An email address is a common key for signing up on various platforms, making it seem like a promising clue for finding someone on dating sites. Like many, I’m looking forward to a tool where entering an email would instantly reveal all associated dating profiles—even hidden ones—without needing to register, and for free. Unfortunately, such a tool doesn’t exist. While I did discover some methods, they were often time-consuming and inconvenient. The more direct and effective options, unsurprisingly, came with a price tag. In this guide, we’ll explore both the free and paid approaches, so you can decide which best suits your needs.

Identify your target app

Before searching, it’s essential to consider which dating sites you want to focus on. With so many dating sites on the market, many target different user groups. For example, popular dating sites like Tinder, Bumble, Hinge, Plenty of Fish, and Badoo are widely used, while Grindr and HER are more popular within the LGBTQ community. Similarly, Christian Mingle is a favorite among Christians, and BLK is often chosen by Black singles. By targeting specific sites, you can determine which method may provide the necessary information.

It’s also important to note that some apps, like Bumble, Hinge, and HER, don’t support email sign-up. If you are trying to find someone on these apps, using people search tools, or looking for other clues would be more effective.
💬If you know of other dating apps that don’t support email sign-ups, feel free to share them in the comments.

Once you’ve identified your target platform, we can start searching using some specific methods.

Method 1 Lullar search

Lullar is a free online search engine that lets you search across multiple social networking sites using an email address or username. While it’s not specifically designed for dating sites, it does include platforms like Tinder and AdultFriendFinder.

Simply enter the email address or username, and Lullar will search the same query across various social networking sites, providing direct links to the search results. If a platform doesn’t support email search, Lullar will automatically search using the prefixes of the email address.

The advantage of Lullar is that it queries multiple platforms with one click, saving you the hassle of searching each site individually. However, the downside is that it simply appends the email or its prefix to the platform’s URL to generate search results. While it does provide links that you can click to filter results, or occasionally find a specific profile, the accuracy of the results is generally low.

Method 2 People search tools (paid)

People search tools are closer to my initial expectation: Just enter the email, and the service may find matching information and generate a report that gives you possible social media profile links (which may include dating sites). Then you can click to check whether this profile belongs to the person. But these services often require payment.

It’s important to note that different people search services support different dating sites, so you’ll need to choose the one that best matches your needs. Additionally, because these services aim to provide as much information as possible, the report might include potential relatives and connections, which can sometimes lead to errors.

Here are a few reputable options:

Differences of people search tools:

• Spokeo: Spokeo is known for social media searches. It only provides related social media profile links in the report, offering straightforward and concise results. The price is more affordable compared to others.

• TruthFinder: Offers more detailed information beyond just social media profiles. Reports can include public record data on possible owners of the email address, known aliases, their possible associated contacts and relatives, location history, possible criminal and traffic records, and more, if available. Moreover, it provides possible usernames and links to each associated social media profile.

• BeenVerified: BV would offer potential owners of the email address. I suggest you check the owner first and click the correct person’s report, it would provide more detailed information including social media profiles.

• Social Catfish: Designed specifically for dating sites, Social Catfish is expected to support most dating sites on the internet. However, there’s no official announcement on the exact number or names of dating sites it covers. I included SC because it offers reverse email lookup and embeds facial recognition search, allowing you to search for possible social media accounts with a picture.

While people search tools can provide some useful information, they are not designed for finding dating profiles exclusively, even though some dating sites are among the supported networks. I think it’s still helpful to know whether the person has a “secret” social media account since potential cheating isn’t limited to dating sites alone.

If your main goal is to find someone’s Ashley Madison account, the next method may be more effective.

Method 3 Ashley Madison email check

If you’re specifically looking for someone on Ashley Madison, you can use email check tools that search through data from the 2015 breach. 

Ashley Madison, a well-known online dating site for married couples, experienced a data breach in 2015, exposing the information of 32 million users^[1]. This data is still searchable on several websites, where you can enter an email address to see if it appears on the “cheaters list.”

However, since the breach occurred years ago, these tools may not show whether someone registered on the site after 2015. Additionally, the confidentiality of these tools remains uncertain.

I found two tools that claim to search the “cheaters list”:

• https://checkashleymadison.com/
• https://ashley.cynic.al/ 

The first one returned nothing when I tested it with celebrities’ names who had admitted they were on Ashley Madison. It’s unclear whether the information was removed due to legal pressure or if the tool simply isn’t working.

The second tool claimed that about 36 million accounts were compromised, more than CNN reported in 2015. I tested it with random email addresses, and some were found. However, when I checked the same emails on the first tool, they were not found.

Since I don’t have an email address that was registered on Ashley Madison before 2015, I can’t verify the accuracy or reliability of these tools. If you know of a reliable and working Ashley Madison email check engine, please share it in the comments.

Additional tip:

If you’re open to finding digital footprints beyond dating profiles, Epieos is another tool to consider. It is useful for discovering digital footprints like Google accounts, data breach information, Skype profiles, Trello accounts, and more. You can sign up to search for free, though some account information, like Trello, requires payment to view. Be aware that when doing multiple searches, the process can be slow, and the CAPTCHA can be frustrating.

The old trick doesn’t work anymore

You may have read posts suggesting that you use the “forgot password” trick to see if an email was registered on a dating site. However, this method no longer works, as most sites now send account information directly to the registered email without revealing whether the email address has been used. I’ve tested this on Badoo, POF, Tinder, Match.com, eHarmony, and OKCupid, and none of them reveal any part of the email address when you click “Forgot password.”

The “Make new account” trick isn’t effective either; it often just results in creating a new account on dating sites. Additionally, some dating sites don’t even verify email addresses—Grindr, for example, allows fake email addresses to sign up, which has been criticized by many users^[2].

Other ways to find dating profiles

There are other ways to find someone on dating sites for free.

① Username search

Searching by username is a common way to find someone on social media platforms. Sites like Match.com, Plenty Of Fish, and Badoo support username searches. While Tinder doesn’t allow direct searches for specific users, there are some tricks you can use to get around this limitation.

• Match.com offers an official username search. 
• Plenty Of Fish only allows their higher-tier members (Premium and Prestige) search for usernames. There are third-party POF search tools online, but it’s hard to tell whether they are safe and effective.
  📖Related reading: How to Find Someone on POF (2024)
• Badoo allows users to search with their full name. If the profile is set to public and they have used real names, you may find them. Or try open source intelligence (OSINT) tools to search.

For Tinder:

There are free methods to search Tinder profiles without signing up:

1. You can search for a Tinder profile using the link: https://tinder.com/@username. This trick is free but requires some luck, especially with common names. The results are random, and you can’t run further searches, so it’s hit or miss.
2. Google “name site:tinder.com” to find Tinder profiles. It’s a better trick because Google gives more possible profiles for you to check. You can view their photo, age, and work to see if that’s the person you’re looking for.
   

There’s also a paid tool designed for finding someone on Tinder called CheaterBuster. Some TikTokers claim it’s reliable, and some people commented it returned nothing, it probably means the person was not on Tinder but who knows? So use it at your own risk.
💰Price for a Tinder profile: $18

OSINT tools

OSINT (Open Source Intelligence) tools are designed to gather information from publicly available sources, including tools for finding social media profiles using usernames. I found that UserSearch.org can return a Badoo profile during my tests. This tool supports both username and email searches. However, the email search only returns possible usernames, which you then need to use for further searches.

② Create a blank account

This method works on all dating sites and apps. However, it’s important to be sure which site or app the person you’re looking for is on. For example, if you’ve heard that your crush is on eHarmony, you can create an account there and search for their profile.

After creating a profile, you can narrow down the search by adjusting the radius and setting specific age limits. This approach can help you find their profile faster than you might expect. This trick is highly effective and has been confirmed by multiple users.

Why I can’t find someone on dating sites by email 

There are a few reasons why you might not be able to find someone’s dating profile by email:

1. Use different email: They might be using a different email address on the dating site than the one you have.
2. Privacy settings: The person may have strong privacy settings that prevent their account from being searchable, like hiding their dating profile.
3. If they have an inactive or deleted account, you won’t be able to find it.
4. They might be using smaller or less-known dating sites.

What to do when you find your partner’s dating profile

Finding your partner’s dating profile doesn’t necessarily mean they’re cheating. During my searches, I found instances where people reported being signed up on dating sites without their knowledge. Some sites, like Zoosk, can accidentally create an account without your knowledge. Additionally, dating sites may continue sending prompts even after profiles are hidden or deleted, making it difficult to determine if your partner is still using dating apps.

So it’s important to stay calm, have an open conversation with your partner, and express your feelings and concerns to rebuild trust together.

Conclusion

Finding someone on dating sites by email for free is challenging but possible with the right methods. While free options are limited and may not always be successful, combining different approaches can improve your chances. We also want to emphasize that these methods should not be used to harass or stalk others. It’s crucial to respect privacy and remember that a heart-to-heart works better than playing detective in intimate relationships.

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1. Jose Pagliery, (2015, August 19). Now you can search the Ashley Madison cheaters list. CNN. https://money.cnn.com/2015/08/19/technology/ashley-madison-search/index.html↩
2. r/grindr. [lotuseater_the]. (2022, Feburary 21). No e-mail verification when creating an account. [Online forum post]. Reddit. https://www.reddit.com/r/grindr/comments/sxvv5k/no_email_verification_when_creating_an_account/↩