Free skip tracing9 tools, 5 kinds of free
Free skip tracing tools: what is actually free, and where each one stops
Updated September 2026. Independent: no vendor saw this before publication. How we test
The short answer
For real estate, skip tracing is free one property owner at a time. FastPeopleSearch and TruePeopleSearch return phone numbers for a name or an address at no cost, once the county record gives you the owner’s name. Their own terms limit the rest: FastPeopleSearch bars autodialing or texting its numbers, and TruePeopleSearch’s last readable terms reserve it for personal, noncommercial use. For a whole list nothing is free: Propwire searches free and charges 10¢ a match, and Tracers gives the first $100 of searches free.
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What do you need for free?
Pick
FastPeopleSearch
TruePeopleSearch
$0
Enter a name, a phone number or an address and get phone numbers back. FastPeopleSearch’s address lookup lists current and past residents going back up to 40 years.
What it is bad at, and who should not buy itPick
Tracers
The first $100 of searches
Tracers credits the first $100 of skip tracing searches after a trial form that asks your industry and monthly volume, and runs single searches, batch files and an API.
What it is bad at, and who should not buy itPick
PropStream
BatchLeads
7 days, with 50 leads on PropStream
PropStream’s 7-day trial includes 50 free leads, and BatchLeads runs 7 days on its individual plans. REsimpli’s trial is 14 days and PropertyRadar’s 5.
What it is bad at, and who should not buy itPick
Propwire
$0 to search, 10¢ a match
Propwire’s Basic plan searches, comps and downloads up to 10,000 properties a month with no card, and tracing costs 10¢ only for owners it matches.
What it is bad at, and who should not buy itPick
SmartSkip
Best Skip Tracer
15¢ or 20¢ a record
SmartSkip’s Basic account and Best Skip Tracer’s free membership cost nothing to open. SmartSkip bills 15¢ a row with relatives included, Best Skip Tracer 20¢ a lead.
What it is bad at, and who should not buy itEvery kind of free, with where it stops
One owner, by name or address
FastPeopleSearchTruePeopleSearch
$0
Enter a name, a phone number or an address and get phone numbers back. FastPeopleSearch’s address lookup lists current and past residents going back up to 40 years.
What you give upOne search at a time, and each site’s terms limit what you may do with the numbers.
The receipt
- A search by name, phone or address
- $0
The month$0
A first batch at no cost
Tracers
The first $100 of searches
Tracers credits the first $100 of skip tracing searches after a trial form that asks your industry and monthly volume, and runs single searches, batch files and an API.
What you give upIt publishes no price for anything after the $100, and its Trustpilot base is 3 reviews averaging 2.8.
The receipt
- Trial credit
- $100 of searches
- Price after the credit
- Not published
The month$0 until $100 is spent
A trial of a data tool
PropStreamBatchLeads
7 days, with 50 leads on PropStream
PropStream’s 7-day trial includes 50 free leads, and BatchLeads runs 7 days on its individual plans. REsimpli’s trial is 14 days and PropertyRadar’s 5.
What you give upBilling starts by itself when a trial ends, and DealMachine offers no trial as of September 2026.
The receipt
- PropStream trial, 7 days
- $0
- 50 leads included
- $0
- Essentials from day 8
- $99 a month
The month$0 for 7 days
Free to search, pay per match
Propwire
$0 to search, 10¢ a match
Propwire’s Basic plan searches, comps and downloads up to 10,000 properties a month with no card, and tracing costs 10¢ only for owners it matches.
What you give upThe tracing is not free: 100 matched owners cost $10.
The receipt
- Propwire Basic
- $0
- 100 owners traced at 10¢ a match
- up to $10
The monthup to $10
A free account, pay per record
SmartSkipBest Skip Tracer
15¢ or 20¢ a record
SmartSkip’s Basic account and Best Skip Tracer’s free membership cost nothing to open. SmartSkip bills 15¢ a row with relatives included, Best Skip Tracer 20¢ a lead.
What you give upThe account is free and the tracing is not. A manual search on SmartSkip’s free plan is $1.
The receipt
- SmartSkip Basic
- $0
- 100 rows at 15¢
- $15
The month$15
Every free route starts with the owner’s name. The county assessor’s record gives it with the mailing address, and the free skip tracing method goes through it step by step.
What each one gives free, and where it stops
| Free? | FastPeopleSearch |
TruePeopleSearch |
 CyberBackgroundChecks |
Tracers |
Propwire |
SmartSkip |
Best Skip Tracer |
PropStream |
BatchLeads |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| What is free | |||||||||
| Searching an owner | Name, phone, address | Name, phone, address, email | Up to limits it sets | In the $100 credit | Property search, no card | Manual search $1 | Not listed | For the 7-day trial | For the 7-day trial |
| Phone numbers | Free | Free | Free up to its limits | In the $100 credit | 10¢ a match | 15¢ a row | 20¢ a lead | 50 leads in the trial | During the trial |
| Where it stops | |||||||||
| A whole list at once | One search at a time | One search at a time | One search at a time | Batch files, API | Imports of 25,000 | Bulk upload | Not listed | Lists and filters | Lists and filters |
| Stays free | Yes | Yes | Within its limits | Until $100 is spent | Search yes, tracing no | Account yes, tracing no | Membership yes, tracing no | For 7 days | For 7 days |
| Before you call | |||||||||
| Terms or flags for calling | No autodialing or texting its numbers | Personal, noncommercial use | No DNC scrubbing | Not listed | DNC and TCPA flags | Not listed | Litigators identified | Not listed | Not listed |
“Not listed” means the vendor did not list it on the pages we read in September 2026, which is not proof it is missing. TruePeopleSearch’s cell is from its terms as last readable, February 2024.
When free skip tracing stops being free
Free costs time instead of money, one owner at a time. At 10¢ a match, 100 owners on Propwire cost $10 at most, and a paid service traces the same list in one upload: 14¢ an owner on SkipMatrix, 15¢ on REISkip or SmartSkip.
The trials are free for their few days, then bill on their own. BatchLeads says billing starts automatically when its trial ends, REsimpli takes a card before its 14 days begin, and PropertyRadar charges the full term without further notice when its 5 days end.
| Tool | Trial | After it |
|---|---|---|
| PropStream | 7 days, 50 free leads | Essentials $99 a month |
| BatchLeads | 7 days, individual plans | Billing starts automatically. Growth $119 |
 REsimpli | 14 days, card required | Solo $299. Annual plans non-refundable once the trial ends |
 PropertyRadar | 5 days, phone verification | Charged in full for the term chosen, without further notice |
 DealMachine | None as of September 2026 | Basic $99 a seat |
From each vendor’s pricing page and terms, read September 2026.
The nine, what each is for and what it is bad at
In the order of how much is free, from a free search to a trial of a full data tool. The order is not a ranking.
Paid links. If you subscribe through one we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes the order or the picks.
No app on the App Store or Google Play
1Free search by name, phone or address
FastPeopleSearch
Free
Returns landline and cell numbers for a name, runs a reverse phone lookup, and lists current and past residents of an address going back up to 40 years, with no fee.
- Bad at Its terms, effective February 2026, bar using automated tools to dial, text or call the contact details it shows, and copying its data out by hand or by tool.
- Not for A list you plan to load into a dialer or texting tool.
No app on the App Store or Google Play
2Free search, including by email
TruePeopleSearch
Free
Searches by name, phone, address or email at no cost, and points businesses to a separate paid API.
- Bad at Its terms, in the latest copy readable (February 2024), reserve the site for personal, noncommercial use and bar using results for solicitation.
- Not for Calling owners about their property, by its own terms as last readable.
No app on the App Store or Google Play
3Free lookups, up to a limit
CyberBackgroundChecks
Free up to limits it sets
Searches basic information such as names, addresses and phone numbers, free of charge up to limits it sets and does not publish.
- Bad at Its terms say it does not scrub the numbers it shows against any Do Not Call registry, and use past its limits can be suspended.
- Not for Volume, or anyone who needs DNC-checked numbers.
No app on the App Store or Google Play
4A free first batch
Tracers
First $100 of searches free, then unpublished
Credits the first $100 of skip tracing searches after a trial form, and runs single searches, batch files and an API. The form lists real estate investors among the industries it serves.
- Bad at No price is published for what comes after the $100, and its Trustpilot base is 3 reviews averaging 2.8, the newest saying the company was bought by Enformion.
- Not for Anyone who wants the price per search before signing up.
Screenshot from Propwire’s App Store listing, September 2026
5Free to search, 10¢ to trace
Propwire
Free. Tracing 10¢ a match
Search, comps and up to 10,000 property downloads a month cost nothing, sign-up asks for a name and an email only, and tracing is billed only for owners it matches.
- Bad at The tracing is not free, and there is little to check it against: 4 ratings on the App Store and 21 on Google Play.
- Not for Anyone who expects free phone numbers.
No app on the App Store or Google Play
6A free account, relatives included
SmartSkip
Free account, 15¢ a row
Opening the Basic account costs nothing, and bulk tracing is 15¢ a row with relatives and associates in every result.
- Bad at A single manual search costs $1 on the free plan, and there is no Trustpilot profile or G2 listing to check it against.
- Not for Free one-off lookups.
No app on the App Store or Google Play
7A free membership, pay per lead
Best Skip Tracer
Free membership, 20¢ a lead
The free membership traces at 20¢ a lead with up to 8 phone numbers and 2 emails, and $9 a month lowers that to 12¢.
- Bad at Results take 24 to 48 hours, and nothing beyond the account is free.
- Not for Anyone who needs the number today.
Screenshot from PropStream’s App Store listing, September 2026
8A 7-day trial with 50 leads
PropStream
7 days free, then $99
The trial opens the whole data tool for 7 days with 50 free leads, including its 165+ search filters and instant comparables.
- Bad at After the trial it is $99 a month, and tracing on Essentials is 12¢ a contact or $30 a month for Connect.
- Not for A tracing need that lasts past a week, unless you mean to pay.
Screenshot from BatchLeads’s App Store listing, September 2026
9A 7-day trial, contact data included
BatchLeads
7 days free, then $119
Seven days on an individual plan, and every plan includes phone numbers and emails with each lead.
- Bad at Billing starts automatically when the trial ends, and outdated numbers are the complaint its G2 reviewers repeat.
- Not for Anyone who will not be there to cancel on day 7.
This page lists free people-search sites, free accounts and free trials. The paid services, priced at every volume, are on the skip tracing services page.
Where free skip tracing starts: the owner’s name in the property records
Every free route needs the owner’s name, and the county’s public records have it. The assessor’s or property appraiser’s record, searched by address or parcel number, gives the name on the deed and the mailing address for the tax bill, free in many counties. If the owner is an LLC, the state business registry names the people behind it.
From there the people-search sites take a name and a city. The free skip tracing method walks through each step, including how to tell the right person from a namesake.
What the free sites’ own terms allow
The free sites are free to search, and each sets its own rules for what comes next. FastPeopleSearch bars automated dialing and texting of the contact details it shows. TruePeopleSearch’s terms, in the latest copy readable, reserve it for personal, noncommercial use. CyberBackgroundChecks says it does not scrub its numbers against any Do Not Call registry.
All three state that they are not consumer reporting agencies under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, so none can be used for tenant, credit or employment screening. None of this is legal advice: it is what each site says about itself.
| Site | Terms read | What they say about use |
|---|---|---|
| FastPeopleSearch | Effective 1 February 2026 | No automated dialing, texting or calling of its contact data, and no copying its data out by hand or by tool |
| TruePeopleSearch | February 2024, the latest readable copy | Personal, noncommercial use. No use of results for solicitation, and no resale |
| CyberBackgroundChecks | The copy of May 2026 | Free up to limits it sets. No DNC scrubbing of its numbers, and no resale |
Read in September 2026 from Internet Archive copies of each site’s terms page, dated as shown.
Questions people ask about free skip tracing tools
What is the best free skip tracing website?
For one owner at a time, FastPeopleSearch and TruePeopleSearch return phone numbers for a name or an address at no cost. Read their terms first: FastPeopleSearch bars autodialing or texting its numbers, and TruePeopleSearch’s last readable terms reserve it for personal, noncommercial use. No site here traces a whole list for free.
Can you skip trace for free?
Yes, owner by owner. The county assessor’s record gives the owner’s name and mailing address, the state business registry names the people behind an LLC, and a free people-search site returns phone numbers. The free skip tracing method walks through it.
Is there a free skip tracing app?
Not one that traces for free. Propwire’s and DealMachine’s apps cost nothing to download, but a trace costs 10¢ a match on Propwire and a data credit from the $99 seat on DealMachine.
Is free skip tracing legal?
Looking an owner up is routine. What the free sites allow after that is set by their own terms, and calls and texts are governed by the Do Not Call registry and the TCPA. CyberBackgroundChecks says it does not scrub its numbers against any DNC list. This is not legal advice.
Are free skip tracing results accurate?
None of the free sites promises it. TruePeopleSearch says some results rest on “logic-based assumptions” and urges you to verify them, and CyberBackgroundChecks does not warrant its results as 100% accurate or current. The paid services publish no checked hit rate either.
How much does skip tracing cost when it is not free?
10¢ to 20¢ an owner on a pay-per-trace service, or included in a data tool’s plan from $99 a month. The skip tracing services page prices each one at 100 to 10,000 owners a month.
How we built this list
| Line | Source | What we read |
|---|---|---|
| 01 | Terms | Each free site’s homepage and terms of use, read in September 2026 from Internet Archive copies, dated on this page |
| 02 | Pricing | Each service’s and data tool’s pricing page and trial terms, read 23 to 28 September 2026 |
| 03 | Review sites | Trustpilot for each service’s review base, where one exists |
What we did not do. We have not run searches on these sites for this page or tested their accuracy. What each site allows is what its own terms say, which is not legal advice.