What is a reverse phone lookup?

A reverse phone lookup is a people search tool that provides information about the owner of a phone number. In other words, it’s a tool for looking up phone numbers and learning about their owners.

Search for the owner of a phone number now

Most reverse phone lookups are web based (i.e. appear on a website) but some people finders have their own mobile phone apps.

A note on terminology

Other names for a reverse phone lookup include ‘reverse lookup’, ‘number tracker’, ‘white pages lookup’, ‘white pages search’, ‘reverse white pages’, ‘whois phone number’, ‘whois number lookup’, ‘reverse telephone lookup’, ‘reverse looking’, ‘number lookup’ and ‘phone lookup’.  So don’t be confused if you see these names used interchangeably.

When would I use a reverse phone lookup?

You might use a reverse phone look up if you keep getting phone calls from a number you don’t recognize, and you want to know “who called me from this phone number?” or “whose phone number is this?” Or you might use it if you think you received a scam call. 

The reverse phone lookup may tell you who they are (and often a lot more, like where they live and whether they have a criminal record).

How do reverse phone lookups work?

A typical whois phone number lookup has a field where you can type a phone number, and a button you click to start the search.

When you click the search button to search for a phone number, the tool will search through billions of records across a range of public records databases, then present you with a series of matches. Much like a normal search engine.

You then click on the closest match to learn more about that person. Depending on the reverse phone lookup tool you used, that information might include the person’s name, address, social media profiles, criminal record and much more.

What’s the best FREE reverse phone lookup in 2022?

The best free reverse phone lookup tools we’ve found are TruePeopleSearch, WhitePages and FastPeopleSearch. They let you search by name, phone or address, and they’re pretty easy to use, but you have to pay if you want more than the most basic information. Of the three, TruePeopleSearch and FastPeopleSearch provide the most detail for free.

Naturally, free reverse phone lookup tools are never as good as the paid ones. If you’re serious about finding out who called or avoiding scammers, you’re far better off with a paid number tracker. 

Here’s a comparison of the information these free people search tools can provide vs the information a good paid people search tool can provide.

	TruePeopleSearch Free	WhitePages Free	FastPeopleSearch Free	BeenVerified Paid
Name
Current address
Previous addresses
Email addresses
Landline telephone numbers
Cell phone numbers
Social media profiles
Person’s photo
Map showing person’s addresses
Current & previous vehicles
Names of family members
Names of associates
Names of neighbors
Person’s profile page shows details about relatives, associates & neighbors
Marriage record information
Divorce records
Ancestry information
Criminal, traffic & other public police records
Bankruptcies
Jobs
Education
Assets
Judgements & liens
Download PDF of reports
Monitor person’s records for changes
Create lists of people searched
Add notes to reports
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What’s the best PAID reverse phone lookup in 2022?

We’ve reviewed a lot of cell number trackers, and in our opinion, the best reverse phone lookup, bang for buck, is definitely BeenVerified.

Search BeenVerified now

BeenVerified is an anonymous reverse cell phone lookup that can help you find information about the owner of a phone number. Information may include:

• First & last names
• Aliases
• Other phone numbers
• Email addresses
• Social media profiles (including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Youtube & Pinterest)
• Current & past addresses
• Family members, neighbors, friends & co-workers
• Birth & marriage record information
• Education, hobbies & interests
• Assets
• Bankruptcies
• Traffic tickets, sex offenses, criminal record
• And more…