Twitter / X Username Availability Checker

X handles are 4 to 15 characters in the public signup flow, although a small set of legacy 1 to 3 character handles still exist on accounts created before the rule tightened. The only allowed characters are letters (A to Z), numbers (0 to 9), and underscores. Spaces, hyphens, periods, and emoji are all rejected.

Handles are case-insensitive. JohnSmith and johnsmith resolve to the same account. You can pick any capitalisation for display and X will preserve it on your profile, but the underlying handle is lower-case.

You can change your handle after signup as often as you want. When you do, the old handle is released immediately. Anyone can register it the moment you switch. Handles acquired through X's Handle Marketplace, a paid Premium feature, are the exception. X reclaims those instead of releasing them to the public.

For X's official rules, see X's username rules.

Shorter is almost always better. A 6 or 7 character handle is faster to type, fits inside reply chains, and is easier to remember than a 14 character one. If your real name is short, use it. If it isn't, use the project or company you're best known for.

Avoid numbers when you can. A handle with random digits at the end reads as an alt account or a bot, even when it isn't. The exception is a number that's part of your identity already (a brand year, a sport jersey, a memorable single digit). Don't pad with 123 just to get the handle to validate.

Skip leading underscores. They sort oddly in some lists and look strange in @-mention chains. Trailing underscores read better, but only if there's no clean alternative.

Read it aloud. Your handle becomes how people refer to you in podcast intros, conference name badges, and DM intros: “you can find them at...” If a host has to spell it letter by letter, it's the wrong handle. The same applies to Reddit, which is why we test both.

Finally, check the handle on every platform you intend to grow on, not just X. The whole point of this tool is that a handle that's free on X but already taken on Reddit forces you to fork your identity later. Pick one that holds in both places from day one.