profilebolt
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For journalists

An OSINT tool for journalists that shows its work

ProfileBolt pulls a person’s public footprint into one report where every claim links to its original page, and anything matched only by name is kept out. Built for verifying before you publish. Free for working journalists.

What you get in one search

  • Public profiles tied by identifiers: Wikipedia and Wikidata, GitHub, GitLab, Stack Overflow, YouTube and X official APIs, plus accounts those sources themselves link to.
  • Username checks: the same handle on public sites such as GitHub, GitLab, Codeberg, Keybase, Hacker News, DEV, Mastodon, Bluesky, Docker Hub, PyPI, Telegram and Steam, each with its link (inspired by the open WhatsMyName and Sherlock projects).
  • Email checks: a Gravatar profile (looked up by hash) and GitHub accounts that show the email publicly.
  • News and adverse media: recent coverage of the exact name, with possible adverse mentions (lawsuit, charged, fraud…) flagged for review.
  • Court records: opinions and federal dockets from CourtListener’s free archive.

Why reporters can trust the output

Most people-search sites merge records by name. ProfileBolt adds a source to a report only when a shared identifier ties it to the profile you picked, and shows its confidence method openly. Same-name and same-username results are listed as “not added” with their links, so you decide. See a sample report.

A verification workflow

  1. Start with what you have: a name plus a city or employer, a handle, or an email.
  2. Compare candidates before you spend a search, then research the right one.
  3. Open each original source and confirm the claim you plan to use; save the report and add private notes for your team.
  4. Turn on monitoring (Team plans) to get an email when a saved profile’s sources change.

Free tier for journalists

Working reporters, editors and fact-checkers get 10 researched profiles a month free. Apply here — a person checks your published work.

Limits, honestly

ProfileBolt uses public, permitted sources only: no data-broker files, no private databases, no scraping behind logins. It will find less than a broker on a private individual, by design. It is not a substitute for public-records requests or court-house searches, and it is not for employment, tenant, credit or insurance decisions.

Evidence-linked research, not a data broker.

5 free searches to start. Then $29 a month for 20 searches, or a one-off 3-search pack for $9 with no subscription.

Start with 5 free searches

Not for employment, tenant, credit or insurance decisions (ProfileBolt is not a consumer reporting agency). Need FCRA screening for hiring or tenancy? Use a licensed background-screening company (a consumer reporting agency).