Intelius is a leading provider of public data, with software that lets you look up criminal and traffic records and conduct general people searches. Whether you want to run a background check on someone you know or just need to find someone’s address you’ve lost, Intelius can come in handy.
Comparing Intelius to the Best Background Check Companies
Intelius can only be used for finding public information about people and their connections. It cannot be used for pre-employment background checks.
If you need an option for conducting background checks as part of applicant screening, look at our list of the best background check companies for options that are appropriate for pre-employment background checks.
Intelius: The Good and the Bad
During our research, we found that users can tap into Intelius for day-to-day background checks and for finding people’s contact information and connections. Since this is a service that cannot be used for pre-employment screening, let’s get into what this provider can do for you.
The Good
Extensive background checks
With an Intelius background check, you can find public information either by searching for someone’s name, phone number, or address. You get access to a report which might include the individual’s criminal and traffic records, marriage and divorce history, any lawsuits they have been involved in, bankruptcies, and any liens against them.
The background check report may also include other basic information, such as full name, birthday, and address. Intelius also gives you the option to narrow down your search results by location to help you find who you are looking for in a much more timely manner.
Reverse phone lookup
Among the monthly plans offered by Intelius is one that combines regular people searching functions with a reverse phone number lookup. This is a great tool for anyone that has missed a call from someone they want to identify or is getting unwanted calls.
Reverse phone lookup reports can include details such as:
- Name
- Addresses (current and past)
- Social media profiles
- Related persons
- Photos
On this plan, you get unlimited reverse phone lookups plus access to Intelius’ main people search function for $34.95 per month after a reduced six-day trial rate.
Unlimited monthly reports
Intelius offers monthly plans that allow you to run unlimited reports, which is great for anyone who wants to find public information in bulk.
Three plans are on offer, each of which lets you run as many scans as you’d like each month.
The base People Search plan and the combined Address Lookup + People Search plan each give you unlimited person and address reports.
Or, you can enhance the breadth of information you get with Intelius’ Reverse Phone Lookup + People Search. That combo plan adds unlimited phone reports to the address and person reports you get on the others.
Plan rates start as low as $21.13 per month.
Direct customer support
Unlike many other background check providers, Intelius offers a direct line of communication to its customer support team. When you arrive on the Intelius website, you will see a phone number for customer support in the top right-hand corner of the screen, and when you scroll down to the bottom, you will find a link to the Intelius help center’s email address for additional customer support.
Now, while Intelius offers a direct line for customer support, this doesn’t mean that it is helpful or even responsive. However, it is still a major plus that potential customers even have the option to contact the support team if needed.
The Bad
Potential inaccuracies
Even though Intelius claims that customers will receive reliable and comprehensive reports, many user reviews of the service stated that this wasn’t always true. We found a significant number of negative reviews that stated information was either outdated or more cursory than Intelius promised.
For example, one user complained that they only received a current address, even though they paid for a complete report with a full background check. Many users feel that they could have found the same level of information online for free instead of wasting time and money on a report.
Steep monthly rates…
While Intelius costs less than most background check providers, that affordability doesn’t help much when you can’t use Intelius for pre-employment screening.
Compared to other people search providers, Intelius can cost a good bit more. Others offer plans under $10 per month (while Intelius’ lowest-cost plan is just under $25 per month), though they may not deliver the same depth as Intelius’ reports. Also, other providers allow users to pay per report instead of committing to a monthly plan no matter what.
…And it may be tough to cancel
The vast majority of negative reviews concerning Intelius address difficulty canceling or opting out of plans. We also found a few reviewers who claimed they had declined the monthly subscription, but Intelius still took money out of their account and ghosted them completely.
However, a lot of these reviews are from a time when Intelius wasn’t transparent about their pricing and they used to charge per-report instead of offering unlimited searches for a monthly fee. Difficulties with plan management and cancellation may be less common now, but it’s worth going into any Intelius plan with a wariness about this. We suggest you utilize the customer service contact options to clarify what it would take to cancel, should you choose to do so.
Intelius Pricing and Options
Intelius offers people search functionality, as well as reverse phone lookups and address lookups. Each of these can be accessed on one of their three monthly plan options.
Intelius People Search
The core offering of Intelius is a typical people search solution. While this cannot be used for pre-employment background checks, it’s still a very useful tool for finding information about people and their connections.
Intelius offers unlimited monthly person and address reports that can also including information such as:
- Email addresses
- Education history
- Employment history
- Previous addresses
- Assets
- Criminal and traffic records
- Relatives and related persons
You have two options for paying for this plan: monthly billing will run you $24.86 per month, but you can save a good bit by opting for bimonthly billing, which brings the per-month rate down to $21.13 (meaning you’ll be billed $42.25 every two months).
Intelius Reverse Phone Lookup
Alongside their core people searches, Intelius also provides a reverse phone lookup service. If you want to know the person or business associated with any number that calls you, Intelius might be able to assist with this process.
When you perform a reverse phone lookup search with Intelius, it will produce a confidential report regardless of whether it’s a cell phone number, business number, or landline. The full report can include information like:
- Phone number owner’s name
- Address history
- Age
- Possible relatives
- Phone type and carrier
- Location associated with the number
Reverse phone lookup comes on a dedicated plan that also delivers Intelius’ standard people search functionality. The plan costs $34.95 per month after a six-day trial period that only costs $0.95.
Intelius Reverse Address Lookup
Do you want to learn more about the property value of a home without contacting the real estate agency? Or, do you want to know the ownership history of a commercial property you’re eyeing?
With Intelius’ reverse address lookup service, you might be able to do just that and more.
Just like any public records search, the Intelius reverse address lookup service extracts public information to form a detailed report on a particular property.
Just enter the full address, and then the Intelius software will scan tens of thousands of public records currently available and relevant to the location.
You may even get unique information included in the report, such as:
- Location details: including street, city, country, county, zip code, location type, mailing status, congressional district, and latitude/longitude.
- Possible past residents: including name, age, and dates first and last seen.
- Possible neighbors: including full name, age, and address.
- Ownership history: including current owner, floor plan, property value, assessed value over time, former owners, and deed information.
- Census information: including total households, average house value, persons per household, and income per household.
- Additional information: including crime statistics, community demographics, and nearby sex offenders.
Just like the reverse phone search, address lookup from Intelius comes packaged with their traditional people search on a plan that costs $34.95 per month. However, you do get a seven-day discounted trial period that only costs you 95 cents.
How Intelius Ranks
Unfortunately, Intelius doesn’t rank on our top list at all, but that’s because you cannot use it to screen job applicants and check their backgrounds.
That being said, if you need to conduct other kinds of checks—whether on a person, phone number, or address—Intelius offers unlimited detailed reports on three different pricing plans, plus very reasonable trial period rates on two of them.
