Question 1

What does IP2WHOIS do?

Accepted Answer

IP2WHOIS is a domain WHOIS lookup API operated by IP2Location, a well-established geolocation and network intelligence company. Unlike IP geolocation APIs that return information about IP addresses, IP2WHOIS focuses specifically on domain name registration data — allowing developers to query who owns a domain, when it was registered, when it expires, and what nameservers it uses. This distinction is important: IP2WHOIS tells you about domains, not about IP addresses.

**What IP2WHOIS Does**

When you query IP2WHOIS with a domain name (e.g., `businessname.com.ng`), it returns a structured JSON response containing the complete WHOIS record for that domain. The data returned includes:

- **Creation date**: When the domain was first registered
- **Updated date**: When the WHOIS record was last modified
- **Expiration date**: When the domain registration expires
- **Domain age**: Automatically calculated from creation date to today
- **Registrant contact information**: Name, organization, address, email, phone (where available and not privacy-protected)
- **Administrative contact**: Admin contact name and email
- **Technical contact**: Technical contact details
- **Registrar information**: Which registrar manages the domain
- **Nameservers**: The authoritative DNS nameservers for the domain
- **Status codes**: Domain status flags (e.g., `clientTransferProhibited`, `active`)

This data is invaluable for fraud detection, competitive intelligence, brand protection, and domain monitoring use cases.

**TLD Coverage**

IP2WHOIS supports an exceptionally wide range of domain extensions:

- **1,221 generic TLDs (gTLDs)**: Including .com, .net, .org, .io, .app, .dev, .tech, and hundreds of newer gTLDs
- **634 country code TLDs (ccTLDs)**: Including .ng (Nigeria), .gh (Ghana), .ke (Kenya), .za (South Africa), and nearly every country's ccTLD

For Nigerian developers, support for `.ng` domains is particularly important. The `.ng` registry is managed by NiRA (Nigeria Internet Registration Association), and Nigerian businesses increasingly use `.ng`, `.com.ng`, `.gov.ng`, `.edu.ng`, and `.org.ng` domain extensions. IP2WHOIS can query WHOIS data for all of these.

**How Developers Use IP2WHOIS**

Integration is simple. After registering for a free API key:

```
GET https://api.ip2whois.com/v2?key=YOUR_API_KEY&domain=example.com.ng
```

The JSON response includes all WHOIS fields. Example use in Node.js:

```javascript
const response = await fetch(
  `https://api.ip2whois.com/v2?key=${process.env.IP2WHOIS_KEY}&domain=${domain}`
);
const data = await response.json();
console.log(data.create_date, data.expire_date, data.registrar.name);
```

The API is RESTful, requires no SDK, and the response schema is consistent across all supported TLDs. IP2Location provides code examples in multiple languages including PHP, Python, Java, and C#.

**Pricing**

IP2WHOIS operates on a freemium model:

- **Free Tier**: 500 WHOIS domain lookups per month. No credit card required. Suitable for prototyping, low-volume monitoring, and development testing.
- **Paid Plans**: Available for higher monthly lookup volumes. Pricing scales with the number of queries per month.

For most small Nigerian startups conducting fraud screening or brand protection checks, the 500 free lookups per month will cover moderate usage. High-volume use cases (bulk domain monitoring, large-scale fraud screening) will require a paid plan.

**Authentication**

IP2WHOIS uses an API key delivered as a query parameter (`?key=YOUR_KEY`). Store this key in your application's environment variables, never hardcode it in client-side JavaScript, and rotate it if exposed. The key is account-scoped and tracks monthly usage against your quota.

**Rate Limits**

On the free tier, usage is capped at 500 lookups per month (not per second — it's a monthly quota). There is no documented per-second rate limit for the free tier, but reasonable usage patterns are expected. Paid plans come with significantly higher monthly caps.

**Domain Fraud Detection Use Case**

One of the most valuable applications in Nigeria's fintech and e-commerce landscape is using IP2WHOIS as part of a fraud detection pipeline. Newly registered domains (less than 30 days old) are statistically much more likely to be fraudulent than established domains. A payment platform or lending platform in Nigeria can:

1. Extract the merchant's or applicant's website domain
2. Query IP2WHOIS for the domain's creation date
3. Flag domains registered less than 30 days ago as high risk
4. Cross-check the registrant organization name against the business name provided during onboarding

This simple check catches a significant percentage of fraudulent merchant applications where scammers spin up fresh websites to appear legitimate.

**Brand Protection for Nigerian Businesses**

Nigerian brands facing cybersquatting (where third parties register domain variations of legitimate brands) can use IP2WHOIS to monitor newly registered domains that contain their brand name. By periodically querying variations (e.g., `myfintechng.com`, `myfintech.com.ng`, `myfintechapp.com`) and checking creation dates, businesses can identify cybersquatting shortly after it occurs and take action through their registrar or legal channels.

**Domain Expiry Monitoring**

Many Nigerian SMEs lose their domains because they fail to renew them on time. A developer can build a simple monitoring service using IP2WHOIS that:

1. Accepts a list of client domain names
2. Queries IP2WHOIS for each domain's expiry date
3. Sends WhatsApp or email alerts 30, 14, and 7 days before expiry

This is a genuine SaaS product opportunity in Nigeria where domain management awareness is low among small business owners.

**Compliance Considerations**

WHOIS data historically included registrant personal information (name, address, phone, email). However, since GDPR took effect in 2018, many registrars now privacy-protect registrant contact details for European registrants. Nigerian domain registrations under NiRA may still expose registrant details depending on the registrar's privacy policies. Developers must handle any personal data retrieved from WHOIS queries in compliance with Nigeria's NDPR (Nigeria Data Protection Regulation).

**Company Background**

IP2WHOIS is developed and operated by IP2Location, a Malaysian company founded in 2002. IP2Location is one of the most respected brands in the IP intelligence space, known for its highly accurate geolocation databases, ASN lookup tools, proxy detection databases, and now the IP2WHOIS domain lookup product. The company serves clients in financial services, cybersecurity, e-commerce, and telecommunications globally. Their infrastructure is reliable and their documentation is developer-friendly.

**Alternatives**

Comparable WHOIS APIs include WhoisXML API (more comprehensive but expensive), RDAP-based APIs (emerging standard replacing WHOIS), and registrar-specific APIs. IP2WHOIS stands out for its generous free tier (500/month), extremely broad TLD coverage (1,221 TLDs including .ng), and its integration with the trusted IP2Location brand.

**Frequently Asked Questions**

*Does IP2WHOIS support .ng Nigerian domains?* Yes, .ng and all second-level .ng domains (.com.ng, .gov.ng, .edu.ng, .org.ng) are supported.

*Can I look up private/WHOIS-protected domains?* The API will return whatever data the registry makes available. Privacy-protected registrations will return masked contact details.

*Is the domain age field always accurate?* Domain age is calculated from the creation date in the WHOIS record. For very old domains, the creation date may reflect the current registrant's first registration, not the original creation date.

*How fresh is the WHOIS data?* IP2WHOIS queries live WHOIS servers on demand, so data is generally current at the time of the request.

IP2WHOIS is an excellent, low-cost starting point for Nigerian developers who need domain intelligence in their fraud prevention, KYC, or brand protection workflows.

Question 2

How much does IP2WHOIS cost?

Accepted Answer

IP2WHOIS is free to start, with paid tiers for higher usage (freemium). Free: 500 WHOIS lookups/month. Paid plans available for higher volumes. No credit card required for free tier.

Question 3

How do I authenticate with the IP2WHOIS API?

Accepted Answer

API Key (query parameter)

Question 4

Is there a rate limit on IP2WHOIS?

Accepted Answer

Free: 500 lookups/month. Paid plans for higher quotas.

Question 5

Does IP2WHOIS offer a sandbox or test mode?

Accepted Answer

Yes — IP2WHOIS provides a sandbox or test environment so you can integrate and test before going live.

Question 6

What is IP2WHOIS best suited for?

Accepted Answer

Developers building domain intelligence tools, fraud detection systems, or brand monitoring platforms who need WHOIS registration data (creation date, expiry, registrant info, nameservers) for any of 1,221+ TLDs including .ng domains.

Question 7

Is there anything else I should know before integrating IP2WHOIS?

Accepted Answer

IP2WHOIS is a WHOIS domain lookup API — not an IP geolocation API. Operated by IP2Location. Supports 1,221 TLDs and 634 ccTLDs including Nigerian .ng domains. Free tier provides 500 lookups/month.

Question 8

Where can I find IP2WHOIS's documentation?

Accepted Answer

The official API documentation is at https://www.ip2whois.com/developers-api. The provider's website is https://www.ip2whois.com.

Question 9

Does IP2WHOIS support Nigerian developers?

Accepted Answer

Yes — IP2WHOIS explicitly supports Nigerian developers/use cases.

IP2WHOIS

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