Check a username across Instagram, TikTok, X and Facebook

This username checker looks up one or more handles on Instagram, TikTok, X and Facebook in one run. It prints a grid of public profile results with display names, follower counts and profile links. It is a Python CLI with no extra packages. This page shows a stored sample; there is no hosted demo.

The problem

Before you launch a brand, a product or a campaign, you want to know where a handle is already in use. Checking four networks by hand for several candidates is slow, and the results are hard to compare. You also need to know which answers are certain and which ones the network would not confirm.

What the app does

• Accepts plain handles, handles with @ and supported profile URLs.
• Checks each handle on Instagram, TikTok, X and Facebook, or on the networks you choose.
• Labels each result as found, no public profile found, could not check or invalid.
• Shows the display name, follower count when present and a profile link for each found profile.
• Writes a results CSV, a Markdown grid and a raw JSON log with credentials redacted.

No public profile found does not mean the handle is free. It can be reserved, banned, private, suspended or deactivated. Check on the network's own signup page.

How it works

1. Normalize the input. Handles are trimmed and leading @ characters removed. A profile URL is reduced to its handle. Handles that break a network's local format rules are marked invalid and skip the request.
2. Call each network. Instagram, TikTok and Facebook use their Desearch profile routes. X uses GET /twitter/user/posts with only the username, because there is no X profile lookup route.
3. Run in parallel. Up to 8 workers run at once. Results keep the input order of handles and networks.
4. Classify. A recognizable profile in the response is found. A 404 is no public profile found. Only HTTP 503 is retried, once after two seconds. Other errors, and responses without a recognizable profile, are could not check.
5. Report. The grid prints to stdout, and a call, cost and time summary prints to stderr.

The code

This verbatim excerpt from username_checker.py reads a handle from text or a profile URL and builds the request URL for each network:

def normalize(value):
    value = value.strip()
    parsed = urllib.parse.urlparse(value if '://' in value else '//' + value)
    hosts = {'instagram.com', 'tiktok.com', 'x.com', 'twitter.com', 'facebook.com'}
    if (parsed.hostname or '').lower().removeprefix('www.') in hosts:
        value = urllib.parse.unquote(parsed.path).strip('/').split('/')[0]
        if (parsed.hostname or '').lower().removeprefix('www.') == 'facebook.com' and value == 'profile.php':
            profile_id = urllib.parse.parse_qs(parsed.query).get('id', [''])[0]
            value = profile_id if re.fullmatch(r'[0-9]+', profile_id) else ''
    return value.lstrip('@').strip()


def profile_url(network, handle):
    h = urllib.parse.quote(str(handle), safe='')
    return {'instagram': f'https://www.instagram.com/{h}/', 'tiktok': f'https://www.tiktok.com/@{h}', 'x': f'https://x.com/{h}', 'facebook': f'https://www.facebook.com/{h}'}[network]


def endpoint(network, handle):
    h = urllib.parse.quote(handle, safe='')
    if network == 'x':
        return 'https://api.desearch.ai/twitter/user/posts?' + urllib.parse.urlencode({'username': handle})
    return f'https://api.desearch.ai/desearch/{network}/profile/{h}'

View the code

Endpoints

• GET /desearch/instagram/profile/{username}
• GET /desearch/tiktok/profile/{username}
• GET /desearch/facebook/profile/{profile_id}
• GET /twitter/user/posts

Example output

From sample-output.md in the source folder, a real run on 2026-10-29 with three public brand handles:

| Handle | instagram | tiktok | x | facebook |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| desearch_ai | no public profile found | could not check | [found](https://x.com/desearch_ai) | invalid |
| netflix | [found](https://www.instagram.com/netflix/) | [found](https://www.tiktok.com/@netflix) | [found](https://x.com/netflix) | [found](https://www.facebook.com/netflix) |
| NASA | [found](https://www.instagram.com/nasa/) | [found](https://www.tiktok.com/@nasa) | [found](https://x.com/NASA) | [found](https://www.facebook.com/NASA) |

The full sample also lists the display name, follower count and profile link for each found profile, and the reason for each other status.

Run it yourself

Get the Python examples and open the username checker folder. Use Python 3.10 or newer; no packages are needed. Create an API key in the console and set DESEARCH_API_KEY, or pass --key-file.

git clone https://github.com/Desearch-ai/desearch-py-examples
cd desearch-py-examples/username-checker

These commands are copied from the source README. The dry run prints the planned URLs and maximum calls without a key or network.

python3 username_checker.py candidate_one candidate_two
python3 username_checker.py https://www.instagram.com/candidate_one/ --networks instagram,x
python3 username_checker.py candidate_one --dry-run

Use --networks to check fewer networks, --json to print structured results and --from-raw to rebuild the outputs from a saved run with no new calls.

What it costs

On 2026-10-29, a found Instagram, TikTok or Facebook profile cost $0.00207 per call, read from the X-Desearch-Cost-Usd header. X user posts cost $0.0027 to $0.00285 per found account. Every not found answer (404) and every TikTok 503 cost $0. Three handles on four networks, 12 calls, cost $0.02097 and took about 10 seconds with parallel calls.

These are dated measurements, not current price quotes. Use --dry-run to see the planned calls, and check pricing before a larger run.

Ideas to extend it

• Check a shortlist of brand name candidates before you pick one.
• Add a column that links each network's own signup page for handles with no public profile found.
• Run the checker on a schedule to see when a handle you watch becomes active.
• Feed found profiles into a profile analytics script for follower details.