📚 OSINT Guides & Research
44 long-form guides for OSINT investigators — technique, edge cases, the current tooling landscape and the pitfalls. Every guide links straight to the tools that run it. Prefer to search? Press ⌘K (or Ctrl+K) anywhere on the site — guides are indexed alongside the tools.
Where can I find free OSINT guides? This hub indexes 89 free OSINT guides across 8 categories — the largest being Privacy & OpSec (22 guides) and Surveillance & ALPR (18). Coverage runs from the Google Dorking Reference and Certificate Transparency log mining to Wayback Machine archive forensics, Maltego alternatives, dark-web OpSec and AI-agent/MCP investigation workflows. A keyword filter on this page narrows all 50 by topic.
🔍 Method & Reference 16 guides
How to actually run an investigation — operators, platforms, and what still works.
We Audited 71 of Our Own Tools (2026)
308 findings, 12 dead tools, the bug patterns behind them and the 10-step checklist for browser-side tools.
Google Dorking Reference (2026)
Operators, syntax and modern bypass techniques.
Username OSINT & Identity
Cross-platform attribution and pivoting.
Wayback Machine OSINT (2026)
Archive forensics, deep crawl tricks, edge cases.
Dark Web OSINT (2026)
Investigate the dark web safely: clearnet gateways, ransomware leak tracking, and OpSec.
AI-Agent OSINT & MCP (2026)
How autonomous AI agents and MCP servers now run investigations.
OSINT vs Professional Intelligence (2026)
How open tools democratized the classic intelligence disciplines — and where OSINT still can’t reach.
OSINT Tool Graveyard (2026)
Dead tools, their replacements, and why they died.
Search Engine Landscape (2026)
Where to actually look beyond Google in 2026.
Maltego Alternatives (2026)
SpiderFoot, Lampyre, Gephi and the free stack — split by which half of Maltego you actually use.
Archive Helper: Full Wayback Machine Scans From Your Browser
Free, optional userscript that lets seven Max Intel archive tools run full Wayback Machine scans from your own browser and IP.
Who Lived at This Address? Old Records Guide (2026)
Find who lived at an address and when: city and criss-cross directories, deed indexes, Sanborn maps, the 1950 census and old newspapers…
Skip Tracing in 2026: Free Methods That Still Work
What skip tracing is, who may legally do it, and the free public-record steps that still work in 2026, plus FCRA, DPPA and pretexting…
Pig Butchering Scams: How They Work and How to Trace One
How pig butchering crypto scams work, stage by stage, with red flags, 2025 FBI loss figures, recovery-scam warnings, how to trace funds and…
European Public Records by Country (2026): Registers
Company, beneficial-ownership, court, land and insolvency registers for 21 European countries: who can see what, costs, and the journalist…
Public Records by Country Outside the EU (2026)
Company, beneficial-ownership, court and land registers for 31 countries outside the EU, from Canada to China: what is free and who sees owners.
🌐 Domain, DNS & Network 6 guides
Infrastructure investigation — from a hostname to the machines and people behind it.
DNS Reconnaissance & Subdomain Discovery
Active and passive subdomain enumeration.
Certificate Transparency for OSINT
Mining CT logs for subdomain discovery.
WHOIS & RDAP Guide (2026)
Modern domain ownership lookup after privacy laws.
MAC & Network Forensics
Hardware identifiers and how to interpret them.
Geolocation OSINT
From IP to GPS — every breadcrumb a target leaves.
How to Find Backlinks (2026)
Every link: operator is dead. What still works, which paid index to buy, and a free tool that queries the Common Crawl webgraph.
🖼️ Media & Forensics 9 guides
Working out what an image, a file, or a piece of writing can tell you.
Image Forensics Guide
Detect manipulation: ELA, metadata, geolocation.
Steganography Guide
Hidden data in images, audio, and unusual carriers.
Stylometry & the Pseudpocalypse
Your writing is a fingerprint — and AI reads it effortlessly. How authorship attribution works and how to defend your anonymity.
Cellebrite & Phone Forensics
What Cellebrite's own leaked matrices say it can extract — and why BFU vs AFU decides everything.
How to Verify a Video (2026)
C2PA and platform labels, SynthID and Sora marks, keyframe reverse search, container metadata, temporal checks, chain of custody — a 12-step workflow.
Photo Forensics Software Compared (2026)
FotoForensics, Forensically, Ghiro, Amped Authenticate and Max Intel's free studio — features, where your image goes, and cost.
Video Forensics Software Compared (2026)
Amped FIVE, Magnet Verify, InVID-WeVerify, MediaInfo/ffprobe and Max Intel's free Video Forensics Studio.
Forensics Methods & Thresholds
How ELA, JPEG ghost, copy-move, noise, LSB and the video checks are computed, and the exact numbers behind each verdict.
How to Check a Satellite-Image Claim (2026)
A viral satellite image is often older than it looks. A five-step check, free tools (Esri Wayback, Copernicus, Google Earth) and how to…
💬 Platform OSINT 5 guides
Platform-specific technique for the messaging and social apps people actually use.
Telegram OSINT
The platform with no index. t.me dorks, TGStat, Telemetr.io, Telepathy, and recovering deleted posts.
TikTok OSINT
Closed API, ephemeral content. The numeric ID, yt-dlp capture, and why the follow list beats the videos.
Discord OSINT
Snowflake IDs encode an unspoofable creation timestamp. How to decode them and what you genuinely can't get.
X (Twitter) OSINT in 2026: What Still Works
Nitter and XCancel are gone. What still works for X research in 2026: the About this account panel, search operators, Community Notes…
Substack OSINT & Safety Guide (2026): Profiles, Scams, AI
What a Substack profile reveals, investigator URLs, custom-domain checks, the AI-text scan, the 2026 breach, impersonation scams and a…
🛡️ Privacy & OpSec 22 guides
Protecting yourself — as an investigator, and as a person in other people’s databases.
OSINT OpSec & Managed Attribution
Investigate without leaking back to your subject — sock puppets, isolation, query hygiene, and a checklist.
Face Search Apps, Smart Glasses & Privacy in Public (2026)
Sherlock and other face-search apps, camera glasses, shop and police face recognition: what is real, the law, and how to opt out.
How to Remove Yourself From People-Search Sites (2026)
A step-by-step 2026 opt-out guide for the major people-search and data-broker sites — which ones matter, how each removal works, and what…
AI & Your Privacy
What ChatGPT collects, how to opt out, and how AI supercharges surveillance.
🛡️ Ring & Sidewalk OPSEC Guide
Opt out of Amazon Sidewalk, harden Ring devices, and audit your smart-home exposure.
Password Security & Entropy
Hash strength, cracking economics, modern KDFs.
Why Password Lists Disagree (2026)
NordPass vs HIBP vs Specops vs Cybernews — why the same password gets 100x different counts.
Best Encrypted Email 2026
Proton vs Tuta vs StartMail — and the metadata truth encryption can't hide.
Tor and Onion OpSec for Investigators (2026)
How investigators use Tor safely: what Tor hides and leaks, Safest mode, bridges, Tails vs Whonix, file leaks, onion checks, and how…
Official .onion Addresses, Verified (2026)
Verified official Tor .onion addresses for ProPublica, the CIA, Proton Mail, Internet Archive, Debian and news SecureDrops, plus a v3…
How Many People Use Tor? 2026 Numbers
Tor Metrics estimates 3.4 million Tor users a day in 2026. Top countries, bridge use as a censorship signal, relay counts and onion sites…
Is My Phone Being Tracked? A Vendor-Free Checklist (2026)
How to tell if your phone is tracked, hacked or monitored: free iPhone and Android checks for stalkerware, AirTags, account access, SIM…
Can Wi-Fi See You Through Walls? What's Real in 2026
What Wi-Fi sensing can really do in 2026: CSI and 802.11bf, what MIT, CMU and KIT research showed, Xfinity WiFi Motion, MAC tracking, GDPR…
Remove Yourself From Google & Blur Your House (2026)
Blur your house on Google Maps, use Results about you, remove doxxing, ID numbers and explicit images, and use the EU right to be forgotten.
ChatGPT Ads Targeting: Email Lists, Privacy & OSINT (2026)
ChatGPT advertisers can upload email and phone lists, if 25,000 users match.
Being Doxxed? What to Do Now and How to Prevent It (2026)
Being doxxed? First steps, an incident log, carrier SIM locks, swatting risk, address confidentiality programs and data-broker removal…
Sextortion: Get Intimate Images Removed, Avoid Fake Help
What to do if you're sextorted: don't pay, save evidence, report. Free removal under the Take It Down Act, NCMEC, StopNCII, and how to spot…
Text & QR Scams 2026: Toll, Delivery, DMV, Parking QR
Fake toll, USPS, DMV and voter texts and parking-meter QR codes: how to check a link safely, report to 7726 and IC3, and set your phone to…
Election Scams Before the 2026 Midterms: Check & Report
FBI-flagged midterm scams: fake PACs, campaign "investment pools", merch that never ships, fake registration texts, AI "officials".
Smart TV Tracking: What Your TV Collects, How to Stop It
How smart TVs track what you watch with ACR, the LG and Gamers Nexus dispute, FTC and Texas actions, and official opt-out steps by brand.
Advertising ID: What It Reveals and How to Delete It (2026)
What your phone's advertising ID reveals, how spyware and data brokers used it, and official steps to delete or reset it on Android…
Exposed Security Cameras: How to Secure Yours (2026)
Why over 40,000 security cameras stream openly online, what the Verkada, Ring, Wyze and Flock cases show, and how to check and secure your…
📡 Surveillance & ALPR 18 guides
Original research on plate readers, device tracking and the vendors selling them.
Drone as First Responder (DFR)
How police 911 drones work, FAA waivers and Part 108, Flock, Skydio, Axon and BRINC, plate-reading drones, state warrant laws and 2026 news.
AI Cameras on Trash Trucks, Mail Trucks and Robots
Dallas trash-truck code cameras, the USPS dashcam pilot, camera robots in LA and the McDonald’s face-scan claim: what each records and what is still unknown.
License-Plate Readers and the 2026 Midterms
State ALPR laws passed in 2025–26, governors’ orders, six federal bills, local ballot questions, and what candidates from both parties have said — quoted and dated. Snapshot as of 8 Oct 2026.
Flock Safety 2026 — Fight Back
ALPR abuses, current lawsuits, and the legal ways communities cancel contracts.
Flock Off, Axon On (2026)
Cities drop Flock ALPR — then keep the same surveillance under Axon. What the record shows.
ALPR Cameras by US State
Free dataset: 143,919 plate readers mapped, ranked per capita. CSV + JSON + the query.
Every Documented ALPR Misuse
The accountability file: 82 police stalking cases (IJ, Oct 2026), 27 wrongful stops, 83,345 cameras for one woman. Sourced.
SignalTrace + ALPR (2026)
Plate readers upgraded to capture your phone, wearables & Bluetooth — and tie them to your car.
Investigation: Mapping ALPR Surveillance
A reproducible open-source investigation — map the cameras in your town and check if police searched your plate.
FOIA the Surveillance State (2026)
Records-request playbook + free generator for ALPR, SignalTrace, Fusus, drones & facial recognition.
IMSI Catchers & Stingrays
Fake cell towers explained, and how EFF's $20 Rayhunter detects them.
United States v. Kyle: Flock Search Ruled Unconstitutional
A federal judge in Oklahoma ruled a deputy's warrantless Flock plate search unconstitutional and suppressed the evidence.
Police Statements on ALPR Rules: 465 Compared (2026)
465 police and sheriff statements on 2026 license plate reader rules, from Missouri EO 26-18 to Florida and Texas: what each affirms…
Flock Safety Product Names Explained (2026 Glossary)
Flock Safety's product names in plain English: Falcon, Condor, Raven, Alpha drones, FlockOS, Nova, FreeForm.
Private Flock Cameras: HOAs, Retailers & Businesses (2026)
HOAs, stores and malls buy Flock plate readers and can share them with police, even where a city cancelled.
Raven by Graylark: AI Photo Geolocation for Police (2026)
Raven, the renamed GeoSpy, lets police geolocate photos, even of a room.
Drone Overhead? Identify It With Remote ID and ADS-B (2026)
Identify a drone overhead: what FAA and EU Remote ID broadcast, which apps read it, why drones skip ADS-B, detection methods, the law and…
ICE Surveillance Technology (2026): Tools, Data & Rights
Mobile Fortify face scans, Palantir, bought location data, social-media monitoring, IRS and Medicaid data, court status, and how to protect…
⚖️ Law, Policy & Ethics 4 guides
Where the legal lines sit, and how the policy landscape is moving.
Is OSINT Legal?
The three tests that decide it, why hiQ won the CFAA and still lost, and the FCRA trap that catches more investigators than hacking law.
Age Verification Laws & Privacy
27 states now require ID-grade age checks. Why privacy advocates call it surveillance, and what the UK already showed.
California DROP & the Delete Act
Delete yourself from 600+ data brokers with one free request. The Aug 1 2026 deadline, and what non-Californians can do.
Predictive Policing Explained
Crime-forecasting algorithms — sold as objective, documented as <0.5% accurate, and banned from Santa Cruz to the EU.
⭐ Comparisons & Best-of 9 guides
Ranked picks when you just want the best option without reading everything.
Best Password Manager 2026
Bitwarden vs 1Password vs Proton Pass — honest comparison, real prices, free-tier truth.
Optery vs DeleteMe (2026)
Verified pricing, the US-only catch, and when neither is right. We earn from both — which is the point.
AI SEO Guide (2026)
Ranking in AI-Overview / GenAI search results.
Intelbase Alternatives 2026 — Free & Paid, Compared
Is Intelbase free? Its published pricing, what it does, and seven alternatives compared: Predicta Search, Holehe, Maigret, HIBP, Epieos and…
OSINT Industries Alternatives 2026 — Free & Paid
Is OSINT Industries free? Published pricing, who gets free access, and the best free alternatives: Predicta Search, Epieos, Holehe, Maigret…
Epieos Alternatives 2026 — Free & Paid, Compared
Is Epieos free? Its free and Osinter plans as published, what each covers, and the best free alternatives: Holehe, GHunt, Predicta Search…
IntelTechniques Search Tool: Status & Free Alternatives
Is the IntelTechniques Search Tool still free in 2026? What it covers, how the online and offline versions are obtained, and free…
OSINT Framework Alternatives 2026: Free Tools Compared
What OSINT Framework is, how its T, D, R and M markers work, and free alternatives compared: Bellingcat Toolkit, Awesome OSINT, Max Intel…
EmailOSINT Alternatives (2026): Free & Paid, Compared
Is EmailOSINT free or legit? Its plans, infostealer and AI-summary caveats, and free and paid alternatives compared from each tool's own…