.com availability
Free tools: Usually
Usually the core feature, often with premium-price detection.
NameVerdict
Live registry (RDAP) lookups for .com, .io, .app, .dev, and .ai.
Free name check vs. preliminary screen
Got a shortlist from a free name generator? Check what it didn't.
Free name generators and checkers are great at the first pass: they confirm the .com, run a trademark search, and look up social handles. The problems that force a rename after launch usually show up somewhere else.
What free checks usually cover, and what they skip
Coverage varies by tool; this is the typical pattern across free name generators and availability checkers.
USPTO trademark search
Free tools: Often
Exact or fuzzy name matches against federal records.
NameVerdict
Structured search of live USPTO records with serial numbers, status, goods/services, TSDR links, and class-overlap annotation for your product.
Social handles
Free tools: Often
Availability across several platforms.
NameVerdict
Instagram, GitHub, and TikTok handle availability.
Unregistered (common-law) use
Free tools: Rarely
Businesses and apps using a name without a federal registration are invisible to a USPTO search.
NameVerdict
GitHub, Apple's app catalog, and Reddit, plus best-effort Product Hunt and Crunchbase web searches.
Who already owns the search results
Free tools: Rarely
A name can be legally open and still be unwinnable in search.
NameVerdict
The visible web-search landscape for the name today.
Collisions in your category
Free tools: Rarely
Matches are listed without asking what your product is.
NameVerdict
Names that already mean something specific in your market, scoped to your product description and Nice class.
A verdict you can audit and share
Free tools: Rarely
Typically a score or a list of matches.
NameVerdict
GREEN / YELLOW / RED per name with the evidence and limitations inline, a private report URL, and a PDF export.
Why the skipped signals matter
A federal search only sees registered marks. Plenty of businesses build rights simply by using a name, and they never show up in a USPTO lookup. A name can also be legally open and still be a poor choice if an established product already owns the search results, or if the name already means something specific in your category.
Context matters too. Two products can share a name when they sell unrelated things, so a list of exact matches without your product and class in view either alarms you about irrelevant marks or misses a related one. NameVerdict scopes its research to the product you describe and the Nice class you pick (or infers one), then weighs all six signals into one verdict per name.
A simple workflow
- Generate ideas with any free name generator.
- Drop the names whose .com or core handles are taken.
- Screen your top one to five finalists with NameVerdict: $39 for one name or $99 for up to five.
- Take the survivors and the PDF to a trademark attorney before you file or launch.
Screen your shortlist
Paste up to five finalists and a one-sentence product description. Reports typically come back in about a minute per name.
Questions
I already ran my names through a free generator with a trademark check. Why pay for a screen?
A free check answers "is the .com open and is there an obvious federal registration?" The conflicts that force a rename later are often elsewhere: an unregistered business or app already using the name in your category, a competitor that owns the search results, or a federal mark in a related class that a plain name match does not flag as relevant. NameVerdict checks those signals together for the specific product you describe and explains the verdict with evidence.
Should I use a free name generator first?
Yes, if you do not have candidates yet. Free generators are good at producing and pre-filtering ideas. NameVerdict does not generate names; it screens the shortlist you bring. A practical workflow is: generate freely, drop names with taken .coms, then screen your top one to five finalists with NameVerdict before you buy the domain, print anything, or pay an attorney.
Is NameVerdict a trademark clearance or legal opinion?
No. NameVerdict is preliminary name-risk screening, and so are free checkers. Neither replaces a trademark attorney's knock-out search and opinion. The point of a preliminary screen is to eliminate obvious problems cheaply so you only pay for legal work on names that survive.