📚 Guides & Research
Last updated:
Long-form reference material for OSINT investigators. Each guide goes deeper than a tool description — covering the technique, edge cases, current tooling landscape, and known pitfalls.
Best-Of Lists, Rankings & Comparisons
Ranked, regularly-updated picks — the fast answer when you just want the best free option.
Best Free OSINT Tools (2026)
20 tools ranked by category — usernames, email, domains, metadata, breach.
Best Free People Search Sites (2026)
10 genuinely-free people finders, ranked. Truly free vs. freemium.
Best Free Face Search Tools (2026)
Ranked free facial-recognition / reverse-image tools, with the legal limits.
Is Maltego Free? Tier & Alternatives
Free Basic-plan limits, whether it is worth it, and free alternatives ranked.
Maigret vs Sherlock vs WhatsMyName
Head-to-head verdict — sites checked, speed, false positives, and which to use.
Best Social Media OSINT Tools (2026)
10 free tools ranked for finding and analysing profiles across Instagram, X, and Telegram.
Best Data Breach Checkers (2026)
10 free and freemium tools ranked to see if your email, passwords, or data leaked.
Best Email Lookup & Reverse Email Tools
8 free and freemium tools ranked — Epieos, Hunter.io, Holehe, and more.
Is My Email on the Dark Web?
How to check your email for breach, combolist, and stealer-log exposure, free.
How to Remove Yourself From the Internet
Data-broker opt-out guide — clear your personal info from people-search sites.
Is OSINT Legal?
Is it legal to look someone up, is dorking illegal, and where OSINT becomes stalking.
How to Protect Yourself From Doxxing
Defensive guide for creators and streamers — reduce what ties you to your real identity.
Check Your Digital Footprint (Free)
A free self-audit of what's exposed about you online, and how to clean it up.
What Is a Sock Puppet?
Research-persona tradecraft and OPSEC for legitimate investigators, done safely.
All Guides
Sorted in roughly the order you'd use them across an investigation lifecycle.
Google Dorking Reference (2026)
Operators, syntax and modern bypass techniques.
Search Engine Landscape (2026)
Where to actually look beyond Google in 2026.
OSINT Tool Graveyard (2026)
Dead tools, their replacements, and why they died.
AI SEO Guide (2026)
Ranking in AI-Overview / GenAI search results.
Certificate Transparency for OSINT
Mining CT logs for subdomain discovery.
Wayback Machine OSINT (2026)
Archive forensics, deep crawl tricks, edge cases.
Image Forensics Guide
Detect manipulation: ELA, metadata, geolocation.
MAC & Network Forensics
Hardware identifiers and how to interpret them.
DNS Reconnaissance & Subdomain Discovery
Active and passive subdomain enumeration.
Password Security & Entropy
Hash strength, cracking economics, modern KDFs.
Steganography Guide
Hidden data in images, audio, and unusual carriers.
Username OSINT & Identity
Cross-platform attribution and pivoting.
Geolocation OSINT
From IP to GPS — every breadcrumb a target leaves.
WHOIS & RDAP Guide (2026)
Modern domain ownership lookup after privacy laws.