# Max Intel — Free OSINT Tools > Max Intel is a free, browser-based open-source-intelligence (OSINT) suite for investigators, journalists and security researchers: 79 tools and 44 long-form guides, no signup and no API keys. Most tools run entirely in your browser and upload nothing. Thirteen tools route the value you enter through a proxy Max Intel operates because the upstream APIs block direct browser calls (listed at https://maxintel.org/privacy.html#proxy); the reverse-image tool stores an uploaded image at a public URL for 24 hours and then deletes it. No accounts, and no data is sold. ## Tools — Workflow - [OSINT Pivot Hub — One Selector, Every Lookup (Free)](https://maxintel.org/pivot-hub.html): Enter one selector — email, username, phone, domain, IP or name — and the Pivot Hub fans it out to every relevant Max Intel tool, pre-filled. Free. - [AI OSINT Investigation Planner — Free Plan Builder](https://maxintel.org/ai-investigation-planner.html): Tell it what you have and what you want to learn, and it builds a phased OSINT plan with the right tools and AI dorks for each step. Free, no signup. - [Evidence Logger — Timestamp & Hash OSINT Findings (Free)](https://maxintel.org/evidence-logger.html): A browser-based chain-of-custody logger: record each finding with a timestamp and SHA-256 hash, then export a case log as Markdown, CSV or JSON. - [Free OSINT Report Builder — Export a Case Report](https://maxintel.org/report-builder.html): Turn findings into a clean OSINT report — title, summary, findings and sources with live preview, then export as Markdown, HTML or PDF. Client-side. - [AI Dorks for OSINT — Copy-Paste Claude Prompts (Free)](https://maxintel.org/ai-dorks.html): Copy-paste AI dorks: OSINT prompts engineered so Claude fetches and parses real public data — RDAP, crt.sh, DNS, Wayback — instead of guessing. ## Tools — AI Dorking - [AI Dorks for Domain & Infrastructure OSINT](https://maxintel.org/ai-dork-infrastructure.html): Copy-paste Claude prompts for domain and infrastructure OSINT — RDAP, passive DNS, crt.sh certificates, subdomain enumeration, ASN and Wayback history. - [AI Dorks for Corporate OSINT & Beneficial Ownership](https://maxintel.org/ai-dork-corporate.html): Claude AI dorks for corporate due diligence — trace beneficial ownership and shell companies through public registries and ICIJ Offshore Leaks, with cites. - [AI Dorks to Geolocate a Photo](https://maxintel.org/ai-dork-geolocation.html): Claude AI dorks to work out where a photo was taken — EXIF GPS extraction, visual-cue geolocation, sun-and-shadow chronolocation and reverse image search. - [AI Dorks for Username & Social Media OSINT](https://maxintel.org/ai-dork-social.html): Claude AI dorks for username search and social media OSINT — search a handle across thousands of sites and correlate which accounts share an operator. - [AI Dorks for PDF Metadata & Document OSINT](https://maxintel.org/ai-dork-documents.html): Claude AI dorks for document OSINT — extract PDF metadata, find redactions and hidden text, pull tables and triage unknown strings from files you upload. - [AI Dorks to Verify Photos & Fact-Check Claims](https://maxintel.org/ai-dork-verification.html): Claude AI dorks to check whether a photo is real and fact-check claims against primary sources — EXIF and C2PA checks plus graded, cited verdicts. - [AI Dorks for Due Diligence, Sanctions & PEP Checks](https://maxintel.org/ai-dork-subject.html): Claude AI dorks for lawful due diligence — public-record profiles, OFAC and sanctions checks, and PEP screening with collision-safe identity matching. - [AI Dorks to Find Email Addresses](https://maxintel.org/ai-dork-contact.html): Claude AI dorks for contact OSINT — find and verify a work email address from public sources, check the pattern against a domain, and cite every hit. ## Tools — People & Identity - [Free People Search — Find Anyone by Name](https://maxintel.org/person.html): Search 67 free sources at once: people finders, social media, public records, licenses, and political donations. No signup. Find anyone by name. - [Free Username Search — 44 Sites at Once](https://maxintel.org/username.html): Check a username across 44 social, forum, gaming and developer sites in one click, plus links to the big aggregate checkers. Free, no signup. - [Stylometry Analysis Tool — Free Authorship Check](https://maxintel.org/stylometry.html): Compare writing samples to detect shared authorship. Free stylometry tool measuring vocabulary, syntax, and style fingerprints for OSINT. - [Ghost Finder — Recover Deleted Social Profiles](https://maxintel.org/ghost-finder.html): Hunt for deleted, suspended or privatised social profiles in Wayback Machine archives — bios, linked accounts, emails and locations across 32 platforms. - [Facebook OSINT — Profile Intelligence & Reports](https://maxintel.org/facebook-osint.html): Investigate Facebook profiles and generate intelligence reports. Free Facebook OSINT tools and techniques for researchers, no signup. - [Free Stylometry Lab — Burrows' Delta Authorship](https://maxintel.org/stylometry-lab.html): Compare writing samples with Burrows' Delta and function-word analysis to test whether two texts share an author. Runs in your browser, no upload. ## Tools — Contact - [Free Reverse Email Lookup & Breach Check](https://maxintel.org/email.html): Investigate any email address free: breach exposure, reputation, linked social accounts, and provider data. Instant reverse email OSINT, no signup. - [Free Reverse Phone Lookup — Who Called You](https://maxintel.org/phone.html): Look up any phone number free: carrier, caller ID, spam reports, and likely location. Instant reverse phone OSINT, no signup required. - [Free Address Lookup — Property & Resident Search](https://maxintel.org/address.html): Look up any address free: property records, ownership history, residents, and satellite imagery. Instant address OSINT, no signup required. ## Tools — Social & Media - [Free Social Media Search by Email or Phone](https://maxintel.org/social.html): Search Twitter/X, Instagram, Facebook, and more from one place. Free social media OSINT tools for finding profiles and activity. No signup. - [Free Video OSINT — Analysis, Verification & Download](https://maxintel.org/video.html): Analyze, verify, and download video for OSINT: metadata, frames, reverse search, and authenticity checks. Free video investigation tools. - [Free News & Media Archive Search — OSINT](https://maxintel.org/news.html): Search news archives and media sources for OSINT research and verification. Find articles, track coverage, and cross-check claims, no signup. - [Free Document & Pastebin OSINT Search](https://maxintel.org/documents.html): Search leaked documents, pastebins, and public code dumps for exposed data. Free document OSINT across multiple sources, no signup required. - [Career Page Intelligence — Hiring & Tech Stack Recon](https://maxintel.org/career-intel.html): Read a company's hiring signals: job-posting timelines, tech stack from listings, and growth indicators. Free career-page OSINT for researchers. ## Tools — Domain & Network - [Free Domain OSINT — WHOIS, DNS & Subdomains](https://maxintel.org/domain.html): Investigate any website free: DNS records, WHOIS, SSL certs, subdomains, and tech stack in one scan. Complete domain reconnaissance, no signup. - [Subdomain Scanner & Domain Recon — Free Online](https://maxintel.org/domain-recon.html): Map a domain's full attack surface: DNS, subdomains, certificates, and tech in one dashboard. Free domain reconnaissance for investigators. - [WHOIS History — Extract Archived Registrant Data](https://maxintel.org/whois-history.html): Recover historical WHOIS data from archived snapshots: past registrants, orgs, addresses, and phones. Free WHOIS-history OSINT, beats GDPR gaps. - [Certificate Transparency Search — Free Subdomains](https://maxintel.org/ct-monitor.html): Find every SSL certificate ever issued for a domain via CT logs — exposing subdomains, staging, and internal hosts. Free crt.sh-powered recon. - [Website Technology Lookup — Free Tech Stack Check](https://maxintel.org/tech-stack.html): Identify any website's tech stack: frameworks, analytics, CDNs, and servers. Free technology profiler for competitive and OSINT research. - [Wayback Machine OSINT — Search Archived Sites](https://maxintel.org/wayback-recon.html): Mine Wayback Machine and CommonCrawl for forgotten endpoints, exposed configs, and archived secrets. Free web-archive reconnaissance tool. - [Sitemap Historian — Track Added & Removed URLs](https://maxintel.org/sitemap-historian.html): Diff a site's historical XML sitemaps via Wayback Machine — see every URL added or removed and probe the vanished ones. Free recon tool. - [Wikidata Entity Bridge — Cross-ID Pivot Map](https://maxintel.org/wikidata-bridge.html): Pivot between identifiers using Wikidata: connect people, orgs, and works across databases by their IDs. Free entity-bridging tool for OSINT. - [Free IP Lookup — Location, ISP & Threat](https://maxintel.org/ip.html): Look up any IP free: geolocation, ASN, reverse DNS, and threat reputation in one triage view. Fast IP intelligence for investigators. - [Cloud Provider IP Lookup — AWS, Azure, GCP, Tor](https://maxintel.org/cloud-ip.html): Identify which cloud an IP belongs to: AWS, Azure, GCP, Cloudflare, or Tor exit node. Instant cloud-provider and datacenter detection, free. - [MAC Address Lookup & Generator — Free OUI Tool](https://maxintel.org/mac.html): Look up any MAC address against the IEEE OUI database (47,000+ vendors) or generate valid addresses. Free MAC tools for network forensics. - [DHCP Lease Parser — Extract IP & MAC Mappings](https://maxintel.org/dhcp-lease-parser.html): Parse ISC dhcpd, dnsmasq, and syslog lease files to extract IP-to-MAC mappings. Free DHCP forensics tool for network investigations. - [Free Wireless OSINT — WiFi, Cell Towers & BGP](https://maxintel.org/wireless.html): Investigate wireless infrastructure free: WiFi networks, cell towers, and BGP/ASN data. Wireless and network OSINT in one place, no signup. - [ICAO 24-bit Hex Decoder — Aircraft Country Lookup](https://maxintel.org/icao-hex-decoder.html): Decode an aircraft's ICAO 24-bit hex address to its country and registration range. Free aviation OSINT tool for flight tracking, no signup. - [Free RDAP Lookup — Modern WHOIS for Domains & IPs](https://maxintel.org/rdap-lookup.html): RDAP lookup for domains, IP addresses and AS numbers — the structured replacement for WHOIS, queried live against the authoritative registries. ## Tools — Security & Breach - [Free Domain Breach Scanner — Exposure Check](https://maxintel.org/exposed.html): Scan any domain for security exposure: breaches, misconfigurations, and leaked data. Free defensive recon to find what attackers would, no signup. - [Threat Intelligence Tools — Free IP Reputation Check](https://maxintel.org/threat.html): Investigate indicators, browse threat feeds, and monitor a live dashboard in one suite. Free threat-intelligence tools for defenders and OSINT. - [Internet Threat Dashboard — Live Security Overview](https://maxintel.org/threat-dashboard.html): A live overview of internet threats: active campaigns, indicators, and security signals in one dashboard. Free situational awareness for defenders. - [Connection Fingerprint — Run Network Recon on Yourself](https://maxintel.org/connection-fingerprint.html): See what your connection reveals: IP, DNS, TLS fingerprint, VPN/proxy/Tor detection, and leaks across 22 endpoints. 100% client-side, free. - [Pwned Password Check — Free Breach Lookup Online](https://maxintel.org/pwned-passwords.html): Check if a password appears in known breaches using k-anonymity — your password never leaves your browser. Free, privacy-preserving lookup. - [HIBP Breach Catalog Browser — Searchable List](https://maxintel.org/hibp-catalog-browser.html): Browse and search the Have I Been Pwned breach catalog: what leaked, when, and how many records. Free breach-database reference for OSINT. - [GitHub OSINT — Free Repo Security Audit](https://maxintel.org/github-repo-audit.html): Audit any public GitHub repo for leaked secrets, risky dependencies, and exposed config. Free security scan for OSINT and recon, no signup. - [Cookie & Tracker Exposer — See Who's Watching](https://maxintel.org/cookie-tracker.html): Reveal the cookies and trackers any site sets on you: advertisers, analytics, and fingerprinters. Free privacy-audit tool, runs in-browser. - [Free Password Generator — Strong & Breach-Checked](https://maxintel.org/password-generator.html): Generate strong passwords and passphrases with multi-engine RNG, entropy scoring, and HIBP breach checking. Free, private, in-browser. ## Tools — Records & Assets - [Company OSINT — Free Corporate Records Search](https://maxintel.org/business.html): Investigate any company free: corporate registrations, SEC filings, officers, and ownership. Business and company OSINT in one place, no signup. - [Free Vital Records — Obituaries, Death & Birth](https://maxintel.org/vital.html): Search vital records free: obituaries, death and birth records, and adoption resources. Genealogy and people-search OSINT in one place, no signup. - [Flight & Ship Tracker — Free Transport OSINT](https://maxintel.org/transport.html): Track flights, ships, and vehicles free: live positions, registrations, and history. Transportation OSINT across air, sea, and road, no signup. - [VIN & License Plate Lookup — Free Online](https://maxintel.org/vin.html): Look up vehicles free by VIN or plate: make, history, specs, and owner-search links. Instant vehicle OSINT across multiple sources, no signup. - [Free VIN Decoder — NHTSA Vehicle Lookup](https://maxintel.org/vin-decoder.html): Decode any VIN free with NHTSA data: make, model, year, engine, and specs. Instant vehicle identification for OSINT and buyers, no signup. - [Free Crypto Wallet Lookup — Bitcoin & Ethereum](https://maxintel.org/crypto.html): Trace any crypto wallet free: balances, transactions, and on-chain activity for Bitcoin and Ethereum. Instant blockchain OSINT, no signup. ## Tools — Geo & Imagery - [Reverse Image Search](https://maxintel.org/image.php): Upload or paste an image and run it against the major reverse-image engines. Uploads are stored at a public URL for 24 hours, then deleted. - [Free Geolocation OSINT — Geolocate a Photo](https://maxintel.org/geo.html): Pinpoint and verify locations free: maps, satellite imagery, and weather cross-checks. Geolocation OSINT tools for chronolocation, no signup. - [Free Photo Forensics — ELA, Metadata & Deepfake Check](https://maxintel.org/forensics.html): 30+ image forensics tools free: ELA, metadata, clone detection, JPEG ghosts, and AI-manipulation detection. Verify any photo in your browser. - [Free Video Person Tracker — Find People in Video](https://maxintel.org/video-person-tracker.html): Track and identify every person in a video with clickable timestamps for each appearance. Free in-browser face recognition — no upload, no signup. - [Free OCR Online — Image & PDF to Text](https://maxintel.org/ocr.html): Extract text from images and PDFs free using PaddleOCR and Tesseract, with QR detection. Turn scans into searchable text in-browser, no signup. - [Free Steganography Tool — Hide & Detect Messages](https://maxintel.org/steganography.html): Hide and extract secret messages in images with 2-bit LSB encoding and optional AES-256 encryption. Free steganography in-browser, no signup. - [AI Provenance & C2PA Content Credentials Hub](https://maxintel.org/c2pa-ai-provenance.html): Verify content provenance with C2PA Content Credentials and detect AI-generated media. Tools and techniques for authenticity checks, 2026 hub. - [Free AI Voice & Deepfake Audio Detection Tools](https://maxintel.org/ai-voice-detection.html): Tools and techniques to detect AI-generated and deepfake audio. Verify voice authenticity and spot synthetic speech — a 2026 OSINT resource hub. - [Free EXIF Viewer — Photo Metadata & GPS Online](https://maxintel.org/exif-viewer.html): See all photo metadata, map the GPS location, and download a cleaned copy with metadata stripped. Runs entirely in your browser — no upload. - [Free PDF Metadata Viewer & Remover](https://maxintel.org/pdf-metadata.html): See the title, author, software and timestamps embedded in a PDF, then download a cleaned copy. Runs entirely in your browser — nothing is uploaded. - [Free Weather Chronolocation — Geolocate by Weather](https://maxintel.org/weather-chronolocation.html): Enter the temperature and local time shown in a weather-widget screenshot and match it against live data for major cities to narrow a location. - [Free Steganalysis Lab — Detect LSB Hidden Data](https://maxintel.org/steganalysis-lab.html): In-browser steganalysis: chi-square LSB detection, bit-plane visualisation and hidden-text extraction. Powered by Python via WebAssembly. No upload. - [Free Face Finder — Search Photos for a Person](https://maxintel.org/face-finder.html): Search a folder, ZIP or batch of images for a specific person using your own reference photos — ArcFace face matching, fully client-side. No upload. ## Tools — Discovery & Search - [OSINT Search Engines — Free Directory (2026)](https://maxintel.org/engines.html): Every working search engine in 2026, categorized: general, privacy, academic, code, and regional. A maintained directory for OSINT researchers. - [Google Dork Generator — Free Query Builder](https://maxintel.org/dork.html): Build advanced Google search queries visually — find files, logins, and exposed data without memorizing operators. Free dork generator, no signup. - [External OSINT Tools Directory — 80+ Free Repos & APIs](https://maxintel.org/osint-tools.html): 80+ free OSINT tools that still work in 2026 — GitHub repos, Python scripts and APIs, ranked by category and checked for what is still maintained. - [Free ZIP ↔ JSON Converter — Package for AI](https://maxintel.org/zip-json.html): Convert project folders to JSON and back — bundle code for AI processing or unpack archives. Free, private, in-browser. No upload, no signup. - [URL Pivot Encyclopedia — 145+ OSINT Patterns](https://maxintel.org/url-pivot-encyclopedia.html): 145+ URL pivot patterns for turning one data point into many — usernames, IDs, and account links across platforms. A reference for OSINT pivoting. - [Free QR Code Decoder — Read a QR From an Image](https://maxintel.org/qr-decoder.html): Upload, drop or paste an image or screenshot and read the QR payload in your browser. Detects URLs, Wi-Fi and vCards, and flags phishing links. - [Free Unix Timestamp Converter — Epoch, ISO & Discord](https://maxintel.org/timestamp-converter.html): Turn Unix seconds or milliseconds, or any date, into ISO 8601, UTC, local time, Discord tags and Windows FILETIME. Auto-detects the input format. - [Free Data Wrangler — CSV & JSON Analysis in Browser](https://maxintel.org/data-wrangler.html): Load CSV or JSON and run group-by, dedupe, describe, query and regex extraction for emails, IPs and handles. Powered by Python via WebAssembly. - [Free Entity Graph — Link Analysis & Centrality](https://maxintel.org/entity-graph.html): Paste an edge list and get centrality, connected components and community detection as an interactive graph. Powered by Python via WebAssembly. ## Guides — u{1F50D} Method & Reference - [Google Dorks Cheat Sheet — OSINT Operator Reference](https://maxintel.org/google-dorking-reference-2026.html): Every Google search operator for OSINT, with copy-paste dorks for finding files, logins, cameras, and exposed data. The complete 2026 playbook. - [Username OSINT 2026 — Find Accounts From One Handle](https://maxintel.org/username-osint-guide-2026.html): Find a person's accounts from a single username. Cross-platform identity correlation, the tools that still work, and a full 2026 OSINT workflow. - [Wayback Machine CDX API & OSINT Guide (2026)](https://maxintel.org/wayback-osint-guide-2026.html): Use the Wayback Machine like a pro: recover deleted pages, diff changes, and find archived data. A practitioner's 2026 guide to web-archive OSINT. - [Dark Web OSINT — Investigator’s Guide (2026)](https://maxintel.org/dark-web-osint-guide-2026.html): How to investigate the dark web safely in 2026: clearnet gateways, onion search engines, ransomware leak-site monitoring, and the OpSec that matters. - [AI-Agent OSINT & MCP — Autonomous Recon in 2026](https://maxintel.org/ai-agent-osint-guide-2026.html): AI agents now run OSINT investigations autonomously via MCP servers. A practical 2026 guide to OSINT MCP servers, AI geolocation and browser alternatives. - [OSINT vs Professional Intelligence in 2026](https://maxintel.org/osint-vs-professional-intelligence-2026.html): How open tools democratised the classic intelligence disciplines, what OSINT genuinely replaces, and the places where professional collection still wins. - [OSINT Tool Graveyard 2026: What Died & What Replaced It](https://maxintel.org/osint-tool-graveyard-2026.html): Which free OSINT tools shut down, went paid, or got acquired in 2026 — plus the working alternatives to use instead. Updated, sourced, and honest. - [Search Engine Market Share 2026: What to Use Now](https://maxintel.org/search-engine-landscape-2026.html): Which search engines died, which thrived, and what to actually use in 2026 — general, privacy, and specialist. A maintained landscape for OSINT. - [Maltego Alternatives 2026 — Free & Paid, Compared](https://maxintel.org/maltego-alternatives-2026.html): The best Maltego alternatives in 2026: SpiderFoot for free automated collection, Lampyre and Social Links for the graph, Gephi for visualisation. ## Guides — u{1F310} Domain, DNS & Network - [DNS Reconnaissance — OSINT Guide & Tools (2026)](https://maxintel.org/dns-recon-guide-2026.html): Map a target's DNS footprint: records, subdomains, zone data, and infrastructure. A practical 2026 guide to DNS reconnaissance for OSINT. - [Certificate Transparency for OSINT (2026 Guide)](https://maxintel.org/ct-osint-guide-2026.html): How CT logs expose hidden subdomains, staging servers, and internal infrastructure. A practical 2026 guide to certificate-transparency OSINT. - [WHOIS & GDPR — Find Domain Owners in 2026](https://maxintel.org/whois-rdap-guide-2026.html): What's left of WHOIS after GDPR, how RDAP works, and how to still find registrant data. A practical 2026 guide to domain-ownership OSINT. - [MAC Addresses & Network Forensics Explained (2026)](https://maxintel.org/mac-forensics-guide-2026.html): What hardware identifiers reveal: MAC/OUI lookups, randomization across iOS/Android/Windows, EUI-64, and DHCP analysis. A 2026 forensics guide. - [How to Geolocate a Photo — OSINT Guide (2026)](https://maxintel.org/geolocation-osint-guide-2026.html): How to go from an IP or photo to a real-world location. A practical 2026 guide to geolocation and chronolocation techniques for OSINT. - [How to Find Backlinks in 2026 — Free & Paid Methods](https://maxintel.org/find-backlinks-guide-2026.html): No engine has a working link: operator any more. What still works: Search Console, Bing Webmaster Tools, Marginalia and Mojeek, and the commercial indexes. ## Guides — u{1F5BC}️ Media & Forensics - [How to Detect Fake Images — Forensics Guide (2026)](https://maxintel.org/image-forensics-guide-2026.html): Detect photo manipulation without expensive software: ELA, EXIF, clone detection, AI deepfakes, and C2PA. A practical 2026 forensics guide. - [Steganography Explained — Hide & Detect Hidden Data](https://maxintel.org/steganography-guide-2026.html): How data hides inside images, audio, and files — and how investigators detect it. A practical 2026 guide to steganography and steganalysis. - [Stylometry: How Your Writing Identifies You (2026)](https://maxintel.org/stylometry-pseudpocalypse-writing-identification-2026.html): Stylometry identifies authors from unconscious writing habits, and LLMs made it nearly effortless. How authorship attribution works, and what defeats it. - [Cellebrite & UFED — What Phone Forensics Extracts](https://maxintel.org/cellebrite-phone-forensics.html): What Cellebrite and UFED can and cannot pull off a modern phone, how lawful access actually works, and what full-disk encryption still puts out of reach. ## Guides — u{1F4AC} Platform OSINT - [Telegram OSINT 2026 — Channel Search & t.me Dorks](https://maxintel.org/telegram-osint.html): How to investigate Telegram in 2026. There is no native search, so discovery runs on t.me Google dorks, TGStat, Telemetr.io and Lyzem — plus Telepathy. - [TikTok OSINT 2026 — Profile Lookup & the Numeric ID](https://maxintel.org/tiktok-osint.html): How to investigate TikTok in 2026. A closed API, ephemeral content and an algorithmic feed break normal method — here is what still works, and what doesn't. - [Discord OSINT 2026 — Snowflake IDs & User Lookup](https://maxintel.org/discord-osint.html): How to investigate Discord in 2026. Snowflake IDs encode an unspoofable creation timestamp — here is how to read one, and what you genuinely cannot get. ## Guides — u{1F6E1}️ Privacy & OpSec - [OSINT OpSec & Managed Attribution Guide (2026)](https://maxintel.org/opsec-osint-guide-2026.html): Your OSINT tools can tell the subject you are looking. A 2026 guide to sock puppets, machine isolation, network anonymity and query hygiene. - [Remove Yourself From People-Search Sites (2026)](https://maxintel.org/remove-yourself-people-search-2026.html): 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 re-lists you. - [AI and Your Privacy — What Chatbots Collect (2026)](https://maxintel.org/ai-privacy-what-they-collect-2026.html): What ChatGPT and other AI tools collect, whether they train on your conversations, how to opt out, and why pasting sensitive data is where real harm starts. - [Ring & Sidewalk OPSEC — Opt Out and Harden (2026)](https://maxintel.org/ring-sidewalk-opsec.html): Opt out of Amazon Sidewalk, harden Ring devices, and audit your smart-home exposure. A practical 2026 OPSEC guide for privacy-conscious users. - [How Passwords Get Hacked — Security Guide (2026)](https://maxintel.org/password-security-guide-2026.html): How passwords get cracked and leaked, what entropy really means, and how to defend accounts. A practical 2026 guide to credential security. - [Why Most-Common-Password Lists Disagree (2026)](https://maxintel.org/most-common-passwords-methodology-2026.html): NordPass, HIBP, Specops and Cybernews each publish a list, and their counts for the same password differ enormously. Why, and which to trust when. - [Best Encrypted Email 2026 — Proton vs Tuta vs StartMail](https://maxintel.org/startmail-vs-proton-encrypted-email-2026.html): An honest 2026 comparison on jurisdiction, subject-line encryption, aliases and IMAP — plus the uncomfortable truth about what email encryption cannot do. ## Guides — u{1F4E1} Surveillance & ALPR - [Flock Safety 2026 — Documented Abuses & Fight-Back](https://maxintel.org/flock-surveillance-guide-2026.html): What Flock Safety actually does, the abuses on the public record, the legal challenges under way, and the practical steps that have worked in real towns. - [Cities Are Dropping Flock — and Switching to Axon](https://maxintel.org/flock-to-axon-vendor-swap-2026.html): More than 50 US cities cancelled Flock ALPR contracts by mid-2026, and many replaced the same surveillance with Axon. What changed, and what didn't. - [ALPR Cameras by US State 2026 — Free Dataset](https://maxintel.org/alpr-cameras-by-state-2026.html): Every ALPR camera tagged in OpenStreetMap across all 50 states and DC: 116,655 cameras, 34.3 per 100,000 residents. Georgia leads at 70.4 per 100k. - [Every Documented ALPR & Flock Misuse Case (Sourced)](https://maxintel.org/alpr-misuse-documented-cases.html): A sourced catalogue of ALPR abuse: officers who used plate readers to stalk partners, innocent people held at gunpoint over misreads, and mass searches. - [SignalTrace + ALPR — Plate Readers That Track Phones](https://maxintel.org/signaltrace-alpr-device-tracking-2026.html): Licence plate readers are being upgraded to capture phones, wearables and Bluetooth devices, and tie them to your car. What SignalTrace is and where it runs. - [We Mapped a Surveillance Network With Free Tools](https://maxintel.org/investigation-mapping-alpr-surveillance-2026.html): A reproducible open-source investigation into ALPR surveillance using only free public sources — every step, every query and every dead end, documented. - [FOIA the Surveillance State — ALPR Records Requests](https://maxintel.org/surveillance-tech-foia-records-requests-2026.html): A plain-English guide and free generator for public-records requests on police surveillance tech: ALPR, SignalTrace, Axon Fusus, drones and face recognition. - [IMSI Catchers & Stingrays — How to Detect Them (2026)](https://maxintel.org/imsi-catcher-stingray-detection.html): Fake cell towers harvest your IMSI and track your location. How the attack works, why a forced 2G downgrade is the tell, and which detectors actually help. ## Guides — Law, Policy & Ethics - [Is OSINT Legal? CFAA, GDPR & the FCRA Trap (2026)](https://maxintel.org/is-osint-legal.html): Mostly yes, and the exceptions are specific. The three tests that decide it, why hiQ v. LinkedIn won on the CFAA and still lost, and the FCRA trap. - [Age Verification Laws & Your Privacy (2026)](https://maxintel.org/age-verification-laws-privacy-2026.html): After Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton, 26 US states require ID-grade age checks for adult sites, and the framework is spreading. What the laws require. - [California DROP — Delete Yourself From 600+ Brokers](https://maxintel.org/california-drop-delete-act-2026.html): California's Delete Act created DROP: one request that reaches 600+ registered data brokers. Who qualifies, how to file, and what it does not cover. - [Predictive Policing — How It Works, Why It's Banned](https://maxintel.org/predictive-policing-explained.html): Predictive policing forecasts crime from historical data. How the models work, what The Markup found when it audited them, and why cities keep dropping it. ## Guides — Comparisons & Best-of - [Best Password Manager 2026 — Bitwarden vs 1Password](https://maxintel.org/best-password-manager-2026.html): An honest 2026 password manager comparison: Bitwarden, 1Password and Proton Pass on price, audits, sharing and what actually happens if one is breached. - [Optery vs DeleteMe 2026 — Verified Pricing Compared](https://maxintel.org/optery-vs-deleteme.html): Optery vs DeleteMe with pricing verified from source in July 2026. DeleteMe is US-only at $129/yr; Optery runs $0-$249/yr across five countries. - [AI SEO in 2026: How to Rank in AI Answers (GEO Guide)](https://maxintel.org/ai-seo-guide-2026.html): How to get cited in ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews. A practical 2026 guide to GEO, AEO, and LLM SEO that reflects what actually works. ## Hubs - [Free OSINT Tools — People, Email & Phone Lookup](https://maxintel.org/index.html): A free OSINT suite: people search, email and phone lookup, domain recon, social media, and image forensics. No signup, all browser-based. - [OSINT Guides & Research — Max Intel](https://maxintel.org/guides.html): In-depth OSINT guides and references: dorking, DNS, WHOIS, geolocation, image forensics, and more. Practical, sourced, and updated for 2026. - [External OSINT Tools Directory — 80+ Free Repos & APIs](https://maxintel.org/osint-tools.html): 80+ free OSINT tools that still work in 2026 — GitHub repos, Python scripts and APIs, ranked by category and checked for what is still maintained. - [OSINT Pivot Hub — One Selector, Every Lookup (Free)](https://maxintel.org/pivot-hub.html): Enter one selector — email, username, phone, domain, IP or name — and the Pivot Hub fans it out to every relevant Max Intel tool, pre-filled. Free. - [About Max Intel — Free OSINT Tools Suite](https://maxintel.org/about.html): Max Intel is a free open source intelligence (OSINT) tools suite built by cybersecurity and investigation professionals. Learn about our mission, tools. ## Answers to common questions - Find someone by email: a reverse email lookup checks breach records, linked social accounts and public mentions to identify the owner — free, no sign-up. - Who called me: a reverse phone lookup cross-references caller-ID databases, spam registries and public listings; landlines and business lines resolve best, personal mobiles are often unlisted. - Find accounts by username: people reuse handles, so one username search across 44 sites plus the large aggregate checkers surfaces their other profiles; verify by matching photos, bios and join dates. - Find someone with limited info: pivot from any starting point — a partial name, old email, username or photo each leads to others; chain the tools rather than relying on one. - Find social media by phone number: many platforms allow discovery by the phone number tied to an account, so a reverse lookup can surface linked profiles depending on privacy settings. - All 79 Max Intel tools are free with no account, no sign-up and no charge; most run entirely in your browser and upload nothing.