People Search Sites: Who Runs Them, What’s Free and How to Opt Out

People search sites compile public records and commercial data into profiles of named people, usually showing a free preview and charging for the full report through a trial or subscription. The big ones are run by a handful of companies, all of them say they aren’t consumer reporting agencies, and their reports can be wrong or out of date. Below is a summary of the major sites, who runs each one, what’s free, how billing works and how each describes its FCRA status, with links to our cancel, opt-out and “is it legit” guides.

This is a research-based list, not a ranking. Everything here is as of September 2026 and comes from each company’s own pages where they loaded, app store listings, California’s data broker registry (file last updated July 29, 2026) and ftc.gov. Several sites blocked our automated checks, and we say so where that left a gap. Prices and terms change, so check the current version on the site before you pay. We don’t sell people searches or background checks.

How people search sites work

A people search site matches records by name, age, address and phone number, then presents them as one profile. The sources typically include court and property records, phone and address directories, marketing lists and public social media profiles.

• “Free” usually means a teaser. A free search commonly shows a name, age range, city and relatives. Phone numbers, full address history and records usually sit behind a paid report.
• Trials usually renew. Low-cost trials on paid sites typically turn into a monthly plan unless you cancel.
• Reports can be wrong. Same-name mix-ups and out-of-date addresses are common. BeenVerified’s own data page recommends treating reports as “a starting point for your research rather than the sole basis for important decisions.”
• They aren’t for screening. Every site in the table below says it isn’t a consumer reporting agency or told California’s registry it isn’t regulated by the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). You can’t use them to decide on employment, tenancy, credit or insurance.

List of people search sites: owners, billing and FCRA status

“Registry” means California’s data broker registry, where each broker answers whether it’s regulated by the FCRA. “Not confirmed” means the site blocked our checks and we didn’t guess.

Site	Run by (source)	Free search	Trial and billing	FCRA status as stated	Our guides
BeenVerified	BeenVerified, LLC, provided by The Lifetime Value Co. LLC (privacy policy, registry)	No free reports. Its “Is BeenVerified Free?” page says it has “$1 trials for new customers”	7-day trial capped at 100 reports, then $36.89 a month or $71.94 every 3 months, plus tax, renewing until canceled (pricing page, which doesn’t state a price for the trial itself)	“Not a consumer reporting agency” (FAQ)	Is it legit, cancel, opt out
PeopleLooker	PeopleLooker LLC. Terms name BeenVerified LLC as parent	No	7-day trial for $1, then a monthly plan renewing every 30 days (offers page, FAQ)	Not a consumer reporting agency (FAQ disclaimer and terms)	Is it legit, cancel, opt out
TruthFinder	TruthFinder, LLC (registry), a PeopleConnect brand	Not confirmed	The FTC described it as charging “monthly subscription fees to view the full reports.” App sells report plans in-app	Not a consumer reporting agency (App Store listing)	Is it legit, cancel, opt out
Instant Checkmate	Instant Checkmate LLC (registry), a PeopleConnect brand	Not confirmed	Same FTC description as TruthFinder. App sells report plans in-app	Not a consumer reporting agency (App Store listing)	Is it legit, cancel, opt out
Intelius	Intelius, LLC (registry), a PeopleConnect brand	Not confirmed	App sells single checks and an “Intelius Premier Subscription”	Not a consumer reporting agency (App Store listing)	Is it legit, cancel, opt out
Spokeo	Spokeo, Inc., Pasadena (registry)	Not confirmed	Not confirmed	Told the registry it isn’t FCRA-regulated	Is it legit, cancel, opt out
CheckPeople	CHECKPEOPLE, LLC, Orlando (registry)	Not confirmed	Not confirmed	Told the registry it isn’t FCRA-regulated	Is it legit, cancel, opt out
PeopleFinders	Peoplefinders, LLC, San Francisco (registry). App sold by Confi-Chek Inc.	Not confirmed	App sells single reports and memberships	Not a consumer reporting agency (App Store listing)	Is it legit, opt out
Whitepages and 411.com	Whitepages, Inc, Seattle (registry, its own site)	Yes: names, current addresses and limited landlines	Premium subscription. App also sells one-time lookups	Background checks “not FCRA compliant” (its own site)	Is it legit, opt out, 411 opt out
MyLife	Registry lists mylife.com under Insightbridge LLC, Sheridan, WY	Not confirmed	Not confirmed	Told the registry it isn’t FCRA-regulated	Is it legit, opt out
TruePeopleSearch	Free Data Services, LLC (registry)	Free to view, per our opt-out guide	No paid plan confirmed	Told the registry it isn’t FCRA-regulated	Opt out
FastPeopleSearch and sister sites	Mississippi Tornado Alley, LLC (registry)	Free to view, per our opt-out guides	Not confirmed	Told the registry it isn’t FCRA-regulated	FastPeopleSearch, USPhoneBook, SearchPeopleFree, USA People Search, PeopleSearchNow, FastBackgroundCheck, SmartBackgroundChecks, CyberBackgroundChecks, AdvancedBackgroundChecks
ThatsThem, AnyWho and FreePeopleDirectory	Listed as Spokeo, Inc. trade names (registry)	AnyWho’s homepage describes a free people search. ThatsThem not confirmed (site blocked)	AnyWho says criminal records and some other records cost extra (“additional fees apply”)	AnyWho’s site says it isn’t a consumer reporting agency. ThatsThem carries an FCRA disclaimer (our earlier research)	ThatsThem, AnyWho, FreePeopleDirectory
US Search, ZabaSearch, Addresses.com and PeopleLookup	Listed among Intelius, LLC’s websites (registry)	Not confirmed	Not confirmed	Intelius told the registry it isn’t FCRA-regulated	US Search, ZabaSearch, Addresses.com, PeopleLookup
PeopleSmart	Listed among BeenVerified, LLC’s websites (registry)	Not confirmed	Not confirmed	BeenVerified told the registry it isn’t FCRA-regulated	Opt out
Nuwber	Nuwber Inc, Alexandria, VA (registry)	Not confirmed	Not confirmed	Told the registry it isn’t FCRA-regulated	Opt out
FamilyTreeNow	Family Tree Now, LLC, Los Angeles (registry)	Not confirmed	Not confirmed	Told the registry it isn’t FCRA-regulated	Opt out

Details for the PeopleConnect, Whitepages, PeopleFinders, ThatsThem and AnyWho rows come from our “is it legit” and alternatives research earlier in September 2026. Check the current terms on each site before you pay.

Who owns which people search sites

Many “different” sites are the same company under another name. That matters twice: a second site often shows the same data, and one opt-out can sometimes cover several brands.

• PeopleConnect: PeopleConnect runs TruthFinder, Instant Checkmate, Intelius and US Search, according to its own site. Its terms describe a Suppression Tool covering those sites. Our PeopleConnect opt-out guide covers it. Each brand still has its own terms and its own billing, so cancel memberships one by one.
• The Lifetime Value Co.: The Lifetime Value Co. LLC and BeenVerified, LLC run BeenVerified, PeopleLooker and other sites, according to each site’s privacy policy and California’s data broker registry. The registry entry also lists PeopleSmart and several lookup sites. BeenVerified and PeopleLooker each run their own opt-out and billing.
• Spokeo: Spokeo, Inc.’s trade names include ThatsThem, AnyWho and FreePeopleDirectory, according to California’s data broker registry. ThatsThem has its own separate opt-out.
• Mississippi Tornado Alley: Mississippi Tornado Alley, LLC runs FastPeopleSearch and its sister sites, including USPhoneBook, SearchPeopleFree, USA-People-Search and PeopleSearchNow, according to California’s data broker registry. The same entry lists FastBackgroundCheck, SmartBackgroundChecks, CyberBackgroundChecks and AdvancedBackgroundChecks.
• Free Data Services: TruePeopleSearch is a trade name of Free Data Services, LLC, according to California’s data broker registry.
• Whitepages, Inc also runs 411.com.

Other people search sites we cover

We also have opt-out guides for these sites. We haven’t re-verified their ownership or billing for this page, so the guides are the place for details.

• Radaris, ClustrMaps, VeriPages, PeekYou, IDCrawl and Social Catfish
• Unmask, InfoTracer, PeopleWhiz, PrivateEye, SpyFly and SearchQuarry
• PeopleByName, Neighbor.Report, Dataveria, RecordsFinder, VoterRecords and BlockShopper
• Business contact databases: ZoomInfo, RocketReach, SignalHire, Lusha and ContactOut

For reverse lookup services, our research covers NumLookup’s ownership and plans, Spy Dialer’s free lookups and opt-out and whether Social Catfish is legit.

Is there a best people search site?

We don’t pick one, because data quality can’t be verified from the outside and every site’s accuracy varies by person. What you can compare are verifiable things:

• Who runs it. Check the registry or the site’s own terms, so you know whether two sites are really one.
• What’s free. Free-to-view sites show basic contact details. Paid sites show more, behind a trial or subscription.
• How billing works. Look for the trial length, what it renews into, and how to cancel, before you enter a card.
• What it says about the FCRA. If you need a check for hiring or renting, none of these sites is the right tool. Our guide to the best background check site explains the FCRA-compliant route.
• How to opt out. A site with a clear, free opt-out is at least being straight with the people it lists.

To compare two specific sites, our side-by-side guides to TruthFinder versus BeenVerified and BeenVerified versus Spokeo stick to what each site states. For other places to look, see our roundups of free and paid sites like TruePeopleSearch and alternatives to Whitepages.

Free official alternatives

For many lookups, the original record is free or cheap and more reliable than a compiled report:

• Search engines and social platforms, with the name in quotes plus a city or employer.
• County court and property records, on the court’s or assessor’s own site.
• PACER for federal court records: $0.10 a page, capped at $3 per document, and no bill for a quarter unless you pass $30, according to its pricing page as of September 2026.
• The National Sex Offender Public Website (NSOPW), run by the Justice Department, which searches registries for all 50 states, DC, US territories and Indian Country.
• Your state’s business registry for who’s behind a company.

Our guide to free people search goes through these in more detail. Our guide to public records you can search for free lists more official sources, and searching by street address covers who is linked to a property. For an unknown caller, see our guide to a reverse phone lookup that costs nothing, and for records on a person, our guide to official records for a free background check.

You’re almost certainly listed too

If you can find other people on these sites, other people can find you. The FTC’s consumer guide on people search sites says you can opt out “on your own, one by one, for free.” It also warns that opting out doesn’t delete public records, and that your information can reappear if your public records change.

1. Search your own name on the free-to-view sites first, since anyone can see them without paying.
2. Work through the paid sites using the opt-out links in the table.
3. Use a separate email address for opt-out confirmations.
4. Keep a log of each site, the date and the profile URL, and check again every few months.

Our guide to removing yourself from people-search sites covers the whole process, and our data broker opt-out list sets out where to start. If you’d rather not do it by hand, see our guide to a free data removal service.

A worked example

This is an illustrative scenario, not a real client.

Elena, a teacher, finds her home address on a free people search site after a parent mentions it. She works through the list above in one evening.

1. She starts with the free-to-view sites and finds herself on TruePeopleSearch and FastPeopleSearch. She checks the registry row and realizes USPhoneBook and SearchPeopleFree share FastPeopleSearch’s operator, so she checks those too.
2. She uses one PeopleConnect suppression for TruthFinder, Instant Checkmate, Intelius and US Search, verifying with a new email address.
3. She opts out of BeenVerified and PeopleLooker separately, since each runs its own process.
4. She doesn’t buy any report, because none of the opt-outs she uses asks for payment.
5. She sets a reminder to search again in three months.

Common mistakes

• Paying to see your own report. Opt-outs are separate from memberships and are free on most sites.
• Assuming canceling removes your listing. Canceling stops billing. It doesn’t hide your profile.
• Using a report to screen a tenant or applicant. These sites forbid it.
• Treating different brand names as different data. Check the owner first.
• Acting on a report alone. Confirm anything serious with the original record.

Our free Reputation Scanner is launching soon. It’s a self-search tool, not a people-search tool: you search your own name, or your child’s as their parent or guardian. It will show the top 10 negative results, ranked by how serious they are and how likely they are to be about you, and draft removal requests you review, edit and send yourself. It will be free to use, with no account and no billing. Read how the scanner will work. If listings are part of a wider problem with what people find when they search your name, our personal reputation management team can look at it through a free audit.

Frequently asked questions

What are the main people search sites?

The big paid sites include BeenVerified, PeopleLooker, TruthFinder, Instant Checkmate, Intelius, Spokeo, CheckPeople, PeopleFinders and MyLife. Free-to-view sites include TruePeopleSearch, FastPeopleSearch and its sister sites, ThatsThem, AnyWho and Whitepages’ basic search. Several of these share an owner.

What is the best people search site?

We don’t rank them, because accuracy can’t be verified from the outside and varies by person. Compare what you can check: who runs the site, what’s free, how the trial renews, and whether it has a clear free opt-out. For hiring or renting, use an FCRA-compliant screening company instead.

Are people search sites legal?

Generally, yes. They compile public records and commercial data. They say they aren’t consumer reporting agencies, which is why their terms forbid using reports for employment, tenancy, credit or insurance decisions.

Are people search sites accurate?

Not reliably. They match records by name and address, so same-name mix-ups and old details are common. Treat any report as a lead and confirm it with the original court or public record.

How do I get off people search sites?

Use each site’s own free opt-out, one site at a time, starting with the free-to-view sites. Some owners, like PeopleConnect, cover several brands with one tool. Check back every few months, since listings can reappear.