Is there any search engine or site that lets us find someone free of charge on the Internet? And what can we do to trace friends and people we need to contact?
To find a specific person online, there are many ways and search tools that you can use for free. Some of them show you the address, while others can list the details, like contact information such as a mobile number or any available social profile on Facebook or Instagram. A few years ago, there were some free people searching directories with no need for a credit card or any membership.
These days, those sites are not secure, and the databases are out of date. Thus, wasting time with such systems is not what everyone is looking for. For that reason, we tested and verified the best options for free people search without any need for a subscription or any account to get the data, if that’s possible, of course, and available publicly.
People Finder sites without paying any fee
The following people search sites with free public records can work for many in the USA. But always, don’t expect to find every information about others without spending some time. That’s why we recommend dedicating at least a few minutes to do your search. And every time start with a new tool until you find them. Now, here is how to find someone for free on the internet.
1. Google search
Millions of people use Google every day. But many of them do not even know that they can trace anyone online by adjusting some parameters. First, take note of all the details you know about the person you want to trace with the search engine. Next, type his name and last known address or city inside quotes.
Why quotes? Well, Google offers a list of search parameters that allow people to refine search results and get only what they look for. Here is an example, let’s suppose you’d like to find an old friend called “John” and what you have about him is only his first name and place of work or home address.
So, by typing “John” followed by that address, Google will show you the pages where that information is listed. Which can take you directly to their social media profiles, blogs, or posts on different websites.
Google allows us to find people free of charge and that may take a few minutes to hours or more if the name is largely popular and used by thousands of individuals. That’s why the advanced search system is useful. By adding the name of your friends or relative, then, limiting the search to a specific country or state, you’ll exclude the not-needed matches and only have fewer details to check and verify.
2. Family Trees Now
This is a big database of names and people details for more than a hundred years ago. So, it’s a good place to find both dead and alive people in the United States using their names or other personal information. The site search is 100% free without the need for any credit card. However, you may see interruptions and error messages like “access denied” sometimes. It looks like an issue with their site search system that does not work well every time.
With Family Trees Now, people can trace their relatives, family origins, see their old and last found addresses, and even date of birth. Also, the census record from a long time ago can help to find people’s grandparents from World War Two, or lost family members and friends during the last decades. Who knows where they live now?
The site allows people to find their friends, old colleagues, or relatives using any of the following search entries:
- First names
- Street address
- Phone number
- Middle names
- Location
- Last names
- Birth year
- Any relative name
- Country
Some searches on this site can show you public data such as marriage records, divorce records, and personal details about alive people.
3. LinkedIn
Unlike other social media networks, LinkedIn has larger databases of profiles directly associated with active accounts. And these people are mainly business owners, celebrities, or others looking for a job. As a result, LinkedIn is the ultimate people finder tool for businesses and companies.
On the other hand, by searching for someone’s name only, the site list all the possible profiles. And once that becomes a long page with similar names and details, the search filter comes in place to refine profiles. So, make sure you use that and add a city or the last known job title of the person you want to locate.
4. Facebook
Facebook is absolutely free to use and also to search for people through the Internet. It does not need any complicated skills to reconnect with an old relative or anyone else you haven’t seen for long years. Everything starts with basic information, and the full name should be enough to find the person behind it if they use social media.
Believe it or not, thousands of people found their long-lost connections thanks to social media and Facebook in the first place. So give it a try and remember to use the search filter. That allows you to search for people on Facebook by name, city, and even education.
All that won’t be possible if the user keeps his details hidden from being crawled and discovered by search engines. That’s why using Facebook search is better, and that can show accurate details about people and where they are. Just reverse lookup their name, number, or email if you have one.
Talking about social media reminds me of the big impact of Facebook on our life. What we do and what we share is there on Facebook, and every free information on people that the site collects will be stored in their huge data centers.
In other words, even if someone deleted his Facebook account, one day, you may find his name, cell phone number, and address. That’s because of data breaches or other known hacks, and that happened many times when a large size of data is being exposed publicly because of problems with the internal site privacy settings or other issues.
What do you need to find people online?
Without a doubt, finding someone through the Internet can take some time, especially if he or she’s a long-lost friend or an ex-boyfriend, girlfriend, or partner. It does not matter if you have one or more details about them; if no website can help you, you should look for other ways to get his other personal information. So, make sure you use details such as their mobile numbers or emails and use another method that works.
The first step that everyone should start with is the first name plus the last name of the person. That’s the most important piece of information that can show you where he or she lives and what contact information you can use to reach them.
Now, if you only focus on their first and last name only, that won’t be enough with Google or social media. How many times have you searched for someone’s name on Facebook and found a long list of profile matches? That also happens with any people search engine. The more details you have, the better chances you’ll find them.
Now, if you have another piece of personal information, add it to your search. But how can you get that? Well, if you exchanged emails in the past, you may try to find the email he or she used. Just check your inbox and look for any past conversations. Gmail can help with that by searching for a name, username, or other words you used.
Next, use that email to find other details on Google; keep doing the same search but every time with a different entry. And you may find the phone number of someone you missed by name, email, or other details as all that is linked to each other.
100% free search sites versus fake tools
Is Zabasearch free to use?
No, Zabasearch was one of the oldest people search sites without the need for any membership plan. But if you try it now, you’ll find that once you type a phone number or someone’s name into their search box, they’ll forward you to the premium services they work with. In other words, it’s not for free, and finding people for free with Zaaserch.com is not possible anymore. And even if you follow their recommendations, you’ll end up paying for a service that does not guarantee any search results.
Zaba people search lets users locate others by name, email, or cell number, and that may look interesting, but again, it’s not free.
Can you use Pipl for free?
Pipl may look like a good choice among other free people search engines like Yahoo or Bing. But have you tried their site? If not yet, then, this is what they can possibly do. They talk about finding anyone on the Internet, and once you request their trial, they’ll ask you for your cell number and valid email address. Do you know why? Of course, they’ll let others search and find you using your own mobile number which can expose your data publicly.
In other words, if it’s completely free of charge, why do they require signup using cell numbers and personal details? They may sell the data like dozens of other similar search engines to find people on the Internet.
White Pages and similar directories
White Pages is a popular people search directory with millions of records in the US. If you look at their site, you’ll find claims about free people searche and no need to pay any money. But do you know for what? In reality, everyone can do a search on White Pages, and that’s completely for free. But getting the details won’t be free. Instead, they require a premium subscription, which costs a lot compared to other tools with more data and a better user experience.
So, can you really search for people on White Pages for free? The short answer is No. White Pages like Yellow Pages and other associated people search directories in the USA like PeekYou, ZabaSearch, or Spokeo lock the details of profiles. Consequently, getting any contact information or address will need a subscription. It’s like saying you’re welcome to come in, but you’re not allowed to see anything inside unless you become a premium member!.
White Pages offer people search by address, mobile number, email, or street address. And if that works for you, you’ll be lucky enough to see the details of the profile with a few clicks. But sometimes you’ll get a landline number for free, but does that really work? That may be an old contact number used by someone else now, and the only way to reach the person you wanted to trace after searching for them online is by getting their mobile number, social profile, or email address.
Should you pay to find people online?
This depends on what personal information you want to find about people and where the details are located online. If you want to locate someone’s address on Google or other sites, that will be free of charge in most cases. However, if that individual has no footprint online, then, probably, a paid people finder tool can help, but with limitations.
In all cases, you don’t have to pay any fee to find people using the Internet. But if you find no details, that’s when you’ll need to think about a premium search system that brings information from private databases and other sources that regular search engines have no access to.
