List of the Best 10 Reverse Phone Lookup Tools
6 Key Features of Reverse Phone Lookup Tools and Software
Reverse phone lookup tools come in an increasingly wide range of shapes and forms, these are the main features:
- Pricing: Single-use phone lookup tools tend to be free. They might not be a viable solution for batch checks, though.
- Integration: If you’re going to integrate a reverse phone lookup tool into your platform, make sure you do it in a way that makes sense for your business (APIs, manual queries, etc.).
- Data privacy: Most reverse phone lookup tools only gather open-source data. However, be mindful of data protection laws such as GDPR.
- Ability to scale: Can your tool grow along with your need to verify more phone numbers?
- Data freshness: Where does the phone information come from? A stale database or fresh up-to-date sources?
- Covered countries: Many free reverse phone lookup services are US-centric only. If you want to check international numbers, you’ll need to look elsewhere.
The 10 Best Reverse Phone Lookup Tools
Disclaimer: Everything in this article was gleaned from online research, including user reviews. We did not have time to manually test all the tools. However, we ensured the information was correct as of Q3 2023. Feel free to contact us to request an update/correction.
SEON
Excellent for Fraud Prevention
SEON’s reverse phone lookup module works in real-time using fresh open-source databases. You can use the modules separately or together to calculate a risk score, which should inform how you do business with your users.
The key to balancing safety and customer experience is to gather as much data as possible about a person with a minimum amount of friction. SEON’s reverse phone lookup does just that, and it’s quickly becoming a favorite of risk managers worldwide. The Phone API 1.2 also introduced the ability to detect temporary, virtual, and disposable numbers.
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Pros
- Complete suite of fraud prevention tools
- Fast and frictionless
- Supports international phone numbers
Cons
- Not free
SEON Pricing:
- Starting at $599 per month. Free version also available.
Choose SEON if:
- You want to see a complete digital footprint starting only with someone’s phone number or email address.
SEON Pros:
- Complete suite of fraud prevention tools: You also get reverse email lookup, IP analysis, velocity checks, and device fingerprinting to get a complete picture of who your users are.
- Fast and frictionless: No need to wait for the data as it comes to you in real-time. Ideal for integrating with your system via API calls.
- Supports international phone numbers: SEON can let you know about the owners of phone numbers from multiple countries.
SEON Cons:
- Not free: SEON is a B2B service that you pay a monthly subscription to access. There is a free trial though, as well as limited free functionality.
TruthFinder
Best for Dark Web Monitoring
TruthFinder is an interesting service you can use as part of your Know Your Customer (KYC) process or simply for amateur sleuths who want to learn more about a person. The company offers a reverse phone search tool, as well as a name search.
An initial search is free, and you pay $4.99 thereafter for unlimited reports (phone lookup only). An interesting feature of TruthFinder is its dark web scan, which looks at marketplaces to see if someone’s information has been traded or not.
Pros
- Affordable pricing
- Dark web monitoring
Cons
- Not real-time
- Mostly US-based
TruthFinder Pricing:
- Starts at a reasonable $4.99 per month for the phone tool only, with additional options for other needs
Choose TruthFinder if:
- Most of the people and numbers you look up are based in the United States
TruthFinder Pros:
- Affordable pricing: The subscription is broken down based on which features you use
- Dark web monitoring: TruthFinder is one of the rare risk management tools that scan the dark web for sold ID documents
TruthFinder Cons:
- Not real-time: A simple search with TruthFinder may take up to ten minutes, so it’s unusable for real-time KYC checks
- Mostly US-based: It’s hard to input phone numbers from places other than the US
Intelius
Property and Connections Lookup Tool
Similar to CheckPeople, Intelius is a manual lookup tool that takes a phone number, address, or name and returns a user profile based on them. Intelius cross-references official US criminal background records, as well as other public records including property ownership, aliases, and previous known addresses.
For a one-time fee, generated reports are also available for download in PDF format, and the company offers Intelius Identity Protect on a monthly pricing plan, which tracks your credit score and provides theft insurance.
Pros
- Phone data enrichment
- Location history details
- Provides social media account information
Cons
- Limited free functionality
- Many options are behind different paywalls
Intelius Pricing:
- Offers seven-day trials of various products for less than $1 each
- Monthly membership ranges from about $21 to $25 per month
- Additional costs for ID protection and downloadable report files
Choose Intelius if:
- You are an individual wanting to be safe in social and dating environments
- You are a small business owner wanting to vet new staff or partners
Intelius Pros:
- Phone data enrichment that yields criminal background information
- Provides information on spam-associated numbers
- Offers location history details
- Provides social media account information
- Useful for individual lookups for personal use and onboarding staff and customers
Intelius Cons:
- Limited free functionality
- Most useful options are behind different paywalls
Features:
- Free and paid reverse email, address, and name lookups
- PDF reports
- Identity security insurance
Best for:
- US-based businesses onboarding new staff members
- Real-estate businesses investigating ownership histories
Spokeo
Enterprise-Level People Intelligence
Spokeo was founded in 2006 as a social media aggregating service, eventually discovering its most valuable function was the ability to turn a single data point into a whole profile. The company offers its customers a comprehensive tool for doing background research on both people and businesses. Spokeo scans over 120 social sites for real-time user data, navigating through dating sites, blog posts, and product reviews to generate an online footprint. As one of the legacy providers on this list, Spokeo has an impressive data pool of some twelve billion records to reference when compiling user data.
The California-based company prides itself not only on delivering high-quality profiles from individual data points. This covers not only phone numbers, but also email addresses, names, and physical addresses. Spokeo has invested resources into supporting things like tech education and family reunification, as well as business functions such as staff and partner onboarding security.
Pros
- Comprehensive customer service
- Optimized ease-of-use
Cons
- No automation – only manual use
- Limited searches per month
- Not ideal for reducing manual review time
Pricing:
- Reviews suggest that Spokeo’s product is generally seen as affordable
- Pricing is not published on Spokeo’s website
- Possibility of a free trial for some products with a bespoke contract
- Contact the sales team for details
Choose Spokeo if:
- You prefer manual lookups and comprehensive customer service
- You need assistance with user confidence, fraud investigations, onboarding, or personal use cases
Spokeo Pros:
- Legacy provider with long outreach and comprehensive customer service
- Optimized ease-of-use
Spokeo Cons:
- No automation – can only be used manually
- Not suitable for cutting down on review time in a scaled company environment
- Limited searches per month
Features:
- Manual lookups based on phone number, name, location, or username
- Uncover information such as criminal background, court records, wealth history, and personal connections
Best for:
- Assisting with user confidence through manual lookups during fraud investigations
- Onboarding processes
- Personal use, such as unwanted calls or vetting personal ads
CocoFinder
International Lookups
In terms of functionality, CocoFinder is much the same as other services on this list, providing free reverse phone lookups, name searches, and background check lookups. Advantageously, CocoFinder provides an international lookup scope, rather than just functioning on American profiles.
The profile generated from a reverse phone lookup can include addresses and digital contact info, acquaintances, social media profiles, and other associated phone numbers. These searches scan publicly accessible information to aggregate personal profiles.
Pros
- International white pages-style lookups
- Offers popular name data
- Free service
Cons
- Less comprehensive than other tools
- Lookups slow to generate
CocoFinder Pricing:
- Free service
- Suggests paid services when profiles are unsatisfactory
Choose CocoFinder if:
- You are an individual who needs to do reverse phone lookups on both US and international phone numbers
CocoFinder Pros:
- International white pages-style lookups
- Offers popular name data
- Free service
CocoFinder Cons:
- Not as comprehensive as other services
- Incomplete profiles may redirect to other services
- Profiles can be slow to generate
Features:
- Background check-focused lookups for the United States
- Other name aggregation services like popular baby names
- International OSINT-powered lookups
Best for:
- Generating background checks for personal use
- Scrutinizing unknown contacts
- Other name research
CheckPeople
Comprehensive US Background Checks
CheckPeople is a Floridian data enrichment service that specializes in US-based background checks for personal and business use. A data point like a phone number can deliver contact information, social media presence, property ownership, and criminal or court history.
The service advertises itself as being an excellent option for individuals who need more information about another person. This includes use cases like background checks for employment or partnership, creating safer dating environments, and combatting harassment. When doing manual investigations for fraud-fighting or personal reasons, CheckPeople can provide a comprehensive view of all information made available through the Freedom of Information Act, from property ownership to bankruptcy to court appearances. Criminal and legal data is available for a fee.
Pros
- Detailed information on US entities
Cons
- US-only service
- Very limited free functionality
CheckPeople Pricing:
- The first search is free, with pertinent legal info thereafter kept behind a paywall on a monthly pricing plan
- Depending on the subscription model, sources list the price as $27.65 per month for unlimited profiles
Choose CheckPeople if:
- You are an individual or small to medium business in need of comprehensive background checks on US personages, particularly for onboarding staff and vetting personal contacts
CheckPeople Pros:
- Detailed information on US entities
CheckPeople Cons:
- US-only service
- Free functionality doesn’t include valuable legal and governmental data, which is paid for on a monthly contract
Features:
- Comprehensive generation of legal information, as well as social media data, property ownership, and other public-facing data
Best for:
- Small companies vetting new employees, individuals looking to secure their life and work environments
BeenVerified
Dynamic US People Intelligence
Founded in New York City in 2007, BeenVerified has been working to build a streamlined, easy-to-use platform to connect everyday people to OSINT-powered lookups for security and safety. Entering a phone number turns out a detailed profile of the US-based person, including the expected people intelligence data, as well as – uniquely on this list – vehicle registration information and instances of unclaimed money associated with an identity.
Pros
- Offers mobile apps
- Provides aliases and social media profiles
Cons
- Limited free lookups
- Opaque pricing
BeenVerified Pricing:
- Offers a one-week trial for $1
- Quarterly and monthly billing options available
- Website urges customers to contact BeenVerified’s sales team for individual pricing
Choose BeenVerified if:
- You need a streamlined and accessible way to research identities for personal or business use
BeenVerified Pros:
- Phone lookups can yield the typical personal info like names and addresses
- Provides aliases, social media profiles, associated phone numbers, and known relatives
- Offers mobile apps for multiple devices
BeenVerified Cons:
- Limited free lookups
- Opaque pricing
Features:
- Free and paid reverse email, address, and name lookups
- PDF reports
- Identity security insurance
- Diverse range of mobile options
Best for:
- Individuals, including small business owners, who want to know more about the people they interact with online
- BeenVerified is one of the more structured companies on this list, offering a customer-centric platform that streamlines the investigation process
Spy Dialer
Great for Quick US Searches
Spy Dialer is a quick, easy-to-use reverse phone lookup service. It’s also completely free. You can search by name, address, or email.
Using Spy Dialer isn’t foolproof, though. You’ll find that non-US phone numbers won’t register in the system and that the results are mixed and not always reliable. However, if all you need is a quick free search to see who called you, it could do the trick.
Pros
- Easy to use
- Extra searches
Cons
- Not scalable
- US-only
Spy Dialer Pricing:
- Spy Dialer is free of charge
Choose Spy Dialer if:
- You want a barebones tool to look up US-based phone numbers
Spy Dialer Pros:
- Easy to use: Just enter the phone number and press search
- Extra searches: Spy Dialer can also separately look into addresses and names
Spy Dialer Cons:
- Not scalable: You can only check one number at a time, and even then it might take up to five minutes
- US-only: We didn’t have much luck getting information on phone numbers from other countries
TruLookup
TransUnion’s OSINT Solution
TransUnion is a well-known player in the risk management world. The company acquired Iovation in 2018, an iGaming fraud prevention specialist, and has since deployed a number of solutions for businesses, including marketing and outreach.
One of its latest products is TruLookup, which, as the name suggests, lets you enrich data to conduct quick manual investigations. It’s powered by the TLOxp platform, another acquisition from TransUnion.
TruLookup also lets you check for social media accounts, but it focuses mainly on public data sources including addresses, names, and phone numbers. The company also checks its own proprietary databases, which it claims include 10,000 data sources.
Pros
- Draws from public and proprietary databases
Cons
- Opaque pricing
- Better suited for enterprise clients
TruLookup Pricing:
- Unfortunately, you’ll have to contact TruLookup’s sales team to get an idea of how much each request costs
Choose TruLookup if:
- You need to perform manual phone lookups and are already paying for TransUnion products, such as Truvalidate, truVision, or TruIQ.
TruLookup Pros:
- Draws from public and proprietary databases
- From the renowned TransUnion company
TruLookup Cons:
- Opaque pricing
- Integrates better with other TransUnion products
- Better suited for enterprise clients
Features:
- Phone lookup, social media and web insights, and organized reports
Best for:
- Enterprise clients who have already joined the TransUnion ecosystem
Simility
Phone, Browser, and Network Data Lookups
Founded by ex-Google and Amazon employees in 2014 and acquired by PayPal for $120 million in 2018, Simility offers enterprise clients a whole suite of tools designed for risk management and fraud protection.
While the company’s client list consists mainly of enterprise customers across financial services and large retailers, it is also possible to rely on its Device Recon module, which analyzes browser, mobile, desktop, and other technical user data to give you more information about who you are dealing with.
While it’s a more complex solution best adapted to batch screening, it’s a valid option for online merchants who rely on these data points to accept or decline transactions.
Pros
- Benefits from PayPal’s datasets
Cons
- Only focused on two key verticals
- Better for enterprise clients
- Non-transparent price
Simility Pricing:
- No pricing is available online
Choose Simility if:
- You are a large online merchant or financial service that needs complete user profiling to manage risk
Simility Pros:
- Benefits from PayPal’s huge online shopper datasets
- Complex integration is needed to begin using the phone lookup tool
Simility Cons:
- Only focused on two key verticals
- Better suited for enterprise clients
- No transparency when it comes to pricing or phone lookups volume
Features:
- Analyze phone data, browser data, mobile, and desktop in one platform
Best for:
- Large online retailers that require phone lookups as part of a complete fraud prevention solution
Partner with SEON to reduce fraud rates in your business with artificial intelligence, real time data enrichment, and customizable rule for every company.
Ask an Expert
What Are Reverse Phone Lookup Tools?
A reverse phone lookup is a tool that takes a phone number and aggregates information associated with it to create a data-enriched profile. This information is often from open-source, or OSINT databases, such as social media, personal information registered with government bodies, messenger apps, and more. Some reverse phone lookup tools also cross-reference the provided phone number against proprietary databases of financial or transactional data.
Reverse phone lookup is a form of data enrichment. It’s a process designed to let you get extra information based on a single data point. Other examples include reverse email lookup and reverse social media lookup.
Data enrichment tools such as a reverse phone lookup solution are particularly useful when you’re trying to evaluate how risky a person is for your business. For instance, in fraud prevention, you can use that information to learn if the person appears suspicious or not.
Why Use Reverse Phone Lookup Tools?
Reverse phone lookup tools allow you to answer key questions to do with a phone number:
- Who called me?
- Who does the number belong to?
- Is the phone number real and valid?
- Should I trust the person who owns that phone number?
This is important both for individuals who want to know who they are dealing with and for companies that want to avoid doing business with the wrong people – especially fraudsters.
Advantages of Phone Numbers for Security
Phone numbers are harder to create than email addresses. Fraudsters don’t usually go through the trouble of getting new, real phone numbers for each of their fake personas or schemes.
And while apps like Hushed or Burner can generate new phone numbers, these have no digital presence – in other words, they won’t have any social, web, or messenger footprints. If there is no social data associated with the number, it is much more likely to belong to a fraudster rather than a legitimate user.
Historically, customers have been more reticent to share phone numbers than email addresses. This means there are fewer of them floating around on the dark web, and large lists of phone numbers have yet to appear in big data breaches. But this is good news: Any numbers that do get found in such leaks are very likely to belong to legitimate users.
Disadvantages of Phone Numbers for Security
In the context of security at large, using phone numbers can also have some shortcomings. The first that comes to mind is two-factor authentication (2FA). 2FA with a phone number isn’t always as secure as one would hope. A growing number of white hat hackers have managed to bypass the security measure through phishing and other social engineering methods.
Another issue arises with the increasing popularity of SIM-swapping attacks. This three-step process, also known as SIM splitting or SIM jacking, sees fraudsters acquire a phone number through hacks, phishing, or sheer luck.
They then call the mobile phone’s provider and claim to want to change their number to a new one. The new number, which is in the fraudster’s possession, will then receive all the messages used for mobile verification. This allows the criminal to access other accounts such as email, social media, or even mobile banking.
Reverse Phone Number Search Tool with SEON
Reverse phone lookup tools come in many shapes and sizes, so the key is to look for the one that meets your needs.
- Do you need to block fraudulent users? SEON is a great choice thanks to its powerful module that looks at digital fingerprints including social signals.
- Do you need to learn more about someone? Services like TruthFinder can help. You may also look at Cocofinder, Instant Checkmate, or ZabaSearch.
- Do you need to quickly connect a number to a name? A fast search with a free service like Spy Dialer or SpyTox is your best bet.
Of course, you can also use SEON’s free-of-charge phone number search to get fast, instant results for numbers anywhere in the world.
But SEON truly shines when empowering a company to identify both good and bad actors from their phone numbers, in order to reduce fraud, streamline onboarding, minimize account takeovers, and even identify VIP customers for tailored marketing.
How exactly SEON can help depends on each particular business’ KPIs and risk environment. To speak with one of our experts, you can book a meeting here.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, as long as you collect data from open, public databases. It’s worth checking with your reverse phone lookup provider whether they abide by data security laws. SEON, for instance, is fully GDPR compliant.
Once you have a phone number, you can perform a reverse search to find information linked to it. The most common use is to find someone’s name. That data comes from the phone operator or caller ID service, which is open source, similar to a white or yellow pages search.
A good phone lookup service will let you know its price ahead of time. Professional services tend to charge a monthly fee as part of a subscription. Beware of “free” phone lookup services where the query is free, but the results are hidden behind a paywall.
No. A reverse phone search does not notify the phone owner that it’s being performed.
All kinds of phones. In fact, reverse phone lookups will tell you the type of phone it is. For instance, SEON’s Phone API results include whether the number is VoIP, whether it is disposable, the associated caller ID name (CNAM), the country of registration, and much more.
You might also be interested in reading about:
Learn more about:
Data Enrichment | Browser Fingerprinting | Device Fingerprinting | Fraud Detection API | Fraud Detection with Machine Learning & AI
Sources
- Google Blog: How effective is basic account hygiene at preventing hijacking
- Krebs on Security: Convicted SIM Swapper Gets 3 Years in Jail
