Reverse whois is one of the most powerful domain tools and one that I often use for my DotWeekly Discoveries, so I thought I would share a little bit about it and the sources that I use. Caring is sharing so here you go!
Reverse whois works by “connecting” registrant email address to domains and then grouping them to perform a “list of domains” related to that email address.
What you need? A known email address used by a specific domain owner.
What is a prevention method? Whois privacy. Multiple email addresses for every domain registration.
How to do a reverse whois email search
Knowing a email address of a domain owner is only one step. If you know the domain name, but are unsure of the email address, perform a whois search using the domain name you know. If there is whois privacy (displayed in whois data in a vast amount of ways) you need to find a domain without privacy.
Once you find an email address, it’s time to use a service provider that does reverse whois by email address.
Here are my sources that I use.
The most accurate and up to date method available on the web, no questions asked. DT has by far the most domain data of any company relating to domain names. If you are looking for accuracy, DomainTools is the place to do your reverse whois search. It’s going to cost you though!
Domains in Report | Price
1 – 10 | $49
11 – 100 | $99
101 – 250 | $199
251 – 500 | $299
501 – 1,000 | $399
1,001 – 2,500 | $499
2,501 – 5,000 | $749
5,001 – 10,000 | $999
10,001 + $0.10/Domain
Expensive for some, convent for others. Again, DomainTools is very accurate and likely will have the most up to date data. Nobody is perfect so they may miss some but the majority will be there. Clearly if a domain owner has a privacy service on a domain, it will not likely show up in a reverse whois email search!
After doing a whois search for a domain name, put your mouse over the email address area and a “Reverse Whois” arrow will appear. You can also click the green box Reverse Whois.
You can also do a reverse whois by “name” via DomainTools by using the Registrant Org section in whois.
Whoisology.com Your wet dream of reverse whois email search! FREE for limited use, $10 for a year of unlimited! HELLO
Cheap comes at a cost, but not a huge cost with Whoisology! Accuracy, mainly in the form of “real time” because whoisology is not real time, as data is updated quarterly. Considering the price that DT charges for reports, whoisology is a wise choice if you don’t swim in cash.
Phil has done an outstanding service with whoisology. Will it always be free? Not likely, so have some fun while you can. I use this site daily during diggings.
Added benefit with not being updated as often? Historical reverse whois email search. Domains sell a lot and often, so this can point out some “old” domains owned by somebody, that have likely sold.
This service is not reliable but can be helpful from time to time, so I use them as a last ditch effort. WebBoar.com allows for more than just email searches, you can also search by “name”, “phone number” “IP Address” or “Email Address”.
This is often the least accurate of the 3 I use, but can and is helpful.
You will have to search for a domain, before you see the blue boxes that allow you to search for more than just the domain from the home screen.
Extra Tip:
The lovely Google.com
Do the following search term exactly and this may result in you seeing at least some of the data you are looking for.
site:domaintools.com + domainname.com
site:domaintools.com +”[email protected]”
Google will often index a result and you can find it this way.
I hope this information will help you in some way and thank you for visiting DotWeekly!
Thanks for the mention.
Just a quick note.
On Whoisology a free membership has the same usage options as the $10 advertisement free accounts, but we offer unconditional love with the advertisement free paid accounts.
And a little tip.
It’s possible to click any of the fields next to the counts. ie. if you see a city in a whois result like:
City Toronto (2,788,026)
If you click “Toronto” it will take you to a list of the 2,788,026 domains registered in Toronto.
It’s like this for every single field, phone number, zip code, name, etc.
Happy digging.