creator · Checked at the edge
Is this Substack username free?
Check any Substack username against the platform itself, asked from the beat.rip edge. Beat.rip says taken, likely free or exactly why it cannot tell.
Opens Beat.rip with this platform selected; add more there.
- characters
- 1–30
- how it is checked
- Edge
- best free answer
- Likely free
Substack username rules
- Length
- 1 to 30 characters
- Characters
- Letters, digits and hyphens. Capitals are allowed, and Beat.rip lowercases every name before asking, so it checks the lowercase form.
Beat.rip checks these rules on your device before any request. A username that breaks them is marked invalid, never available, and no request is sent for it.
How Beat.rip checks Substack
The beat.rip edge asks substack.com directly, and nobody in between. Profile API /api/v1/user/{name}/public_profile: 200 with the handle, 404 "profile not found". The publication subdomain (a second namespace) is the fallback.
Requests are paced to at most 2 requests at a time, 200 ms apart, identify themselves as beat.rip, and each answer is cached for seconds to minutes, so a busy minute never hammers the platform.
Every result row links to https://substack.com/@name, with your name in place of “name”, so you can confirm by hand.
What each answer means on Substack
- Taken
The platform’s own endpoint returned an account for the username.
- Likely free
No account at Substack’s own endpoint. Likely free, but a name can still be reserved, suspended or held.
- Unknown
The platform refused, rate-limited or answered something unrecognised. The row says which and links to the profile.
- Invalid
The username breaks one of the rules above, so nothing was asked.
Questions about Substack usernames
How long can a username be on Substack?
Between 1 and 30 characters.
Which characters can a username use on Substack?
Only letters, digits and hyphens. Capitals are allowed, and Beat.rip lowercases every name before asking, so it checks the lowercase form.
Can Beat.rip tell whether a username is free on Substack?
It can say “likely free” when Substack’s own endpoint has no such account. A name can still be reserved, suspended or held, so Beat.rip never calls it available.
Does checking a username on Substack reserve it?
No. Beat.rip cannot sign up on your behalf; claim the username on Substack itself. Availability changes by the minute.