How to Find Anyone’s Business Email Address (12 Methods)

Ever needed to reach out to someone but couldn’t find their email address no matter how deep you scrolled?

You’re not alone.

Whether you’re a sales rep building a lead list, a recruiter hunting down passive candidates, or a freelancer trying to pitch new clients, finding accurate contact info is step one of outreach success—but it can feel frustrating.

The good news?

You don’t need to spend money on paid platforms to get started.

In this guide, you’ll discover legit, no-cost tools and methods to find someone’s email address or other contact info—without shady tactics or legal risk.

TL;DR: 7 Free ways to find email addresses

• Use LinkedIn + Google search combinations (X-ray search)
• Check company websites for team pages or “contact us”
• Use email finder tools like SmartReach Lead Finder, Clearbit etc.
• Explore Twitter bios and GitHub profiles for public emails
• Install free Chrome extensions for email extraction from LinkedIn
• Try email permutation tools
• Use different types of LookUp services like WhoIS

Legal Do’s and Don’ts of contact research

Before you start collecting or using email addresses, it’s important to understand the legal boundaries—especially if you’re doing cold outreach across borders.

Below is a quick breakdown of what’s allowed, what to avoid, and what to always do when it comes to contact research and email usage:

Legal & ethical guidelines for finding & using those emails for outreach

Topic	Do’s (✅)	Don’ts (❌)
Is Email scraping legal?	✅ Use publicly available data (company sites, blogs, press pages). ✅ Stick to B2B contact info, not personal/private addresses.	❌ Don’t scrape data from sites that ban it (e.g., LinkedIn, Facebook). ❌ Don’t use bots to bypass CAPTCHA or login walls.
GDPR (Europe)	✅ Contact someone if there’s a “legitimate interest” (e.g., B2B offer relevant to their role). ✅ Include opt-out and your identity in every email.	❌ Don’t contact EU residents without a valid reason. ❌ Don’t hide your company info or use deceptive subject lines.
Ethical Email outreach	✅ Personalize your outreach to show relevance. ✅ Use tools that support compliance (e.g., unsubscribe links, auto opt-out)	❌ Don’t spam or bulk-send without validation. ❌ Don’t fake familiarity or use misleading hooks.
CCPA (California)	✅ Disclose why you’re contacting and how their data was found if asked. ✅ Remove contacts on request.	❌ Don’t collect personal emails without transparency. ❌ Don’t ignore opt-out or deletion requests.

💡Practical tip:

If you’re unsure whether your outreach follows email compliance laws, ask these 3 questions before hitting send:

1. Is this message relevant to the recipient’s professional role?
2. Am I clearly identifying myself and my intent?
3. Can the recipient opt out easily?

If the answer is “yes” to all three—your email is probably safe, both ethically and legally.

How to find business email addresses?

Finding the right email address is crucial for successful cold email outreach. 

When you find email addresses accurately, your messages reach the right people, increasing the chances of a positive response.

It ensures that your efforts aren’t wasted on wrong contacts and helps in building meaningful connections, such as by utilizing a people search tool.

Effective outreach starts with this key step, making it essential for anyone looking to connect with potential clients or partners.

Before we dive into the ways to find email address, lets understand a bit about its structure.

Most importantly, we shall discuss on ways to find email address for businesses as sending work related emails to a personal email ID is never the best approach when cold emailing

Understanding the 3 common structures of business email addresses

Here are some tips and tricks to understand the structure of an email ID.

Most businesses follow the standard email address format. Some formats are –

• First name + Last name: This format is most used by the business. It is separated by either period or underscore. For example, [email protected], [email protected]

• First Initial + Last Name: This format combines the first initial of the first name and the last name. For example, [email protected].

• First name only: Some organizations use only the first name as the email address. For example, [email protected].

13 Ways to find email address for free

Now lets discuss the various way you can find email address and find the right ones

#1. “Contact Us” page of their company website

This can be one of the best start point while you are on the search to find email address of your leads. 

All the company website  would have a “Contact Us” page with their email and other details.

If you can’t find it there, look for their About Us or Team page.

You might see their names and emails there or check out their blog if they have one.

#2. Use Email Permutator tools

The Email Permutator tool helps find potential business email addresses by mixing up different versions of the person’s first, last, and domain names.

It uses a list of common email formats like [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], and more to create these possibilities.

Some top email permutator tools are Voila Norbert, Lusha, Mail Meteor, Metrics Sparrow, etc.

Let’s see how Voila Norbert works for email permutation:

• Step 1: You can manually enter or bulk upload your prospect’s information.
• Step 2: Enter the prospect’s first, last, and domain names.

• Step 3: The tool will show the probable email addresses.

The process in which Voila Norbert works is quite simple. 

Now let’s check out another email permutator that is free to use, Metric Sparrow

• Step 1: Provide all the prospect information, like first name, last name, and domain.

• Step 2: This will provide a list of probable email addresses. As shown in the below image, the permutator gave 34 possibilities.

• Step 3: Open your Gmail, paste all the email addresses, and check all the potential ones. If you’re lucky, Gmail will show you some clues that you got the correct business email address, like their profile picture or their job title. If you see those, you’re good to go.

OR

• Step 4: You can follow the same steps with a google sheet. As shown in the image for the relevant business email address, the prospect’s image is showing up.

Note: Sending emails to the complete list is not a good practice. It would lead to a high bounce rate and domain blacklisting by the email service providers (Gmail, Outlook etc.)

Always verify the email addresses before pushing them inside a campiagn. Use email verification tools like NeverBounce or ZeroBounce.

Cold email software like SmartReach provides unlimited email validation for free. This system runs in the backend and provides about the status of the email addresses you upload inside the campaign.

#3. Subscribe to the newsletters/blogs

A great way to find email address is to join their email list if they have a blog or newsletter.

You’ll get to see their latest content and their email address, too.

They’ll probably use the same email address to send you the newsletter and receive your messages.

So just hit reply, and you’re good to go.

#4. Use HubSpot CRM + LinkedIn Sales Navigator

HubSpot’s CRM and LinkedIn Sales Navigator are powerful tools for finding email addresses. 

The Hubspot CRM is a great way to find the contact information of any prospects; all you have to do is enter their name.

LinkedIn Sales Navigator is another excellent tool that helps you search for your prospects by helping you narrow down their industry and job titles.

Here’s a short guide on generating a business email address and using it on Hubspot CRM.

1. Identify the Prospect on LinkedIn Sales Navigator:
   • Use LinkedIn Sales Navigator to search for your prospect based on specific criteria, such as industry, job title, company, or location.
   • Review potential prospects’ profiles and gather the necessary information, including their full and company names.
2. Import Prospect Data into HubSpot’s CRM:
   • Once you have identified potential prospects on LinkedIn Sales Navigator, import their details into HubSpot’s CRM.
   • Create a new contact record in HubSpot’s CRM for each prospect and include their name, company name, and any other relevant information you have gathered.
3. Use HubSpot’s CRM Features:
   • HubSpot’s CRM offers various features to help you gather more information about your prospects, including email addresses.
   • Utilize the “Contact Insights” feature to see publicly available information about your prospects, such as their LinkedIn profile, website, and social media accounts.
4. Use Email Permutator in HubSpot:
   • With the prospect’s full name and company name available in HubSpot’s CRM, you can use Email Permutator to generate potential email address combinations.
5. Verify email Addresses:
   • Before reaching out to prospects, verifying the generated email addresses is crucial to ensure accuracy and avoid potential bounce rates.
   • Use an email list verification tool or service to validate the email addresses and confirm their deliverability.
6. Initiate Outreach:
   • Once you have verified the email addresses, you can use HubSpot’s CRM to send your prospects personalized and targeted outreach emails.
   • Use the insights gathered from LinkedIn Sales Navigator to craft relevant messages that address their specific needs and pain points.

Note: HubSpot is a great CRM but dosent specialise in cold email outreach.

I recommend you use specialised tools like SmartReach.io for this use case. SmartReach provides unlimited sending email accounts, free email verification and warmup and so much more.

#5. Use Google’s advanced search

Google’s Advanced tool can help you find email address like a pro.

Here’s how to use it in five easy steps:

Step 1: Go to Google’s Advanced Search page

To get to Google’s Advanced Search, go to Google.com and click “Settings” at the bottom right.

Then click “Advanced search” and you’ll see a new page with many options.

Step 2: Enter your search criteria

You can type in different things on the Advanced Search Page to narrow down your search.

To find email address, type their name in the “All these words” box and their company name or website URL in the “This exact word or phrase” box.

Step 3: Exclude unwanted results

To improve your search, you can use the “None of these words” box to eliminate things you don’t want to see.

For example, if you’re looking to find email address of a marketing manager at a company, you might want to get rid of results about customer service or support.

Step 4: Specify the domain

You can use the “Site or domain” box to focus your search on a specific domain.

For example, if you’re looking to find email address of someone at Acme Corp, you can type “acme corp. com” in this box to only see results from that domain.

Step 5: Search for business email addresses

When you’re done filling out all the boxes, click the “Advanced Search” button at the bottom and see what you get.

You can then look through the results to find email address. Email addresses are often found in online directories, company websites, or social media profiles.

Step 6: Verify the business email address

Before you reach out to the prospect using the free email address you found, verifying that the address is correct is essential.

You can use an email verification tool to check the validity of the email address and ensure that your email won’t bounce back.

#6. Use email lookup tools

Email lookup tools can be a fast and easy way to find email address of your prospects.

Enter the prospect’s name or website; the tool will provide relevant email address. 

These tools are like magic: you type in the name and domain name of the person you want to email, and they will show you many possible email addresses.

Some of these tools cost money, while others let you try them for free or have a free version with some limits. They are super easy to use and can make your life much easier.

A few tools that you can go ahead

• ProspectDaddy
• Hunter
• Voila Norbert
• Apollo
• Vocus.io
• Anymail Finder

ProspectDaddy is a LinkedIn prospect finder tool that helps generate verified email address.

The email addresses can be generated in bulk.

The email list can either be imported to SmartReach.io’s campaign or downloaded in a CSV format.

ProspectDaddy also provides additional information such as designation, company, LinkedIn profile, and geographic information. 

On signing up, users would get 50 credits free for a lifetime, after which the credits would be chargeable. However, SmartReach.io’s subscribers get free credits every month. 

With SmartReach’s recently released inbox rotation feature, you get the option to add unlimited email accounts to your cold outreach campaign.

You can reach a larger audience without your ESP’s sending limit getting affected or getting caught in a spam filter. 

#7. Search online email databases

An email database is like an extensive list of email addresses along with extra details like names, what people are like, and what they’ve bought.

Businesses use it to send emails about their products, news, and other stuff to the people who buy from them and those who might buy in the future. 

SmartReach.io provides one of the biggest B2B lead databases with network of 250 million+ contacts.

Here’s how to use the SmartReach B2B lead finder to find contact details of the prospects. 

• Step 1: You can start by adding your requirements to the filters.

• Step 2: B2B lead finder will show a huge list of prospects once done. You have the option to select your choice and then hit the download button.

You got your prospect in CSV format. Alternatively, you can integrate the list into your CRM or SmartReach account directly.

Another great option for the email database tool is Find That Lead; you can sign up for their free trial. 

• Step 1: Let’s try by entering the domain name, for e.g., intensifynow.com

• Step 2: After providing the domain name, the tool will provide the list of the email addresses stored in their database. 

Some top email address databases you can dig into are Cloudlead, Cognism, D7 Lead Finder, and many more.

#8. Use lead data enrichment tools

Data enrichment tools can help you when you have a bunch of names and need their email addresses too.

For example, if you have a list of people who went to a conference or who showed up in your LinkedIn search.

Here’s how you can use them:

• Narrow down your audience with a LinkedIn search by filtering for “Marketing Manager” titles in early-stage startups in the USA.
• Copy and paste the search URL into a data scraping tool to download available information.
• Upload lead information into a data enrichment tool to find their email addresses.

They can provide more detailed information about your prospects, including their email addresses.

You can use these tools to enrich data you already have or to gather new data. Some devices are free, while others require a subscription or payment.

Read more: How to Use B2B Data Enrichment for Personalised Emails?

#9. Check for alternative search engines

Most of us use Google, but sometimes it may work and sometimes it may not.

If Google isn’t yielding the results you need, consider using an alternative search engine like DuckDuckGo to find email address.

This approach can be particularly useful if you have the company’s domain name and are trying to contact someone there.

To do this, enter an exact match search for “@domainname(dot)com” on DuckDuckGo. This will bring up any publicly available email addresses associated with that domain.

For a more targeted search, add the person’s name along with the domain name in the search bar.

Remember, this technique won’t work on Google or Bing because they use the “@” symbol for social media tags.

It’s specifically effective with search engines like DuckDuckGo or you.com.

#10. Use twitter to lookup professional emails

Twitter can be a valuable resource to find email address, especially for professionals who use the platform to network and share contact information.

1. Profile Information: Start by visiting the Twitter profile of the person you’re trying to contact. Many users include their email address in their bio or under the contact info section. Look for phrases like “email me at” or “reach me at.”
2. Tweets and Replies: If the email isn’t in the bio, try searching through their tweets and replies. Use Twitter’s search function with queries like “from:@username email” or “from:@username contact” to find any tweets where they might have shared their email address.
3. Direct Messages: If you still can’t find email address, consider sending a polite direct message (DM) introducing yourself and explaining why you’d like to get in touch. Some users may prefer to share their email addresses privately.
4. Twitter Lists: Check if they’re part of any Twitter lists related to professional or industry groups. Members of these lists often share contact details more freely within their community.

Read more: How to Find Someone’s Email on Twitter (Full Guide)

#11. Use LinkedIn to find professional email addresses

LinkedIn provides an option to export the connection information in a CSV format, including first name, last name, LinkedIn profile, business email address, company, and position. 

As instructed by LinkedIn, follow the steps to export the list:

• Step 1: Click on the ‘Me’ icon.
• Step 2: Click ‘Setting & Privacy’ and then ‘Data Privacy.’
• Step 3: Then click on ‘Get a copy of your data
• Step 4: You can select the 2nd option i.e., ‘Want something in particular’, and choose the connection option. Then click on ‘Request Archive’.
• Step 5: You will receive the complete data in your inbox.  

#12. Use Google’s advanced search tool

Google’s Advanced tool can help you find free business email addresses like a pro.

Here’s how to use it in five easy steps:

1. Go to Google’s Advanced Search page by clicking “Settings” and selecting “Advanced Search” from the dropdown menu or click here.
2. Enter your search criteria by specifying keywords in the “All these words” and “This exact word or phrase” boxes.
3. Exclude unwanted results using the “None of these words” box.
4. Specify the domain by entering it in the “Site or domain” box to narrow your search.
5. Click “Advanced Search” to retrieve results and find business email addresses in online directories, websites, or social media profiles.
6. Verify the business email address’s validity before reaching out using an email verification tool.

Summing up – How to find email address for free

The blog provides a comprehensive guide on how to find email address of your prospect.

It discusses the importance of understanding email address structure and using various tools, such as Email Permutator, HubSpot’s CRM, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, Google’s Advanced Search, Email Lookup Tools, Online lead databases, and Data enrichment tools.

It highlights the challenges to find email address that are accurate and offers practical solutions to overcome them.

By using the methods and tools mentioned in the blog, individuals and businesses can save time, effort, and money while enhancing their email marketing and sales strategies.

Frequently asked questions (F.A.Qs)

Q. How to find company email addresses for free?

Find company email addresses for free using tools like SmartReach Leadfinder, LinkedIn, or Clearbit Connect. Check company websites, use email format guessers, and verify emails with free validation tools to ensure accuracy and deliverability.

Q. How to find people’s email addresses?

Find people’s email addresses by searching LinkedIn profiles, using tools like SmartReach B2B lead finder, and checking personal websites or social media bios. Combine email format guessers with domain names and verify with email checkers.

Q. How to tell who owns an email address?

Tell who owns an email address by searching it in Google, using email lookup services. Check social media, and reverse email search engines for name and profile matches.

Q. What is the fastest way to find someone’s email address?

The fastest way to find someone’s email address is to use email finder tools which can instantly search their database of millions of professional email addresses. For free alternatives, try using Google search operators like “[first name] [last name] email” or “[domain name] [first name]“.