Three open-source projects dominate username search. They overlap a lot, differ in ways that matter, and each is the right choice for a different kind of user. Here's how they compare in practice.
If you've searched for a way to find every account tied to a username, you've run into the same three names: Sherlock, Maigret, and WhatsMyName. All three are free. All three work on the same principle: take a handle, try it against a long list of site URL patterns, report the hits. The differences are in coverage, accuracy, how much setup they demand, and what they do with the results once found.
This comparison is based on running the same handles through all three in September 2026. Site counts change monthly, so treat the numbers as approximate.
| Sherlock | Maigret | WhatsMyName | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | Python command-line tool | Python command-line tool (fork of Sherlock, heavily extended) | Open detection dataset + web and CLI tools built on it |
| Sites covered | ~400 | ~3,000 (many low-traffic) | ~600, curated |
| Setup | Python + pip install | Python + pip install; slower first run | None for the web version; CLI optional |
| Speed | Fast | Slow (large list, profile parsing) | Fast |
| False positives | Moderate | Moderate to high on obscure sites | Low; each site has explicit positive/negative rules |
| Extracts profile info | No | Yes (names, bios, linked accounts) | No (web); partial (some CLI wrappers) |
| Output | Terminal, txt, csv | Terminal, HTML/PDF reports, JSON | Browser UI, or JSON via CLI |
| Best for | Quick scripted checks | Deep single-target investigation | Anyone who wants results without installing anything |
Sherlock is the tool most people hear about first. It's simple: install with pip, run sherlock username, get a list of URLs where the handle returned a match. It's fast and the codebase is small enough to read in an afternoon.
Its weakness is maintenance. The site list is community-contributed and entries go stale as platforms change their URL structure or add bot protection. A meaningful fraction of results on any given day are false positives from sites that now return a 200 page for any username. You'll want to verify every hit by hand.
Choose Sherlock if you're comfortable in a terminal, want to batch-check many handles, and plan to verify results yourself.
Maigret started as a Sherlock fork and grew into something considerably heavier. Its site list is several times larger, and rather than just reporting a match it tries to parse the profile page: display name, bio, location, links to other accounts. It can then pivot automatically, taking a username found in one bio and searching that too.
The cost is speed and noise. A full run takes minutes, and the long tail of its site list includes many small or defunct platforms that generate junk matches. The HTML reports are useful for documenting an investigation, less so for a quick check.
Choose Maigret if you're investigating one target in depth, want profile data extracted, and don't mind waiting or filtering.
WhatsMyName is different in kind. At its core it isn't a tool but a dataset: a public JSON file where each site entry specifies the URL pattern, what a positive response looks like, and what a negative one looks like. That explicit negative rule is why its false-positive rate is noticeably lower than the other two.
Several tools consume that dataset. The most accessible is the WhatsMyName web app, which runs the full list in the browser with no install, no account, and results grouped by category. For terminal users, the dataset also plugs into Maigret and other CLI tools.
Its limits: the web version reports where a handle exists but doesn't parse profile contents, and the curated list is smaller than Maigret's, so a handle on a very niche platform may be missed.
Choose WhatsMyName if you want accurate results quickly, you don't want to install anything, or you're checking your own footprint and just need to know where accounts exist.
For most people: WhatsMyName's web app. It's the only one of the three that a non-technical user can run in thirty seconds, and its lower false-positive rate means less time verifying.
For investigators: Maigret for depth, then verify the important hits manually.
For automation: Sherlock, or a CLI tool consuming the WhatsMyName dataset, depending on whether you value speed or accuracy more.
Yes, and it's a good idea. Run WhatsMyName first for a clean baseline, then Maigret on any handle that looks promising. Anything that appears in both is high confidence.
All three only request public profile pages, the same as typing the URL into a browser. Searching is legal in most jurisdictions. What you do with the results is a separate question; harassment and stalking are illegal regardless of how the information was gathered.
No. A profile page load is not visible to the account owner on any mainstream platform.
WhatsMyName, in our experience. Because the dataset is separate from any one tool and has a defined format, contributions and fixes land quickly.