Free People Search Engines – Explanation

It’s amazing how many people ask me this same question . They can’t seem to find any free people search engines . The reason for that is very simple one: There isn’t such thing as a 10)% free people search engine . It simply doesn’t exist . I would dare to say that less than 1% of the websites on the entire internet are ‘100% free’.

Why would a make such a bold assumption? Ever heard someone say: “Nobody gives you 100% free lunch”? ? It’s the same case for the web . Most websites on the internet usually make money via advertising (banners, text ads) or the freemium model – most of their stuff is free but they also have stuff they offer for a premium price . I’m talking about sites most people believe to be free.

ZabaSearch.com is a very good example as one of the most popular ‘people finder’ websites on the internet . The only ‘free section’ they have is the ’search by name’ box. The other sections like ’search by email’ or ’search by phone number’ redirect you to Intelius which is a paid background check/public records search website .

Same case with WhitePages . If you’re from US then you have probably heard about them, they’re one of the top 100 most popular websites in the world and have the best database of various data on people. They use 2 models:

• If you search for someone’s name, they give you the address for free but in order to obtain the phone number you need to register
• The reverse email check service is powered by MyLife and White Pages gets commission by every free user they refer to MyLife

So far I haven’t seen any free people search engine which is 100% free (without ads, a registration requires, ‘premium’ features or a product they sell). The owners of those sites build the sites with a particular purpose. The primary purpose is making money. If you ask me, there isn’t anything wrong with that.

So what can you do? It’s good that although those services are not maybe 100% free, most of them are 85-99% free! . For a start, check out this list of websites if you want to locate someone .

Filed Under: Mag iPhone Authors