Struggling to find the right email address for your outreach campaigns? Whether you’re a B2B sales rep, recruiter, or marketer, having access to someone's valid email is critical to building relationships and driving conversions. 

Yet, manually sourcing email addresses can be a time-consuming task. The good news is that in 2025, there are many free and effective ways to find email addresses, so you don’t have to waste time or money on the wrong tools.

In this blog, we’ll discuss how to find someone’s email address for free by exploring 10 proven methods, tools to assist your search, and best practices to verify email accuracy.

How to Find Someone's Email Address for Free: 10 Proven Methods

1. Google Search Techniques

Google can be a powerful tool to uncover publicly available email addresses. You can pinpoint exactly where someone’s contact details may be hiding using specific search operators.

• Search operators to use:
  Use advanced search operators like "name" + "company" + email, "name" + "email", or "[name]@domain.com" to narrow your search.
• Limitations:
  This method works best for individuals or companies that have publicly listed their contact details. However, it may require multiple tries and adjustments to search queries.

2. Leverage LinkedIn for Contact Information

LinkedIn is a treasure trove for professional information. While email addresses are not always directly visible, there are ways to find them.

• LinkedIn exports:
  If you have someone as a LinkedIn connection, you may be able to export their email from LinkedIn’s contact info section.
• Direct messaging:
  Alternatively, if you are connected, you can send a polite LinkedIn message requesting their email directly.

3. Check Company Websites and Blogs

Company websites and personal blogs often list contact information, especially if the individual holds a senior or public-facing role.

• About us/Contact pages:
  Visit the company’s “About” or “Contact” pages, where you may find email addresses of key employees.
• Email pattern recognition:
  If the email is not listed, observe the email pattern used by the company (e.g., firstname.lastname@company.com) and apply it to your contact.

4. Use Free Email Lookup Tools

Numerous free tools can help you find someone’s email address based on limited information like their name and company domain. Below are some popular free tools to consider:

• Hunter.io:
  Allows a limited number of free email lookups per month. Enter a company’s domain, and it will return email addresses related to that domain.
• Voila Norbert:
  Like Hunter.io, Voila Norbert provides free email lookups for individual queries with a limited quota.

5. Use Twitter’s Advanced Search

Twitter users sometimes post their email addresses in tweets, especially if they are influencers or public figures. Using Twitter's Advanced Search can help you find contact details quickly.

• Search tips:
  To locate relevant tweets, use keywords like “email at” or “contact me” along with the person's name or handle.

6. Guess the Email Address

Some companies have a standardized format for their employee email addresses, making it easier to guess the correct one. You can manually guess email combinations or use tools like Email Permutator+ to help.

Common formats:
Email formats often follow these patterns:

• firstname.lastname@domain.com
• firstname@domain.com
• firstinitial.lastname@domain.com

Verify your guesses:
Once you have a guess, use an email verification tool to check its validity before sending your message.

7. WHOIS Lookup for Website Domain Info

A WHOIS lookup can reveal a particular website's registrant’s contact details. While some domains are privacy-protected, many older domains still display contact emails.

• Tools for WHOIS searches:
  Use tools like Who.is or ICANN WHOIS Lookup to find the domain owner’s email address.

8. Use Facebook’s “About” Section

You can sometimes find an email address list in the “About” section for businesses or individuals with a public Facebook profile, particularly for small businesses or freelancers.

• Tips:
  If you can’t find the email, you can contact them via Facebook Messenger and ask for their preferred email contact.

9. Use Free Trials of Email Finder Tools

Many premium tools offer free trials or limited free credits to find email addresses. Tools like Snov.io and FindThatLead offer a limited number of free email lookups.

• Advantages:
  Great for those needing occasional searches without committing to a paid plan.

10. Ask for Referrals

Finally, the easiest way to get someone's email might be to simply ask! Send a polite message on platforms like LinkedIn or Facebook, or ask mutual connections to introduce you via email.

• Tips:
  Use mutual connections to get introduced or request the contact details of the person you are trying to reach.

Tools to Help You Find Email Addresses for Free

Now that you know how to find someone’s email address for free, there are several free email lookup tools that allow you to search for someone's email address quickly and efficiently. 

While these tools offer limited free features, they can be extremely valuable for occasional searches or those just starting with email outreach. Below is a detailed look at some of your best tools.

1. Clay

Clay is a modern prospecting and outreach tool that goes beyond the traditional email lookup. It allows you to generate leads by scraping data from multiple online sources using the “waterfalling” technique, including LinkedIn and websites. It can help you find contact information for specific leads in bulk.

Features:

• Automated Data Enrichment: Clay pulls in data from various sources to enrich your lead lists with email addresses, phone numbers, and other useful contact information.
• Integration-Friendly: Clay easily integrates with other platforms like LinkedIn and your CRM, automating the lead generation and prospecting process.
• No-Code Interface: You don’t need to be a tech expert to use Clay. It’s designed for users with all skill levels and provides a user-friendly interface for building complex lead lists.

Free Plan: While Clay offers a powerful suite of tools, you can start with a free trial. After that, the pricing depends on the number of leads and amount of data enrichment required.

Ideal For: B2B sales teams and marketers who need a scalable, data-driven tool for building lead lists, finding emails, and automating email outreach.

Limitation: Clay is a powerful tool for lead generation but may have a steep learning curve, high costs for large-scale users, and limited email-specific features compared to dedicated email finder tools.

2. Voila Norbert

Voila Norbert is another excellent email lookup tool that helps you find email addresses based on a person’s name and company domain. Known for its accuracy and user-friendly interface, it’s a favorite among sales and marketing professionals.

How it works: You simply input a person’s name and company domain, and Norbert searches its database for matching email addresses.

Features:

• Email verification: Norbert includes an email verification feature that checks if the email you find is valid.
• Bulk email search: You can upload CSV files for bulk email lookups.
• Free version: Voila Norbert offers 50 free email lookups, making it a perfect starting point for those needing a few contacts.

Ideal for: B2B outreach and sales professionals who need to find the email addresses of decision-makers at target companies.

Limitations: Once you use the 50 free email lookups, you’ll need to upgrade to a paid plan.

3. Clearbit Connect

Clearbit Connect is a powerful Chrome extension that works directly from your Gmail account to find contact information for individuals at any company. Clearbit is integrated into your Gmail inbox, making it easy to search for email addresses without leaving your email client.

How it works: Install the Chrome extension and search for email addresses using Clearbit directly from your Gmail inbox. Clearbit searches its database to match the contact information you need.

Features:

• Chrome extension: Easily accessible directly within your Gmail account.
• Fast results: Provides quick contact information without navigating through external websites.
• Free version: Clearbit Connect offers 100 free email lookups per month.

Ideal for: Professionals who use Gmail and want a quick and convenient way to find contact information without leaving their inbox.

Limitations: Clearbit Connect is limited to 100 free searches per month and only available as a Gmail extension.

4. Find That Email

Find That Email is another reliable email finder tool designed for B2B outreach. It allows you to search for an email based on someone’s name and company domain, and it also provides verification services to ensure the emails you find are valid.

How it works: Input a person’s name and their company’s domain, and Find That Email will return the most likely email address and a confidence score of its accuracy.

Features:

• Email verification: A built-in email verification tool is used to validate the emails found.
• Bulk searches: Allows bulk email searches, making it ideal for large outreach campaigns.
• Free version: Find That Email offers 50 free email credits for new users, perfect for those with small-scale needs.

Ideal for: Sales teams and marketers looking for verified B2B emails for outreach campaigns.

Limitations: Like other tools, the free version is limited, and after the 50 free searches, a paid plan is required.

5. Email Permutator+

Email Permutator+ is an open-source tool that generates possible email combinations based on a person’s name and company domain. This tool is best used with an email verification service to confirm the validity of the email addresses.

How it works: Simply input a person’s name and company domain, and Email Permutator+ will create a list of possible email combinations. You can then verify the most likely email addresses using an email verification tool.

Features:

• Free and open-source: Email Permutator+ is completely free to use, with no sign-up required.
• Combination generation: Provides multiple email combinations based on name and domain.

Ideal for: Users with a good idea of an email format want to verify possible combinations.

Limitations: Email Permutator+ does not provide email verification, so you’ll need to verify the emails manually with another tool like Hunter.io or ZeroBounce.

Best Practices to Verify the Email Addresses You Find

Finding an email is just the first step. To avoid high bounce rates and ensure your email lands in the recipient’s inbox, you must verify that the email is valid. Here are some best practices:

1. Use Email Verification Tools

Before sending an email, it’s essential to check if it's valid. Services like NeverBounce, ZeroBounce, and Hunter.io provide email verification to ensure deliverability.

2. Avoid Sending Unsolicited Emails

Comply with privacy laws like GDPR or CAN-SPAM regulations. Sending unsolicited emails can harm your sender's reputation, resulting in emails being flagged as spam.

3. Clean Your Email Address List Regularly

Over time, your email address list may contain outdated or inactive addresses. Use email verification tools to periodically clean up your email list to maintain high deliverability and reduce bounce rates.

4. Track Email Bounce Rates

Monitoring your bounce rates helps you gauge the accuracy of your email list. High bounce rates can indicate a problem with the quality of the email addresses you’ve sourced.

5. Use Double Opt-In

For cold outreach, using double opt-in ensures that only those who are genuinely interested in your services are added to your email list.

Why Finding the Right Email Address is Important

Whether you’re sending outreach emails, networking, or generating B2B leads, getting the right email address can significantly impact the success of your outreach. Here’s why finding the correct email address is crucial:

• Increases response rates: Reaching out to a valid email means your message will likely reach the intended recipient, increasing the chances of a response.
• Enhances personalization: Knowing the correct contact allows you to personalize your email more effectively, which leads to better engagement and trust.
• Boosts email deliverability: Sending emails to invalid addresses harms your email reputation, resulting in more emails landing in spam folders. Finding the correct email reduces bounce rates and improves the sender's reputation.

Is it legal to find email addresses online?

Yes, it is legal to find email addresses online. Still, it's important to ensure compliance with privacy regulations such as GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) in the European Union and CAN-SPAM in the United States. 

You must avoid scraping personal data without consent and always respect a website’s terms of service. Sending unsolicited emails without proper permissions can lead to legal consequences, so ensure that the emails are relevant, that recipients have opted-in, or that you're using a legitimate interest basis for business communications.

Conclusion

Finding someone’s email address for free is much easier than it seems if you know where to look. Remember to verify email addresses before sending messages and comply with legal regulations to ensure your outreach is effective and ethical.

Now that you know how to find someone’s email address for free, the next step is to send them cold emails and convert them into clients. And we have the perfect tool for this!

Smartlead is the perfect cold outreach platform for lead generation. It offers unlimited inboxes, powerful API automation, unlimited warmups, accurate email deliverability reports, and much more. Try the 14-day free trial and see how it can transform your cold email efforts effectively.

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