Live domain data vs. cached feeds
Cached WHOIS, registry-status, and reputation feeds answer a different question than the one you're asking. They return a snapshot from their last crawl — what was true when they last looked — not what the domain is doing now. A real-time domain data API checks the domain itself, and never hands you a verdict more than 15 minutes old. On a stable domain the two agree. On a changed domain — the one that costs you money — the cache is confidently wrong.
| Cached WHOIS / registry feed | Domain Research API | |
|---|---|---|
| Freshness | A snapshot, hours to weeks old | Never more than 15 minutes old, and you can check: every response carries checked_at |
| What it reflects | Registration records, often stale | The domain's current operating state |
| Catches a site that just flipped | No — not until the next crawl | Yes, within 15 minutes |
| Output | Raw records / a score to interpret | One status field |
| Billed on non-answers | Often yes | Never — you pay per delivered status |
When the difference matters
A merchant store that quietly flips to a parking page still reads as active in a cached feed until the next re-crawl. For fraud, chargebacks, and stale enrichment records, that lag is exactly the window that costs money. A live check reads it parked within 15 minutes of the flip, not next week. If your domain data never changes between crawls, cached is fine — the freshness is invisible. It's the changed domain where live is right and cached is wrong.
It's a signal, not a replacement
Domain Research API doesn't replace WHOIS or a registry lookup — it answers a question those can't: what is this domain doing now. Use it alongside your existing data as a live web-presence signal. What is domain research? →