People search sites such as Spokeo, BeenVerified, Whitepages and Truecaller look alike until you compare what they charge after a trial, what they can search, who owns them, their regulator record and how removal works. This page compares 11 of them, caller-ID and image-search tools included, on exactly those points, and links each one’s ranked list of alternatives if you are ready to switch.
Every figure comes from the company’s own pages or from a regulator, a court or a public dataset, with the date we read it. DeepSearch makes one of these tools and sits in every chart, including where it trails. A match is a lead to confirm, not proof of identity, and none of these sites may be used to screen a tenant, an employee or a borrower.
- $6.6Min civil penalties in FTC cases: Spokeo in 2012 and TruthFinder and Instant Checkmate in 2023Source: Federal Trade Commission, read
- 4 sitesshare one owner, PeopleConnect: TruthFinder, Instant Checkmate, Intelius and US SearchSource: PeopleConnect, read
Start here
Which people search site are you replacing?
Each page ranks the tools that can replace one of them, with free plans, prices and reasons to choose or skip each.
People search and public records
Start here if you hold a name, an address or an email.
Caller ID and reverse lookup
Start here if you hold a phone number or want caller ID.
Image and face search
Start here if you hold a photo or a face.
Before you switch
Which people search sites are free?
Four of the eleven lookup tools here list a free tier: Whitepages, Truecaller, Who Called Me and TinEye. The rest let you search but charge for the report, sell a short trial that renews into a paid plan, or offer nothing free; DeepSearch, TruthFinder and ClarityCheck list no free option.
| Tool | Free, without paying | Cheapest paid plan |
|---|---|---|
| DeepSearch | None; Pro required | $18/month (Pro) |
 Spokeo | Initial search; reports paid | $19.95/month |
 BeenVerified | $1 trial; reports paid | $36.89/month |
 TruthFinder | None; paid memberships | $4.99/month (phone reports only) |
 PeopleFinders | Search first; reports paid | $24.95/month |
 Whitepages | Names, addresses, landlines | $5.99/month (Premium Contact Info) |
 Truecaller | Core app free; Premium optional | $74.99/year (Premium) |
 ClarityCheck | None; $3.99 for a 7-day trial | $29.99 per 28 days |
 Who Called Me | Free app; paid plans optional | £2.99/month (Wotcha Basic) |
 TinEye | Free for non-commercial use | $200 for 5,000 API searches |
 PimEyes | 10 searches a day; sources limited | $14.99 (One-time Access) |
As each company’s own pages describe it, read Oct 23, 2026 to Nov 3, 2026. Where a site lets you search first, the report itself is paid.
What does each one cost after the trial?
Six of the eight lookup tools here show a lower price before their monthly plan: three trials, a narrower plan, a one-time unlock and a longer term quoted per month. The biggest jump is BeenVerified's: a $1 trial, then $36.89 a month plus sales tax. DeepSearch shows one price, $18 a month, with no trial or free plan.
Prices read Oct 23 to Nov 3, 2026
Lowest price shown and one month of the main plan
US list prices before tax, for the lookup tools with a monthly plan in dollars.
| Tool | Lowest price shown | One month of the main plan | A month against the lowest price |
|---|---|---|---|
| BeenVerified | $1: $1 trial for 7 days, up to 100 reports | $36.89: $36.89 a month plus sales tax | 37× |
| ClarityCheck | $3.99: $3.99 trial for 7 days, 2 lookup credits | $29.99: $29.99 every 28 days, 20 lookup credits | 7.5× |
| PimEyes | $14.99: $14.99 once, for the source links of one search | $29.99: $29.99 a month for Open Plus | 2× |
| TruthFinder | $4.99: $4.99 a month for phone reports only | $28.99: $28.99 a month for people search | 5.8× |
| PeopleFinders | No lower price shown | $24.95: $24.95 a month | Same price |
| Spokeo | $14.95: $14.95 a month, billed $44.85 every 3 months | $19.95: $19.95 a month, up to 100 reports | 1.3× |
| DeepSearch | No lower price shown | $18: $18 a month for Pro, with no trial or free plan | Same price |
| Whitepages | $1: $1 trial for 5 days | $5.99: $5.99 a month, up to 20 lookups | 6× |
Not charted, with no monthly plan in US dollars: Truecaller, $74.99/year (Premium); Who Called Me, £2.99/month (Wotcha Basic); TinEye, $200 for 5,000 API searches.
Which tool searches the clue you have?
Nine of the eleven lookup tools here search a phone number, but only three search a username, and PimEyes alone lists face search. DeepSearch lists eight of these ten inputs; it has no address or face search.
| Tool | Name | Phone | Username | Address | Photo | Face | Photo location | Company | VIN or plate | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DeepSearchOur product | Listed | Listed | Listed | Listed | Not listed | Listed | Not listed | Listed | Listed | Listed |
| Spokeo | Listed | Listed | Listed | Listed | Listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed |
| BeenVerified | Listed | Listed | Listed | Listed | Listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Listed |
| TruthFinder | Listed | Listed | Listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed |
| PeopleFinders | Listed | Listed | Listed | Not listed | Listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed |
| Whitepages | Listed | Listed | Not listed | Not listed | Listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed |
| Truecaller | Listed | Listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed |
| ClarityCheck | Not listed | Listed | Listed | Not listed | Not listed | Listed | Not listed | Not listed | Listed | Listed |
| Who Called Me | Not listed | Listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed |
| TinEye | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed |
| PimEyes | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Listed | Listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed |
| Tools listing it | 7 | 9 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
“Listed” means the tool’s own pages describe that search. A missing tick means we did not find it on the pages we read, which does not prove the tool lacks it.
Who you are dealing with
Which people search sites are biggest, and who owns them?
Four people-search sites rank in Cloudflare's top 10,000 domains: beenverified.com, spokeo.com, truepeoplesearch.com and whitepages.com. Three of the 13 we track are PeopleConnect brands. deepsearch.app ranks below the top 200,000.
- Top 10,000
- beenverified.com
- spokeo.com
- truepeoplesearch.com
- whitepages.com
- Top 20,000
- intelius.comPeopleConnect
- truthfinder.comPeopleConnect
- Top 50,000
- fastpeoplesearch.com
- instantcheckmate.comPeopleConnect
- peoplefinders.com
- radaris.com
- thatsthem.com
- Top 200,000
- pimeyes.com
- Below top 200,000
- deepsearch.appOur product
Cloudflare Radar ranks domains by DNS queries to its 1.1.1.1 resolver, for the week of Oct 19, 2026, and gives an exact rank only to the top 100. Source: Cloudflare (CC BY-NC 4.0), read Oct 25, 2026.
PeopleConnect runs TruthFinder, Instant Checkmate, Intelius and US Search.
One suppression request covers name searches on all four. Moving from one of them to another keeps you with the same owner. See the TruthFinder alternatives.
Source: PeopleConnect, read
Who runs each lookup tool
| Tool | Run by | Where |
|---|---|---|
| DeepSearch | Reload Technologies FZCO | Based in: Dubai, United Arab Emirates |
| Spokeo | Spokeo, Inc. | Legal notices: Pasadena, California |
| BeenVerified | BeenVerified, LLC | Based in: New York City |
| TruthFinder | TruthFinder, LLC, a PeopleConnect brand | Headquarters: San Diego, California |
| PeopleFinders | PeopleFinders, LLC | Legal notices: San Francisco, California |
| Whitepages | Whitepages, Inc. | Governing law: Washington State |
| Truecaller | Truecaller AB | Based in: Sweden |
| ClarityCheck | ClarityCheck Inc | Headquarters: Claymont, Delaware |
| Who Called Me | Wotcha Sp. z o.o. | Registered in: Łódź, Poland |
| TinEye | Idée Inc. | Based in: Toronto, Canada |
| PimEyes | EMEA Robotics LTD | Registered in: Dubai, United Arab Emirates |
Are more or fewer people reading about these sites?
Of the five people-search brands with an English Wikipedia article we track, only Spokeo's article gained readers (+4.1%) in the 12 months to September 2026. BeenVerified's lost 33.5%, against a 7.5% fall across English Wikipedia.
October 2025 to September 2026
Change in Wikipedia readers of each people-search brand
English Wikipedia human pageviews, October 2025 to September 2026, against the 12 months before.
| Article | Views, October 2025 to September 2026 | Change on the 12 months before |
|---|---|---|
| Spokeo | 32,502 | +4.1% |
| Whitepages | 43,862 | −3.7% |
| PimEyes | 63,697 | −11.0% |
| Intelius | 14,837 | −22.4% |
| BeenVerified | 18,114 | −33.5% |
| All English Wikipedia | 80,437,285,169 | −7.5% |
Human readers only, on every platform. Human pageviews are falling across Wikipedia, so the line for all of English Wikipedia is the fair comparison. Source: Wikimedia Foundation (CC0 1.0), read Oct 25, 2026.
What have regulators and courts done?
In the US, the FTC’s cases against Spokeo, Instant Checkmate and TruthFinder were brought under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. In Europe, data protection and consumer authorities have acted on PimEyes, ChatGPT, DeepSeek and Grok.
People search and lookup tools
Federal Trade Commission
Spokeo agreed to pay an $800,000 civil penalty to settle charges that it marketed people profiles to employers and recruiters in violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
Federal Trade Commission
Instant Checkmate settled charges under the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
Instant CheckmateSource: Federal Trade Commission
Supreme Court of the United States
Held 6 to 2 in Spokeo v. Robins that a bare procedural violation is not enough to sue without a concrete injury.
Spokeo alternativesSource: Supreme Court of the United States (via Cornell LII)
Baden-Württemberg's data protection commissioner
Asked PimEyes to account for the data it processes, noting that the GDPR prohibits using biometric data to uniquely identify a person.
PimEyes alternativesSource: Landesbeauftragter für den Datenschutz und die Informationsfreiheit Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg's data protection commissioner
Opened fine proceedings against PimEyes. Its site lists no outcome as of 2 November 2026.
PimEyes alternativesSource: Landesbeauftragter für den Datenschutz und die Informationsfreiheit Baden-Württemberg
Federal Trade Commission
Charged TruthFinder and Instant Checkmate with deceiving consumers about criminal records and with violating the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
TruthFinder alternativesInstant CheckmateSource: Federal Trade Commission
US District Court, Southern District of California
Entered a stipulated order with a $5.8 million civil penalty. The companies neither admitted nor denied the allegations.
TruthFinder alternativesInstant CheckmateSource: US District Court for the Southern District of California (via FTC)
AI assistants
Ireland's Data Protection Commission
Went to the High Court over training Grok on EU and EEA users' public posts. The case was struck out in September 2024 after X agreed to keep to its undertaking permanently.
Grok alternativesSource: Data Protection Commission (Ireland)
Italy's data protection authority, the Garante
Announced a EUR 15 million fine on OpenAI over ChatGPT and ordered a six-month information campaign.
ChatGPT alternativesSource: Garante per la protezione dei dati personali
Italy's data protection authority, the Garante
Ordered DeepSeek to limit, with immediate effect, its processing of personal data of people in Italy.
DeepSeek alternativesSource: Garante per la protezione dei dati personali
Ireland's Data Protection Commission
Opened an inquiry into whether personal data in EU and EEA users' public posts was lawfully processed to train Grok.
Grok alternativesSource: Data Protection Commission (Ireland)
Italy's competition and consumer authority, the AGCM
Closed its case on DeepSeek's hallucination warnings by making DeepSeek's commitments binding, without finding an infringement.
DeepSeek alternativesSource: Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato
New York's Attorney General and 34 other attorneys general
Wrote to xAI that its changes to Grok were not enough to protect users from nonconsensual images.
Ireland's Data Protection Commission
Opened a second inquiry, into sexualized images made with Grok and published on X. No outcome was published as of 2 November 2026.
Grok alternativesSource: Data Protection Commission (Ireland)
Court of Rome
Upheld the appeal against the Garante's ChatGPT decision, which the Garante has since removed from its website for the time being.
ChatGPT alternativesSource: Garante per la protezione dei dati personali
These are the actions our comparison reports cite. A tool missing from this list is not evidence that no action exists.
Leaving
How long does removing your listing take?
Stated removal times run from up to 24 hours at Truecaller to 30 days at ClarityCheck. BeenVerified, TruthFinder, PeopleFinders, Who Called Me, TinEye and PimEyes state no time on the pages we could read.
Read Oct 23 to Nov 2, 2026
Longest wait for a removal, as each company states it
The longest wait each company states for removing a listing or a number from its own site. Bars are drawn to scale in hours.
| Tool | As the company states it | Longest stated wait | What it covers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Truecaller | Up to 24 hours | 24 hours | Unlisting can't be reversed, and numbers marked as spam cannot be unlisted. |
| DeepSearch (ours) | Within 48 hours | 48 hours | A number or URL is normally suppressed at once; an ambiguous name-only request is reviewed within 48 hours. |
| Spokeo | 24 to 48 hours a listing | 48 hours | Each listing has its own URL and is removed separately. |
| Whitepages | Aims for 72 hours | 72 hours | Covers contact details shown on Whitepages only. |
| ClarityCheck | Within 30 days | 30 days | Counted from a verified request. |
Removing a listing from one site does not remove the record from its original source or from other sites. Remove your information from DeepSearch.
AI assistants
Looking for an AI assistant alternative instead?
An AI assistant is not a people search tool: what a chatbot says about a person is not a record, so check it like any other lead. If you are replacing one, each page below ranks its alternatives.
All ten AI assistants here have a free plan; DeepSearch does not. Their cheapest paid plans run from $4.99 a month (Poe) to $29.99 (Use AI). DeepSeek has no paid plan to chart: API billed per token; no subscription.
Prices read Nov 2, 2026
Cheapest paid plan of each AI assistant, a month
The cheapest paid plan on each company's own pricing page, in US dollars a month before tax.
| Tool | Cheapest paid plan | As the company states it |
|---|---|---|
| Poe | $4.99 | From $4.99 a month |
| ChatGPT | $8 | $8 a month for Go, its US launch price |
| Grok | $8 | $8 a month for Plus |
| Monica | $9.90 | $9.90 a month for Pro |
| Felo | $14.99 | $14.99 a month for Pro |
| Merlin AI | $15 | $15.00 a month in the App Store |
| Perplexity | $17 | $17 a month for Pro, billed yearly |
| DeepSearch (ours) | $18 | $18 a month for Pro, with no trial or free plan |
| Claude | $20 | $20 a month for Pro |
| Use AI | $29.99 | $29.99 a month for Pro, after a 7-day trial |
AI assistants
- ChatGPT alternatives6 AI assistants compared
- Claude alternatives6 AI assistants compared
- Perplexity alternatives6 AI search tools compared
- Grok alternatives6 AI assistants compared
- DeepSeek alternatives6 AI assistants compared
- Monica alternatives6 AI assistants compared
- Merlin AI alternatives6 AI assistants compared
- Poe alternatives6 AI assistants compared
- Felo alternatives6 AI search tools compared
- Use AI alternatives6 AI assistants compared
Review
Frequently asked questions
How we made this page
Every company fact on this page comes from a dated comparison report that reads the company’s own pricing, product and removal pages, plus the regulator and court records it cites. We bought no plans, so prices are US list prices before tax, and they can differ by country and offer. We did not measure accuracy, record completeness or customer satisfaction, and this page has no review ratings.
Popularity is Cloudflare Radar’s domain ranking, and reader interest is Wikimedia’s count of English Wikipedia pageviews by people. Both come from pinned copies of the public data, so each figure can be checked against the version we used. We re-check every fact every 90 days and after any change to a price, an opt-out route or a company’s terms.
Regulators and courts
- Federal Trade Commission: Spokeo to Pay $800,000 to Settle FTC Charges, read
- Federal Trade Commission: FTC Says TruthFinder, Instant Checkmate Deceived Users About Background Report Accuracy, Violated FCRA, read
- Supreme Court of the United States (via Cornell LII): Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins, No. 13-1339, read
- Landesbeauftragter für den Datenschutz und die Informationsfreiheit Baden-Württemberg: Gesichtserkennung: LfDI eröffnet Verfahren gegen Unternehmen PimEyes, read
- Landesbeauftragter für den Datenschutz und die Informationsfreiheit Baden-Württemberg: PimEyes: LfDI eröffnet Bußgeldverfahren, read
- US District Court for the Southern District of California (via FTC): Stipulated order, FTC v. Instant Checkmate, LLC, No. 23-cv-1674, read
- Data Protection Commission (Ireland): Data Protection Commission welcomes conclusion of proceedings relating to X's AI tool 'Grok', read
- Garante per la protezione dei dati personali: ChatGPT, the Italian Data Protection Authority closes the preliminary investigation, read
- Garante per la protezione dei dati personali: Provvedimento del 30 gennaio 2025 [10098477], read
- Data Protection Commission (Ireland): Data Protection Commission announces commencement of inquiry into X Internet Unlimited Company (XIUC), read
- Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato: PS12942: Hangzhou DeepSeek and Beijing DeepSeek, commitments decision, read
- New York State Attorney General: Attorney General James demands more action from xAI to stop Grok chatbot from producing inappropriate images, read
- Data Protection Commission (Ireland): Data Protection Commission opens investigation into X (XIUC), read
Company pages
- BeenVerified: BeenVerified subscription plans and pricing, read
- BeenVerified: Is there a free BeenVerified trial?, read
- ClarityCheck: ClarityCheck pricing, read
- PimEyes: PimEyes pricing, read
- TruthFinder: TruthFinder pricing and membership information, read
- PeopleFinders Help Center: How much does PeopleFinders cost?, read
- Spokeo: Spokeo membership checkout, read
- Whitepages: Whitepages Premium pricing, read
- Poe Help Center: Poe Purchases FAQs, read
- OpenAI: Introducing ChatGPT Go, now available worldwide, read
- SpaceXSI (x.ai): Pricing, read
- Monica: Monica plans and pricing, read
- Felo: Felo Pro pricing, read
- Apple App Store (listing by Foyer Tech, Inc.): Merlin AI: AI Chat Assistant, read
- Perplexity: Perplexity pricing, read
- Anthropic: Plans and pricing, read
- Use AI: Use AI plans and pricing, read
- PeopleConnect: PeopleConnect Suppression Center, read
- TruthFinder: About TruthFinder, read
- Truecaller: Unlist phone number, read
- Spokeo: Spokeo opt-out, read
- Whitepages: Whitepages Terms of Service, read
- ClarityCheck: ClarityCheck FAQ, read
Public datasets