Enter your startup name — get instant trademark conflict checks, domain availability across 6 TLDs, and social handle availability on all major platforms.
Handle availability is estimated via DNS/redirect signals. Always verify manually before registering — platforms don't provide a public API.
Your startup name is the foundation of every marketing dollar you'll ever spend. A strong name is short, memorable, and pronounceable — it reduces the cost of customer acquisition because people remember you without effort. Research from Harvard Business School found that phonetic symbols (like X, Z, and soft vowels) associated with honesty are 23% more likely to make it to the IPO stage. Names like Stripe, Slack, and Linear succeeded not despite being short, but because they were. Conversely, a name that's hard to spell, already trademarked, or lacks a .com domain will cost you in confused email forwards, missed searches, and potential legal disputes. Before you print business cards or register a company, run the name through this checker to assess trademark risk, domain availability, and handle consistency in one pass.
Trademarks protect brand names, logos, and slogans from unauthorized use by competitors. In the EU, you file with EUIPO (850 EUR for one class) for pan-European coverage, or with your national office (e.g., DPMA in Germany at 30 EUR online) for country-specific protection. In the US, the USPTO charges 250–350 USD per class. Trademarks are organized into 45 Nice classes — most startups need Class 9 (software), Class 35 (marketing/e-commerce), and Class 42 (SaaS/IT services). Before filing, always conduct a clearance search: both exact matches and phonetically similar marks in your class. A common founder mistake is checking only the exact name — 'Strype' would conflict with 'Stripe' in Class 42 due to likelihood of confusion. This tool provides a preliminary check, but a formal trademark application should be reviewed by an IP attorney.
The .com TLD remains the gold standard — it's the first most users will try to type. If yourname.com is taken, the next best options are .io (tech startup standard, 30–50 EUR/year) and .co (acceptable .com alternative). The .ai TLD is popular for AI companies but comes with drawbacks: higher registration fees (80–120 EUR/year), geopolitical risk (Cayman Islands jurisdiction), and potential regulatory uncertainty. For EU-focused startups, .de and .eu are strong secondary choices — .de even converts better than .com in the DACH region. Strategy: secure .com first, .io as a defensive registration, and your country TLD (.de/.uk/.fr) if you're market-specific. Redirect all secondary TLDs to your primary domain to consolidate SEO authority.
Choosing a startup name is one of the few early decisions that is genuinely difficult to reverse without cost. A name change after launch means updated branding, new domain registrations, confusion among existing users, and in the worst case, active legal dispute with a trademark holder. Founders who treat naming as a creative exercise and skip the legal groundwork often discover the problem at the worst possible moment — during a funding round when investors conduct their own IP due diligence, or when a cease-and-desist letter arrives from a company with prior trademark rights.
The three pillars of a safe startup name are: trademark clearance (no conflicting registrations in your relevant classes and jurisdictions), domain availability (at minimum a clean .com or market-appropriate ccTLD), and social handle availability (consistent presence across the platforms relevant to your go-to-market). Checking all three simultaneously — as this tool does — surfaces conflicts before you invest time and money building a brand identity.
Trademarks are registered by class (the Nice Classification system covers 45 classes) and by jurisdiction. A company called "Apex" registered in Class 25 (clothing) does not automatically block a software company from registering "Apex" in Class 42 (computer services) — though a sufficiently famous mark can create challenges across classes. Jurisdiction matters equally: a US trademark registration does not grant rights in the EU, and vice versa. For a European startup planning international expansion, the practical minimum is to check USPTO (United States Patent and Trademark Office) and EUIPO (European Union Intellectual Property Office) in the relevant classes.
The risk level of a trademark conflict depends on three factors: how similar the marks are (identical is clearly problematic; phonetically similar in the same class is a grey area), how similar the goods and services are, and how well-known the prior mark is. Well-known marks — think major technology brands — receive broader protection that can extend across unrelated classes. When in doubt, consult a trademark attorney before filing or committing to a brand.
A founder wants to launch a project management tool called "Taskflow." Running the checker surfaces: taskflow.com is registered and parked; taskflow.io is available; @taskflow is taken on X and Instagram. USPTO search shows two registrations in Class 42 with similar names, neither active. EUIPO shows one registration, active, in Class 35 (advertising services) — adjacent but arguably different from Class 42 software.
The practical path forward: secure taskflow.io immediately; consult a trademark attorney on the EUIPO registration proximity before filing; consider a slight differentiation — "TaskflowHQ" or "Taskflow.app" — that creates cleaner separation from existing registrations while preserving the brand direction. The domain compromise is minor; the trademark risk management is significant.
You are not legally required to register, but registration provides significant advantages. Common law trademark rights exist in some jurisdictions based on use, but they are difficult to enforce and geographically limited. A registered trademark gives you the legal standing to send cease-and-desist letters, file infringement claims, and block confusingly similar applications. For any startup planning to raise funding or expand internationally, trademark registration in core markets should be budgeted as an early-stage legal expense — typically €1,500–€4,000 for EU and US filings through a qualified attorney.
Yes, particularly in B2B SaaS. The .io extension has become widely accepted in the developer and startup ecosystem, and many successful companies use it as their primary domain. The trade-off is that .com still carries higher credibility with non-technical audiences — enterprise buyers, traditional industry verticals, and consumer markets. If .com is unavailable, .io is a defensible choice for a technical product; for a consumer brand, explore brand name variants that free up the .com before settling on an alternative TLD.
Parked domains are often for sale at premium prices through domain brokers. Before paying €5,000+ for a parked domain, evaluate whether a brand variant with the .com available is a better use of capital at your stage. If the exact name is strategically critical and the domain price is reasonable (under €2,000), acquiring it early is usually worthwhile — domain prices tend to rise as your brand gains visibility. Use services like Sedo or Afternic for broker-mediated acquisition negotiations.
Consistent handles across platforms reduce brand confusion and improve searchability. Inconsistency — @company on LinkedIn, @company_hq on X, @companyapp on Instagram — fragments your presence and makes it harder for customers to find and tag you. Reserve handles on all major platforms before you announce your company name publicly, even for platforms you don't plan to use immediately. Handle registration is free; recovering a squatted handle after launch can be expensive and time-consuming.