Editorial Policy

How I Test

Every review passes three checks before it goes up: I've used the service, I've run enough lookups to see it work and fail, and I can describe specific results that illustrate the point. No concrete outcomes, no review. Testing is done with real names across real scenarios: first dates from Hinge, contractor checks, babysitter vetting, and household decisions I've personally had to make in Mesa, Arizona over the past three years.

The gap I specifically look for: which record types come back current versus which ones show 2018 data and call it a fresh report. That's usually where the useful information is, and it's what a product page won't show you. I've run over 60 lookups across multiple services. The patterns across those lookups are what the comparisons are based on.

No service gets reviewed without me paying for it first. I haven't taken a free access code in exchange for coverage, and I don't run sponsored reviews.

Affiliate Relationships

Some links here are affiliate links. Click one, sign up, I get a small cut, at no extra cost to you. The commission doesn't influence which services get covered or how they're rated. If a service recycles stale data or makes the lookup process harder than it needs to be, the review describes that.

FCRA Notice

One thing worth calling out plainly: People Search results are not FCRA-compliant and cannot be used for tenant screening, hiring decisions, credit checks, or any other federally regulated purpose. That's a legal line, not a suggestion.

Scope

SleuthPost covers People Search and personal background check services for personal-use decisions: dating verification, contractor vetting, household decisions. It doesn't cover data removal subscriptions, password managers, VPNs, or identity theft monitoring. Results vary by state, name frequency, and how current the service's underlying data is. What I pull up in Arizona on a specific name may differ from your results in another state.

Corrections

Found an error or a result that went differently than I described? The contact page is the right place.