations with related keywords, each with an annual price. Popular, newer and regional endings are covered, from .com and .online to .shop, .store, .co.uk and .com.au. One click reserves the name in a Shopify account.

If you have no name yet, start with the sister business name generator. It suggests names from a word or a description, checks domains, and allows unlimited searches.

Best for: Sellers who plan to run the store on Shopify and want the domain in the same account.

Pricing:

• Both generators are free (domain tool, name tool).
• Shopify publishes no fixed domain price. Annual pricing appears in the search results.

Watch out for:

• Regional endings have rules. The page notes that .ca needs Canadian citizenship, residency or a qualifying corporation.
• The flow ends in Shopify signup, so it adds little if your site will live elsewhere.

Official site: Shopify Domain Name Generator.

Domainr

Domainr checks where one exact word can live, a narrower job than Lean Domain Search. A search for "coffee" lists variants such as coffee.com, coffee.house and coffee.shop, then lets you register at the registrar you prefer.

Fastly owns it, and a Fastly subsidiary, Domain Research, LLC, is ICANN accredited. The same data is sold as the Fastly Domain Research API to website builders and registrars.

Best for: Checking a name you already like across unusual extensions before you settle on .com.

Pricing:

• Consumer search is free. Domainr earns commissions on domains bought through it.
• API: "Try for Free at Fastly". No public per-request price on domainr.com.

Watch out for:

• It does not pair your word with lists of other words, so it will not produce dozens of two-word .com ideas.
• The home page is now mostly a pitch for the Fastly API, and the search sits behind a Search All Domains button.

Official site: Domainr. Our listing: Domainr.

How to choose

When to stay with Lean Domain Search

Keep Lean Domain Search if your site will run on WordPress.com. The cart drops the domain straight into that account, and as of November 2026 .blog suggestions are listed at $2. Its search terms still reject numbers and hyphens, which keeps suggestions easy to say out loud. Move on if you need sorting, filtering or a different registrar, because the current page offers none of those.

Frequently asked questions