15 Completely Free Reverse Phone Lookups By Name

Scam calls have become so worrisome that 8 in 10 Americans no longer answer calls from unknown numbers. The week-long research showed that most people who rather the unknown caller left a voice message than answer the phone call—Brianna Wiest explains why, if you're interested. Meanwhile, this trend and preference are understandable. After all, the average Joe receives 3-5 totally worthless calls per day; some people have it worse and get up to 10 spam calls.

Ignoring spam calls is the best option under the circumstances. But if you are curious about just who is calling your phone incessantly, there are a plethora of free phone number lookup websites you can use to see if the caller is someone you know, a telemarketer, or a scammer.

Top Three Completely Free Reverse Phone Lookups

If you are in a rush, use any of these top three reverse phone number lookup websites and come back later for the full list:

• SpyDialer — Comprehensive phone numbers database; narrows down the unknown caller's name and address efficiently.
• NumLookup — A phone number search returns the name and address of the person of the unknown caller. You can also call and send anonymous texts for free.
• National Phone Number Registry — Reliable database of phone numbers in North America. Only provides the unknown caller's location and carrier information.

Great, you're back. Take your time to go through the full list of websites where you can do a free phone number lookup. Each review is concise, but it is complete with explanations on what you can expect to find, user experience, and why you may want to avoid a website even if it offers reverse phone lookup free of charge.

#1 SpyDialer (www.spydialer.com)

SpyDialer is arguably the best free reverse phone lookup service on the internet. It does just what you need it to do—find unknown callers and show you their name and contact address. You can also see the type of phone number and the owner's photo. SpyDialer also lets you check the phone number for spam activity. So, this is the best service to use if you suspect a scammer has contacted you.

Besides a phone number search, you can also perform a name-based search on a person of interest on SpyDialer. You will need to provide specific information like city and middle name to narrow down the search results. A typical name search will present you with the general location, phone number, and known associates of the person of interest. However, you will not see the individual's full address. If you wish to obtain the individual's complete address, you may check the phone number using another reverse phone lookup service like Whitepages.

#2 National Phone Number Registry (www.npnr.org)

The national phone number registry is a publicly available database for phone numbers in North America. A reverse phone lookup on an unknown number will return the unknown caller's location and the mobile carrier for that number. This registry operates by taking the first three digits from the phone number and cross-referencing it with the area codes on the North American Numbering Plan (NANP).

The area code only provides the county or city where the caller is located. Next, the search engine uses the prefix code (the next three digits) to determine the specific mobile carrier in the US or Canada. Unlike popular reverse phone lookups today, the registry will not provide you with the unknown caller's name, so this registry may not exactly be your first choice for performing a phone number lookup. However, the phone number search is fast, and you can trust the other basic information provided via a search.

#3 NumLookup (www.numlookup.com)

NumLookup is a free tool to perform a phone number search. A fast processing speed for a reverse phone lookup service is non-negotiable, and NumLookup shines in this area—a reverse phone lookup takes ten (10) seconds to complete. Not only that but also, the accuracy of information obtained is stunning. A reverse phone lookup will present you with the unknown caller's name, address, and links to social media profiles attached to that phone number. NumLookup also lets you call or text the phone number completely free.

#4 PeopleFinders (www.peoplefinders.com)

PeopleFinders.com is a straightforward way to perform a reverse phone lookup on unknown callers. The user search experience is clean, and the phone number search is fast, which is impressive, given that PeopleFinders has a database of billions of data. Despite its fast search, a free reverse phone lookup on the website will only provide you with basic information, such as the caller's general location, mobile carrier, and phone type. You can still access other detailed information like the owner's full name and house address, but you will be required to sign up for membership. In the end, you will need to use PeopleFInders with another reverse phone lookup service like

#5 CocoFinder (www.cocofinder.com)

A phone number lookup on CocoFinder is fast, but the database is not as robust as popular phone search services like Spydialer. A phone number search on CocoFinder may return no results, while a search for the same phone number on SpyDialer, for example, will return the unknown caller's information.

Despite this leanness of phone numbers in its database, many users have lauded the information retrieved from CocoFinder's phone number search as accurate. Furthermore, the service continually updates its database. So, you can expect more comprehensive search results in the future. In the meantime, consider using CocoFinder's people search, especially if you remember a person's name but not their phone number. You will need to provide a full name to obtain available information on the person of interest, including their phone number and full address.

#6 Phone Lookup (www.phonelookup.com)

Phone Lookup maintains a database of US phone numbers and furnishes interested persons with the name and contact address of unknown callers. You will only also get to see the type of phone number, i.e., cell phone, landline, or VoIP. Thus, the search result for a reverse phone lookup using this service is basic at best, compared to what other databases offer.

Phone Lookup lets you check what other people have been saying about a number—that is, if other people have reported a phone number for scam calls or texts. You may also contact the site administrator to claim a phone number listing, modify inaccurate information, or request that your phone number be removed from the database. Phone Lookup directs searchers who want to verify the unknown caller's identity to BeenVerified, where a name-based search returns publicly available records on the person of interest.

#7 Intelius (www.intelius.com)

If the person you're looking for as much as puts their phone number on paper or online, you can find them using Intelius' reverse phone lookup service. Entering the unknown phone number sets off a fast scan of the service's database for the phone number of interest. Then, the service retrieves publicly available records linked to that individual and compiles them in a report.

Accessing this report is somewhat technical, but there is a neat trick to it. Intelius requires you to provide some information—your full name and email address—but you can easily circumvent this by entering a generic name and email address. Then, you can access the free report, which only provides basic information such as the general location and mobile carrier associated with a phone number. You will also see the type of phone number, i.e., cellphone, landline, or VoIP. A more comprehensive report, which contains the unknown caller's full name, complete address, images, and social media account information, is available on a subscription basis.

#8 Truthfinder (www.truthfinder.com)

Truthfinder is primarily a person-to-person background check website, but it also offers a reverse phone lookup service that, of course, lets you identify the registered owner of an unknown phone number. The service has a huge database, so performing a phone number search takes a while.

After you enter the unknown phone number, you will need to complete a CAPTCHA challenge to verify that you're human. Then, the service automatically directs you to a page that prompts you to provide personal information like full name and email address to save your report. Again, you can provide generic details if you are only interested in seeing the basic search results. If you wish to access a more comprehensive report, it is best to provide your correct email address or create a temporary email account for this purpose. One turnoff is that the website takes quite some time to compile the information you need. So, you may want to use Truthfinder's service after using faster alternatives.

#9 Instant Checkmate (www.instantcheckmate.com)

Instant Checkmate makes an effort to make its reverse phone lookup a smooth experience, but it could be better. The website is primarily a non-FCRA website for background checks, but it also offers free phone number lookup. When you enter the unknown caller's phone number, the service checks its database for information on the person of interest. The lengthy, in-depth research will return the unknown caller's location (county or city), mobile carrier information, and line type (cellphone, landline, or VoIP).

One peeve is that Instant Checkmate says your report is ready and then redirects you to a page where you'll need to provide your personal information to process and access the report. Once again, you can provide generic details just to hurry things up—you will not get members' benefits if you create a real account with this service because the details are wrong.

#10 US Search (www.ussearch.com)

Compared to the last couple of phone lookup services, US Search is faster, and the search experience is great. When you enter a phone number, the site asks you to set search preferences, depending on what you want from the phone number search. Next, the service performs a quick search of its databases and presents you with basic information on the unknown number, including the owner's location, line type, and carrier. Besides phone number search, US Search also lets you perform a name-based search for public records on the person of interest or simply use their address.

US search warns users about using information obtained via the phone number search and eventual public records search for official purposes like housing and tenant screening. You see, the reports on the website are not compliant with the Federal Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). US Search cannot guarantee the accuracy of the reports, and there have been reports of the service mismatching people with phone numbers and public records. So, it is best to only use the service for informational purposes only.

#11 ReversePhoneLookup (www.reversephonelookup.com/)

Reverse Phone Lookup maintains a searchable database of phone numbers in the United States. User experience during the reverse phone lookup is smooth; just enter the phone number of interest and click search. It takes up to 2 minutes to process the request, which is slow compared to other reverse lookup services. In the end, your report will contain basic information about the phone number owner, including their general location and mobile carrier. Besides these, you will also see the type of phone number, i.e., cellphone, landline, or VoIP. A comprehensive report containing the unknown caller's full name, complete address, photos, and social media account information is available on a subscription basis.

#12 Whitepages (www.whitepages.com/phone)

Whitepages is one of the oldest reverse phone lookup service providers in the United States. So, it has had time to build a database of phone numbers—that is, over 260 million phone numbers available to you for free. A typical reverse phone lookup on Whitepages will provide you with the owner's name, address, line type, mobile service provider, and address history. You will also have access to a comprehensive background report on the individual, but you will need to subscribe for this extra service.

#13 National Cellular Directory (www.nationalcellulardirectory.com)

Reverse phone lookup services at National Cellular Directory are paid, but once a day, the company lets registered users perform free reverse phone lookup without restrictions—called happy hour search. This free reverse phone lookup provides you with information such as the unknown caller's full name, contact address, phone type, and mobile carrier. You will also see information on known associates. But hold on a second; the service will only let you perform two phone number searches per happy hour per day. A search will only count if there is information on that phone number. Otherwise, you still get your free search and can perform another reverse phone lookup.

#14 Anywho (www.anywho.com/phone)

Anywho reverse phone lookup provides you with the complete address registered to the owner of the unknown phone number, down to the street address and house number. You can obtain additional information retrieved from publicly available records, but this add-on per account registration and subscription.

#15 Search Quarry (www.searchquarry.com)

A reverse phone search on Search Quarry provides you with the unknown caller's general address, i.e., city or county, their line type, and mobile carrier. This information is basic and won't do much if you are really interested in putting a name on the number or wish to put a face to the number. You can still do these, but you will have to sign up for a subscription, which provides you with additional public records on the phone number. So, Search Quarry's free reverse phone lookup is a decent option if you just want to know your unknown caller's location.

The Bottom-line

Despite the aversion towards answering phone calls from unknown callers, no one wants to miss an important call or talk to a telemarketer ardent on selling them a shady product or service. Also, suppose you find an old phone book containing some phone numbers without names or addresses. Surely, you can't call the number and fire rapid questions at the other person and expect an answer—that is, if they even pick up. A reverse phone lookup lets you know more about a phone number owner without turning the conversation into a Q&A. All of the websites listed in this article lets you uncover unknown callers for free and anonymously. Your choice largely depends on what information you are looking for and the accuracy of the search results.