X · Twitter
X (Twitter) username checker
Check an X handle, with the honest caveat about what X will tell us.
Checked alongside your domain and every other platform.
The rules
- 15 characters maximum — the tightest limit of any major platform.
- Letters, numbers and underscores. No full stops, no hyphens.
- The words twitter and admin are restricted.
How we check it
We request the public profile page. A genuine 404 is a real answer; anything else, we don't read into.
X renders profiles in the browser and serves everyone else the same shell, so most lookups honestly resolve to Unknown. The endpoint that used to answer this properly now needs a logged-in session, and using it would mean impersonating one. We don't do that.
Let X set your name length
Fifteen characters is the ceiling everywhere else has to fit under too. If your name works on X, it works on all of them.
Dormant isn't free
An abandoned account still holds its handle. There is no queue and no way to be next in line.
Common questions
Does X release handles from inactive accounts?
X has said several times that it intends to, and has run occasional purges, but nothing about it is predictable enough to plan a brand around. If the handle is held today, budget for it being held next year too.
Why is fifteen characters such a problem?
Because it is the tightest cap of any platform we check, so it decides your name for you. If a name fits X it fits everywhere; if it does not, you are choosing between an abbreviation on X and a mismatch across the set.
Do underscores help?
They get you a free handle and cost you every time someone says the name out loud or types it from memory. They also count towards the fifteen. A shorter name without one almost always beats a longer name with one.