Our reviewers evaluate products and services based on unbiased research. Top Consumer Reviews may earn money when you click on a link. Learn more about our process.
Tuesday, March 19th
Instant Checkmate lets you search for people by name and location or through a reverse phone lookup. This service is one of the only ones we spotted that also includes criminal records and inmate search right at the top of the site. Be sure to check the "this is me" box if the records you're looking for are your own.
Clarify for more accuracy
As you run Instant Checkmate's people search, watch out for pop-ups that clarify certain details. For example, we were asked if our target is an only child and whether or not he had ever lived in specific cities in the state we entered. We got 96 matches for that person, so Instant Checkmate prompted us to go a little further with an approximate age, any known city of residence, and a middle initial.
Process takes too long
Even when the right person's records come up, the search process drags on even longer. All told, it takes nearly 20 minutes - checking boxes that come up, entering your name and email address, and so forth - before you get to the stage where you can purchase a report with the results. You'll pay $35.12 for a month of unlimited reports of $84.28 for three months of access, both of which renew automatically until you cancel your account. Wait around on the site for a little while, and you'll probably get a pop-up offer of a five-day trial of Instant Checkmate for just $1. Wait even longer and you'll be able to pay a one-time fee of $29.95 for a single report.
Look out for extra fees
As with many people search platforms, Instant Checkmate has a standard report that may include a person's address history, relatives, arrest records, social media profiles, and so on - but to get details found on tax liens, voter registrations, civil judgments and other categories of public records, you'll have to pay an extra $19.99 for a premium report. That's not disclosed anywhere during the main people search process: we had to go into Instant Checkmate's FAQs to find that out.
Costs
Remove your records here, they disappear elsewhere
You may notice a lot of similarities between Instant Checkmate and Truthfinder, another service we evaluated. Makes sense, given that they're owned by the same parent company. Our first indicator that there's crossover between the two platforms was when we submitted a request to remove our own records from one site - and then we no longer showed up in the search results on the other (we think that's a feature and not a bug, by the way).
Mixed feedback from site users
With respect to reputation, both services fare the same: an "A+" and accreditation from the BBB but with mixed feedback from site users. While some people feel that the service offers a good value, others report missing or inaccurate information. We also found a few people who discovered that "unlimited" reports really aren't: when they tried to put the platform to the test by looking up dozens of people, their accounts got flagged for violating the terms of use.
Try the higher-rated services first
We give Instant Checkmate some points for returning accurate matches with the people we searched for, and for having multiple options for accessing them (membership, 5-day trial, single report). On the other hand, there's no need for the platform to make users spend 20+ minutes checking boxes while the search runs, and we're less than thrilled with some of the reviews we read. This isn't a bad option for people search, but it's not our favorite either. Try the higher-ranked platforms first and save Instant Checkmate as a backup plan.
There are hundreds of sites out there that promise to connect you with long-lost relatives, childhood friends, former classmates and coworkers - or to help you look into the background of someone on your radar. Most of these services utilize the same public records databases to deliver results.
So, what makes one people search platform different from the next? None of them guarantee the accuracy of their results - after all, databases can have incorrect information. But, the best services give you enough of a preview before you pay for a report that you can determine for yourself if you've found the right individual. They also may include a trial period of a few days to a week, letting you conduct multiple searches to see if you'll get what you need from their results.
Those trials typically convert to a monthly membership unless you cancel first. As you might guess, some people search providers make that cancellation more difficult than others - or they make it less likely you'll realize that you're opting into a monthly plan with your trial. Be sure to read the fine print.
Another thing to watch out for is the difference between a basic people search and a comprehensive one. What you'll get with almost every platform's initial search is just the basics of phone, address, known relatives and email addresses. More detailed information like criminal records and property ownership will almost always require an upgraded plan, either as a one-off fee for each report you want to run in-depth or as an extra monthly fee.
If you're concerned about having your own personal information available to other people conducting searches, you've got one good reason to visit every people search site, even the lowest-ranked ones: removing your own data from their records. You'll usually find that function at the bottom of the site, worded as "Opt-Out" or "Do Not Sell My Information" . Typically, you'll either enter your information and perform a basic search (no paid membership required), then click on your matching profile to request that it be removed. Finally, expect to get a confirmation email; after you've clicked on the link in it, your info should be removed within 48 hours (though, in our experience, some sites had our results gone almost immediately).
When you're trying to choose among people search providers, they all start to look the same. Confused? Don't worry! You can use these criteria to decide which one to use:
To help you find out more about virtually anyone, TopConsumerReviews.com has evaluated and ranked the most popular people search providers available today. We're confident that this information will make it possible to track down a long-lost relative, learn more about your prospective love interest, or see what your high school classmates are up to!
Select any 2 People Search Providers to compare them head to head