Tips on How to Perform a (Nearly) Free People Search
If you’ve ever tried to track down an old friend with whom you’ve lost touch on the internet, you know how tough (and pricy) it can be. There are hundreds of sites out there promising to help you find an old friend, classmate, lover, relative, etc. for free. But once you try to use the site to locate someone, a screen appears, reminding you that nothing in life is ever truly “free”. The charges for background checks and database searching memberships can be very high, especially if all you really want is an email address or phone number. We sleuthed out a few places on the web to perform totally free (and as close to free as possible) people searches. Happy hunting!
1. Search Engine Search – According to Wikihow the best (and cheapest) place to start is to go to any search engine and type "their name here" with quotation marks, as it tends to narrow specific results.
2. Anywho – This is a totally free white pages service that also serves as a hub, linking out to similar international services. The only drawback is that it may take some time to track down your old mate if you don’t know his/her location, since it’s compulsory to search by both name and place.
3. Switchboard – This is another totally free digital directory; and it doesn’t require you to search by State. Instead, it searches automatically nation-wide.
If however, the person you are looking for is not listed publicly, or if their name has changed, you may have to shell out for a more comprehensive search. Here are our top three pay sites:
1. Bigfoot – The cool thing about this site is that you don’t need to know the State; a one-time search costs US$7.95; a 24-hour pass $19.95.
2. Peoplefinders – We got tipped off on this one from Lifehack.org, which recommends it because it is both cheap and accurate. A one-time look up is $9.95; a 24-hour membership $19.95.
3. Voompeople – This is another good site, worth checking out. Their one-time look-up rate is $11.50; a 24-hour membership $14.95.
Comments
You don't own Str82u.net, I DO. Please reword this reference as it is misleading.
Thank You,
Andrew Clark
Str82u Networks
I always try everything I can find that is free because if you pay $9.95 you don't know if it is good info till after you've been suckered.
Good article, but only touches on how tofind peopele free using search boxes, not really HOW to do a free people search. Str82u.net, and the other sites we own, have been collecting information sources for years now and have quite a collection. And the problem is? Most people don't take the time to do it themselves, digging around court records or other information sources that put thier records online for ANYONE to see. Not everyone can do it or be successful, but how many folks out there really try before giving up to the $9.95 monster? Our Analytics can tell you it's not many.
Here is a good list of free people search tips as well squidoo.com/people_search
DA Plus - daplus.us - is also a great free people finder site. It contains millions of listings taken from consumer and public record sites that you can't find on other free people searches.
Zabasearch.com is very good. It has even been criticized for being so intrusive.
zoominfo.com is good and free for people/company searches.
Also for company executives D&B and Hoovers both provide reliable information