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Reverse phone lookup is the act of finding information about a person using their phone number. Salespeople submit a person’s number into an online tool’s search box and receive helpful intel such as their name, location, and more, depending on what the chosen tool and plan reveals. Reverse phone lookup tools can therefore help sellers prepare for their sales calls, identify inbound callers, and qualify leads more effectively.
Salespeople typically use reverse phone lookup tools if they have a contact’s phone number and want to uncover their identity for lead qualification, a vital part of lead generation. Perhaps this happens if an unknown caller calls their business or cell phone. Sellers also use reverse phone lookup tools to do more intensive searches on their leads to uncover more information that will help them personalize their sales outreach or prepare for a discovery call or cold call.
Reverse phone lookups tools generally work to uncover information about a specific number and its owner by searching through public and private records it has access to. Typically, when you use a reverse phone lookup tool, you’ll enter the phone number into a search bar, then the site will return the person’s identity, usually offering an option to buy an in-depth report.
Each tool differs in its costs and the key information it reveals at different pricing tiers. There are many reverse phone lookups tools out there, some of which are free while others require monthly subscriptions to use their reverse phone lookup function and other search options like background checks. There are also best practices to keep in mind regardless of the tool you choose so you can be sure to get the most out of reverse phone lookup.
The most basic reverse phone lookup tool or free plan typically reveals a person’s name, location, demographics, and other ways to contact them like email or their social profiles. More advanced tools and paid plans often give you more detailed profiles of the person, revealing personal details like their estimated income, employment history, and education. Some offer full background checks that even reveal criminal history, tax records, and more.
Below is a list of the information a reverse phone lookup tool can help you find:
Different tools and plans reveal different information. So before you choose a reverse phone lookup tool, know which information you’re trying to uncover. For example, a real estate broker might want a tool that reveals property ownership for qualification purposes. Also, note that some tools offer upgrades to people search and full background checks that will give you more information than its free or lower-priced version, if you want to take that route.
Most of the below companies offer paid subscriptions for a max number of (or unlimited) reverse phone lookups a month. This is a good option for those who need to do a lot of lookups and want detailed profiles of the individuals. However, if you just need to find someone’s identity every so often, use a free tool like Spy Dialer. Or, if you do it rarely, but want detailed profiles when you do, go with an option that offers low-priced one-off reports, like PeopleFinders. We'll cover both below.
Below we’ve described nine of the best reverse phone lookup tools, four of which are free. We’ve listed them in order from most relevant to least relevant to B2B salespeople and companies. In the descriptions below, we’ll call out each tool’s differentiating factors like whether they have business-focused services, free options, or mobile apps. We’ll also share what information each tool reveals and the costs of different plans.
Who It’s Right For: Companies that want the biggest database and intensive background checks from one of the most established and reputable people search companies ($4.99 starting price)
Whitepages can reveal the following information:
Keep reading for more information on Whitepages and their pricing tiers:
Whitepages is an online phone directory with a reverse phone lookup tool and background check service that has been around since it was first printed in 1997. Its phone lookups reveal details like full name and contact info, and it offers premium plans to do full, in-depth background checks. Whitepages offers the ability to look up reverse addresses to find commercial property owners for free, which can be helpful for B2B sellers who have their lead's address but no contact information.
What separates Whitepages from the other options is the size of its database, which stores information on 275 million people nationwide, along with other international numbers. Their data also tends to be very accurate, and they’re FCRA (Fair Credit Reporting Act) certified, making them a go-to spot for landlords or employers running background checks on potential renters or candidates. And in the case that you find the data accuracy lacking, they offer a 100% refund.
For $4.99 per month, Whitepages gives you 20 reverse phone lookups a month, which will reveal basic information about the person, such as their name. However, you can opt in to pay for a full background report on a person for a one-time fee of $9.99. In it, you’ll find more advanced data like the person’s addresses and court records.. They also offer a $7.50 per month membership for 20 lookups and two background checks per month.
Who It’s Right For: Businesses wanting a free lookup tool to find a caller’s identity and listen to their outgoing voicemail (free starting price)
Here’s what Spy Dialer’s reverse phone lookup tool can uncover:
Continue for details on Spy Dialer and their special features:
Spy Dialer is a free reverse phone lookup tool that gives you the basic details about the owner of the phone number — full name and state of residence. The company doesn't offer the ability to buy full background checks. It does however offer other ways to look people up for no cost, including via their address, email, or full name and city/state.
Unlike other similar tools, it enables you to listen to the person’s outgoing voicemail, which can come in handy if you’re wondering how to pronounce a lead’s name when you call back. Those first impressions matter. However, its reports lack the depth of many of the other tools in this article. But if you just want the name and address, it's worth bookmarking this website.
This tool is one of the truly free reverse phone lookups tools. It doesn’t even ask you for your email address or to sign up for an account, which makes it one of the fastest and cheapest options for a quick lookup.
Who It’s Right For: B2B companies looking for company-related information for lead data enrichment ($3.95 starting price)
PeopleFinders can uncover the following data:
Check out key cost information and more on PeopleFinders below:
PeopleFinders is a people search engine featuring a reverse phone lookup tool that reveals the caller’s name and other useful information. They also offer an enterprise membership for B2B sellers who want to learn more about their target companies and find business data — the company’s phone numbers, current addresses, employees, and more.
This tool’s ability to buy one-off reports is helpful for salespeople who will only do a few lookups each month. Plus, compared to other services, the reports are clean, organized, and easy to navigate, making reading the information easy on the mind. It also comes with a mobile app that offers the same level of intuitive design. That way sellers can check numbers on the go.
PeopleFinders offers a $24.95 per month membership to their service for unlimited reverse phone lookup reports and $29.95 for premium offerings. They also have the option to buy reports as you need them, at $3.95 a pop. B2B companies can also pay $72-159 per month for enterprise memberships that give them access to 1,000-5,000 business searches per month; these uncover data about specific companies and their employees for lead data enrichment purposes.
Who It’s Right For: Businesses looking for a lookup tool with the most comprehensive reports out of all the free options and a quality mobile app (free starting price)
Here’s what this tool can help you find:
Continue reading for details on True People Search and its benefits:
True People Search is a people search site with a free reverse phone lookup tool and other ways to look people up, including through their address, email, or name. This website is the best free option in terms of data revealed. It gives you more free information about the person than Spy Dialer, which tells you only their name, location, and outgoing voicemail.
Where this tool shines brightest is its IOS and Android apps, which are fast and easy to use. Sellers wanting a free option and the most critical information about a caller should give TruePeopleSearch a shot. Its info can also help you prepare for an effective cold call. While the service doesn’t offer the ability to run full background checks, in each report they do give you the option to go to another background check service to buy a more detailed report.
True People Search has a free reverse phone lookup tool that will reveal the most crucial information about an individual.
Who It’s Right For: Salespeople that have tried True People Search with no luck and want to test another free and accurate lookup tool (free starting price)
Below is a list of the data points CocoFinder can give you about someone:
Check out more information on CocoFinder below:
CocoFinder is a people and public information search engine with a free reverse phone lookup tool and also people, white pages, and email address search. Their data is the same as government agencies so it’s quite accurate, and the searches take less than a minute. We recommend trying it after True People Search because it succeeds less often in its search for data.
This is a simplistic reverse phone lookup tool that won’t provide you with as much information as many of the others on the list that offer full background checks. However, it’s a smart choice for a salesperson who wants to quickly find out for free the identity of a missed caller, along with their basic contact information. If CocoFinder can’t find information on the number, it will recommend other reverse lookup tools that likely have the details you want.
CocoFinder offers a free reverse phone lookup tool. If they can’t find the information, they’ll recommend other paid background check services like BeenVerified.
Who It’s Right For: Businesses wanting to find information about someone’s personal life and dating history ($4.99 starting price)
Below is the information you can find with TruthFinder:
Keep reading for more details on TruthFinder and their pricing packages:
TruthFinder is a people search engine with a reverse phone lookup tool that reveals basic information about a person of interest like their full name, social media profiles, and more. Its data, especially around a person’s personal life, tends to be accurate (it has earned 60K five-star reviews), and its reports are clean and easy to navigate.
Unlike other tools, TruthFinder positions itself as a tool for people looking to dig into the life of their significant other. Its background check reports therefore offer comprehensive data about people’s dating site profiles, relationship history, and divorce/marriage records. If somebody’s relationship status is an indicator of a good fit for your product, this tool’s for you.
TruthFinder offers a basic reverse phone lookup plan $4.99 per month for unlimited monthly reports. For $28.05 per month you can upgrade to unlimited full background reports and access information about people’s liens, bankruptcies, vehicles owned, and more hard-to-find data. TruthFinder also has valuable add-ons you can select to include in your membership. They also offer membership at $23.28 per month if you buy two months at a time.
Who It’s Right For: Businesses wanting to occasionally buy social reports about individuals or B2C companies wanting to find leads’ wealth data ($0.95 starting price)
Spokeo can reveal the following data about a phone number owner:
For more information on Spokeo and its offerings, continue reading below:
Spokeo is a people intelligence service with a reverse phone lookup tool and other lookup options like background checks, which reveal hard-to-find data like a breakdown of an individual’s wealth. This can help B2C sellers qualify their leads based on their estimated budget and financial needs.
The ability to buy one-off social reports is Spokeo’s distinguishing factor, especially since it’s the lowest-priced singular report available among the other lookup tools. It applies to salespeople who rarely need to do people searches and just want basic social media and demographic information about a caller.
Spokeo offers a membership for $19.95 per month that comes with unlimited reverse phone lookups, background checks, people searches, reverse email searches, and social media searches. They offer a three-month special membership for $14.96 per month. You can also buy one-off reports for $0.95 that include full access to phone and name searches.
Who It’s Right For: Businesses wanting to buy a monthly membership that supports unlimited phone lookups and background checks and has quality customer support ($26.89 starting price)
Here is the information BeenVerified can find for you:
Check out more information, including cost, on BeenVerified below:
BeenVerified is a subscription-based background check service offering a reverse phone lookup tool and other people search methods. It’s commonly used by employers to run criminal background checks on potential hires. This speaks to the accuracy of its court record data. You must buy a membership to access any of BeenVerified’s tools.
The membership comes with unlimited phone lookup and background check reports. Plus, you get cool features such as spam likelihood scores, customer service, and user comments — what people have said about the number. These can help you more effectively detect if the caller is worth your time. Their one fault is the occasional long loading time to get results.
BeenVerified offers a $26.89 per month membership that comes with unlimited background checks and reverse phone, email, address, and vehicle lookup reports. If you sign up for three months at a time you can lock in a $17.48 per month price for the same features.
Who It’s Right For: Global businesses that need information on international numbers and want lightning-fast results (free starting price)
This tool tells users the following information:
Continue reading for more details on ZLOOKUP and their key features:
ZLOOKUP is another free reverse phone lookup tool that specializes in providing fast results and locating the owners of international numbers. When you type a number into its homepage’s phone lookup search bar, you get an answer almost instantly, although the information is limited to the owner’s full name, country, and service provider.
Because of its access to international numbers, it’s also a useful tool for sellers with a global clientele. Not to mention, you can also call the number directly from the homepage — a pretty nifty side feature. Without options to buy full background checks, it’s best for people who just want to do a basic search to ensure the caller isn’t a scammer.
ZLOOKUP offers unlimited free reverse phone lookups. It does not offer other background check services or premium upgrades.
There are some tips you can follow to pick the right reverse phone lookup tool and get the most out of it. These best practices include trying a people search, staying guarded against a site’s ads, using free apps, and starting with free tools if all you need is the identity of the caller.
Most websites offering reverse lookup tools also offer a people search function, which can bring you even more information about the person. Just type in their name and other info you have into the search bar.
Most services lock details of a report, blurring information until you pay the premium fee. It’s okay to pay the fee to unlock it, but don’t pay excessive amounts because of a promise from the site saying, “You won’t believe what we’ve uncovered.” Many times people have paid too much for reports with little data.
Many of the reverse lookup tools offer free apps, which means you can look up numbers quickly (right after receiving a call for instance) so you can get back to a potential lead ASAP.
If you’re simply trying to figure out the name and location of the person calling you so that you can investigate them on your own on LinkedIn, Facebook, etc., just use a free tool like True People Search.
Reverse phone lookup tools can help you quickly find the identity of the caller. From there, you can either discard them, do your own online research to learn more, or pay for a full people search or background report on the person.
There are a few free reverse phone lookup tools, such as Spy Dialer, ZLOOKUP, and True People Search. But the free tools tend to be more limited in information and data accuracy than their paid-for counterparts. In general, most tools charge monthly subscription fees ranging from $5 to $25 a month for unlimited reverse phone lookup reports. Many services also offer the option to buy a one-off report for fees as low as $0.95, like Spokeo.
Whitepages is particularly trustworthy as an accurate phone lookup because of its long history and still untarnished reputation as the authority on people search. It's also FCRA-compliant for background checks and has the largest database of records, meaning if there’s information about a person out there, Whitepages is most likely to find it. And if you’re unsatisfied with the service or underwhelmed with the reports, they have a money-back guarantee.
Conducting a reverse phone lookup is when you use an online tool that enables you to find information about someone associated with a specific phone number. There are free tools that will give you basic information about a person like their name, location, age, and contact information, and more premium tools and plans that reveal more details like colleagues, employment history, and more. Pick the phone lookup tool that uncovers the data you find most important.
Sam is a former SaaS sales rep turned freelance writer. He spent his career selling real estate technology to C-suite executives before switching over to blogging, where he now covers sales, marketing, and small business topics. Sam specializes in lead generation, lead nurturing, and deal closing articles for Selling Signals. When he’s not researching the latest sales trends, he’s either penning short stories, hiking, or reading in NYC’s Washington Square Park.
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