Whether you want to do an employee background check or track down someone’s data such as phone number, address, etc., finding people online has become easy.
If you have the right tool, you can easily find information about a person for your personal or professional use. Maybe you lost contact with your old friend and want to reconnect with them or find a relative. There are lookup tools available that will help you get relevant information.
Businesses and landlords can use these tools to do background checks on a person to check if the person is who they claim to be, do they have any criminal records, and more similar information.
Best People Search Engines to Look People Up in 2024
Here, I’ve listed some of the best people search engines that you can use today. Moreover, as a bonus, I’ll also discuss how they work, their benefits, and how they differ from social media at the end of the list.
So, let’s get started!
Social Catfish is a tool to discover someone’s identity online. The software helps you find out if the person behind the internet is who they claim to be and assists you in searching for names, addresses, emails, etc.
Social Catfish offers the following features:
- Name Lookup: The platform is used by most for Tinder lookup. People use it by entering a person’s name and country of origin. It then shows relevant information through public databases, social networks, government data, etc.
- Reverse Image Lookup: This tool acts as a reverse image search tool as well. You have to upload the image first. The tool then starts searching the image and going through the database to find a perfect match.
- Phone Lookup: This feature gives the most relevant result, as only one person with the phone number can be.
- Address Lookup: This feature allows finding property information like property deeds, valuable financial insights, etc.
- Email Lookup: Using this feature, you can avoid scams by confirming the authenticity of buyers and sellers.
- Username Lookup: This feature is mainly used by organizations to authenticate customers before making any deal or sales with them
- Opt-out: This feature allows you to remove your information and stop potential stalkers from accessing their data.
Social Catfish is a very easy-to-use platform; all you need to do is enter the information and get relevant results. You can learn more about this tool from our guide on Social Catfish.
Spokeo
Spokeo first started as a social network aggregator, was founded in 2006 and currently has over 20 million monthly users.
Spokeo offers the following features:
- Spokeo People Finder: It allows you to enter your name and get detailed results. You can add additional information, like phone number, age, marital status, etc., to narrow the search.
- Spokeo Reverse Phone Lookup: If you have a phone number and want to find out whose it is, you can enter the number on the app, giving you their name, address, and other available data.
- Spokeo Reverse Email Lookup: By entering the email, the tool will give you a person’s social media profiles, public images, blog entries, videos, etc.
- Spokeo Court Records and Criminal Records: This feature allows you to find information about a person if you know their court or criminal records.
- Spokeo Sex Offenders and Records: This feature checks for a person if they are convicted of a sex crime.
- Spokeo Marriage and Divorce Records: If you always forget the anniversaries of your friends or family, this feature is perfect for you.
- Spokeo Family History Lookup: It allows you to find your relative with whom you have lost contact.
- Spokeo Work and Health Data: This feature gives search results like lifestyle preferences, current and previous employment, investments, and property ownership.
- Spokeo Enhanced Report: This feature gives a detailed report on behalf of fees like professional licenses, UCC filings, corporate affiliations, bankruptcy filings, etc.
- Spokeo Opt-Out Feature: If you don’t want your public data, like marriage, divorce, etc., to appear on the app, you can request information removal.
Spokeo is only available for Android users for now.
TruthFinder
TruthFinder performs a background check on a person through hundreds of millions of records like social media networks, public records, etc.
TruthFinder offers the following features:
- TruthFinder has directories for background checks, criminal records, family trees, public records, etc.
- The app offers a dark web scan to do research on yourself and find if your personal data has been compromised.
- It provides transparent information regarding the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
The platform offers good customer support service available on weekdays from 7 am to 7 pm.
Whitepages
Whitepages is one of the popular online people finder websites to look up an old friend or to investigate someone’s background.
Whitepages offers the following features:
- Whitepages has various features for tasks like finding a person, investigating a Tennant, looking up an email or address, and checking/finding a business.
- The platform has two plans: Its premium plan offers features best for individuals or small business owners, while Whitepages tenant check is for landlords.
- Whitepages premium helps businesses verify a person’s authenticity, background check, criminal records, etc.
- Whitepages Tenant Check helps landlords get FCRA-compliant background information.
The platform provides good customer support through FAQs, premium-focused help, and assistance.
Intelius
Intelius provides various public records and background check information of US citizens.
Intelius offers the following features:
- The app allows you to do a background check on yourself. By entering your name, you can see what information is available to others.
- You can also search potential dates to find out what public records are available on that date.
- It allows you to do a background check on a person to see if they are who they claim to be or not.
- With the app, you can find criminal or traffic records of someone if available.
- The map search feature of the platform allows you to research the neighborhood or place you are moving to. You can search your address and find crime statistics in your area, popular establishments, etc.
It is more than just a background check, too, by providing you with various features and search results.
411
411 is a popular tool providing online directory assistance and other information source services.
411 offers the following features:
- The tool’s directory includes phone numbers, persons, addresses, and other details.
- It offers a survey platform to find out popular restaurants, shops, or other places in an area.
- The data aggregator of the platform pulls data from many telecommunications operators.
It allows you to find information on yourself or others using People Search, Reverse Phone, Reverse address, and Business search.
PeopleFinder
PeopleFinder, founded in Sacramento, California, in 1998, is a data-as-a-service provider. The platform can do various background checks with just a name, phone number, or address.
PeopleFinder offers the following features:
- It offers a reverse phone lookup feature to check who calls you from an unidentified number.
- It has an Opt-Out feature to remove the information from the website so that no one can get valuable information about you.
- The information provided by PeopleFinder is about 95% accurate.
- By entering the name and city of residence, you can find out the criminal records of a person.
This platform helps you access information from around 43 million public documents.
InfoTracer
InfoTracer is popularly used for its criminal background check service. At a very affordable price, it provides various public information access.
InfoTracer offers the following features:
- Unique Search Choice: With the platform’s search tools, you can get public data such as name, phone number, address, etc.
- Facial Recognition search: This unique feature allows search based on a person’s photo.
- Targeted Lookup: If you want specific information about a person, such as their criminal record, you can search by court judgment, asset, warrant, etc.
- Dark Web Scanning: This feature digs deep to find hidden images, videos, arrest records, and compromised documents of a person on the dark web.
You can get help from their customer service 24/7 through call, chat, or email.
Instant Username
Instant Username is an open-source web application to determine if the username is available on social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Reddit, etc.
Instant Username offers the following features:
- It allows you to generate the most suitable and relevant username.
- The platform performs username searches on over 100 platforms.
- It assists you in registering your username on every social media.
Instant Username is a free and very easy-to-use platform.
US Search
Lost touch with an old friend? Misplaced that napkin with the phone number written on it? Well, why worry when a tool like US Search exists? It’s a great way of finding people. Covered by CNN, Entrepreneur, CNBC, and CBS, this award-winning platform is your one-stop solution to get data at your fingertips.
When the organization started its operations in 1993, it made sure to locate data as accurately as possible to serve its customers. With over 25 years of glorious experience, US Search has emerged as a trusted background check service that can help you build your contacts and find phone numbers, addresses, and other information needed to contact someone.
The website aggregates public records, social media profiles, and other data to create detailed reports on your searches.
| ✅ Pros | ❌ Cons |
|---|---|
| The navigation process is easy, with intuitive search options, making it user-friendly. | The service is available only in the United States. |
| Offers detailed reports, including sensitive data like criminal records, address history, etc. | In the free version, the tool provides you with basic information. |
| Allows you to stop unwanted calls on your mobile phone. | In rare cases, the data presented might be inaccurate or outdated, which could lead to misunderstandings. |
BeenVerified
BeenVerified is an easy-to-use online background check platform that allows you to access a wide range of public records and look for information.
It allows you to run multiple searches to help you verify individuals’ identities, criminal records, vehicle lookups, unclaimed money, addresses, emails, phones, and public directories. Over the past ten years, they have collected over a billion entries, expanding their search arena.
Since public data is prone to threats, BeenVerified has outlined guidelines of dos and don’ts with the data at their disposal. Many users have verified that most of the data received in the search report is legit and does the job.
| ✅ Pros | ❌ Cons |
|---|---|
| It provides an option to search by username on social media. | The subscription-based model can be a drawback for users looking for a one-time background check. |
| 24×7 customer service staff to assist with your queries. | You cannot run background checks on employees under FCRA. |
| Gives a holistic view of an individual’s background. |
You can start with $36.89/month. If you need to access the service longer, you can get their 3-month plan, priced at $23.98/month.
Instant Checkmate
Instant Checkmate should be your pick if you’re looking for a super quick background checker. The platform empowers you with information that can be helpful for you to make decisions in your personal and professional life.
You can seek criminal records, traffic records, arrest records, related court documents, addresses, age, social media, phone numbers, and more.
Moreover, you can verify the information you’ve been given to testify the data. It’s easy, low cost, and a trusted service many use.
| ✅ Pros | ❌ Cons |
|---|---|
| A very fast mobile application available. | As the reports are very detailed, it takes time to generate them. |
| Allows you to search for registered sex offenders. | Customer support is available only during working hours and has low ratings. |
| A very fast mobile application is available. | Unclear pricing for individual reports. |
It has separate pricing for Person Reports and Phone Lookups. Instant Checkmate runs a few discounts occasionally, so keep an eye on that.
People Search – 1 month ($35.47/month), 3 months (28.38/month).
Phone Reports (for reverse phone lookup) – 1 month ($5.99/month).
Pipl
Pipl has emerged as a strong option in the data search business in the US. Its comprehensive search engine aims to provide in-depth information about individuals.
With a vast database and advanced search algorithms, the platform aggregates data from various sources to deliver an extensive profile of the queried person.
Many companies also use this data for segmentation and have benefitted from the information received. The interface is user-friendly, and it aids in preventing any fraudulent transactions. Its advanced machine-learning algorithms are smart enough to verify and produce results within minutes.
| ✅ Pros | ❌ Cons |
|---|---|
| It produces data-rich results, leaving no scope for blind spots. | You might get blocked temporarily if you perform too many searches using one IP. |
| It can help you find intricate details like the person’s middle name. | It gives multiple numbers of a single person, leaving to find out for the searcher to verify the correct number. |
| Customizable fraud detection parameters. |
The pricing is available upon request, and the details are not disclosed on the website, creating a personalized approach. You can contact the team to discuss your requirements and finalize a price.
Now that you know about the best people lookup tools, let’s learn a bit more about them before you start using any of the tools listed here.
What are Person Lookup Tools, and What Do They Do?
People look up tools and search engines to get all the person-related information in one place. These apps are affordable and provide fast results when you need information urgently. Most apps are free to use, at least for basic searches. You might have to pay some fee or buy their paid subscriptions for additional detailed information.
Person lookup tool provides the following types of information:
- Location and Contact details: Name, Phone Number, Location, Address, etc.
- Personal Details: Social Media Accounts, Relatives, Associates, Marriage Status, etc.
- Public Records: Criminal and Court Records, Birth and Death Certificates.
- Work and Wealth Records: Income, Interest, Previous and current Jobs, etc.
Benefits of Person Lookup Tools
Here are a few benefits of using a person lookup tool:
- These tools will help you find and contact your long-lost relative and friend. You can find out where they are, what they are doing, and even their contact information.
- These apps can also help you protect your identity by searching yourself and finding if your data available for everyone to see is correct or not.
- You can quickly identify unknown persons calling you or a business before buying to check who they are.
- The apps allow businesses to run background checks on potential candidates before hiring them to find out about their criminal records, finances, businesses, etc.
- Landlords use these apps to rent their property to a suitable person.
Also Read: Trusted Online Identity Threat Protection Solutions for You and Family
Person Lookup Tools vs. Social Media
You can find information about a person on social media, but it doesn’t give detailed information that person lookup tools provide. Social media accounts can also be fake, and nowadays, most people keep their accounts private and thus restricting access to their information.