Sherlock Username Recon

Find Any Username Across 400+ Social Networks — Instantly

Sherlock Username Recon is the fastest way to search for a username across social media platforms, forums, and online communities in one click. Powered by the Sherlock Project — the industry standard open-source OSINT username search engine — this Actor scans 400+ websites simultaneously and returns every confirmed profile URL in a clean, structured dataset.

No installation. No Python. No CLI. Just enter a username and get results in minutes — via browser, API, or scheduled automation.

What is Sherlock Username Recon and what does it do?

Sherlock Username Recon is an OSINT username lookup tool that checks whether a username exists on over 400 platforms at the same time. It covers the major social networks (Instagram, TikTok, Reddit, X/Twitter, LinkedIn, Twitch, YouTube), developer platforms (GitHub, GitLab, Stack Overflow, npm), gaming networks (Steam, Xbox, PlayStation, Chess.com), and hundreds of niche communities.

For every platform where the username is found, the Actor returns the direct profile URL, platform name, content categories, and response metadata — ready to export as JSON, CSV, or Excel or consume via the Apify API.

Why use this username search tool?

OSINT and digital footprint investigations

Map a person's entire online presence from a single username. What used to take hours of manual searching across hundreds of tabs now takes under 2 minutes — and returns structured data you can actually work with.

Use cases

• Security researchers and red teams — detect account impersonation, map attack surface, or verify credential reuse across platforms
• Journalists and investigators — build complete subject profiles from publicly available data in minutes
• HR and compliance teams — digital background checks as part of pre-employment due diligence
• Brand managers — monitor username squatting, typosquatting, and brand impersonation across social networks
• Competitive intelligence — discover where competitors are active (or absent) online
• AI agents and LLM pipelines — self-describing JSON output with category tags makes it trivial to feed results into downstream reasoning steps

How to search for a username across social media (step by step)

1. Click Try for free on this Actor's page — no account required to start.
2. Type one or more usernames into the Usernames field. Use plain text — no @ symbol, no URLs. Example: johndoe.
3. (Optional) Toggle Include NSFW Sites if adult platforms are in scope for your investigation.
4. (Optional) Use Limit to Specific Sites to restrict the scan to platforms you care about (e.g. GitHub, reddit.com, or https://instagram.com).
5. Click Start. The Actor scans 400+ networks concurrently — a single username typically finishes in under 2 minutes; 10 usernames take around 3–5 minutes.
6. Open the Output tab to browse results in a table, or export as JSON, CSV, HTML, or Excel.

Pro tip: Add multiple usernames in one run — up to 10 per run on paid plans. They are processed concurrently, so 10 usernames take around 3–5 minutes total.

Input parameters

Only usernames is required. Everything else is optional.

Parameter	Required	Default	Description
usernames	✅	—	One or more usernames to search. Plain strings — no @, no URLs. Max 1 on free plans, max 10 on paid plans.
proxyConfiguration	❌	None	Route requests through Apify Proxy (residential or datacenter) or a custom HTTP/SOCKS5 proxy. Improves coverage on platforms that block cloud IPs.
timeout	❌	60	Per-site request timeout in seconds (5–300). Lower values speed up runs; higher values are more thorough.
includeNsfw	❌	false	Include adult and NSFW platforms in the scan. Set to true for comprehensive OSINT investigations.
siteList	❌	[]	Restrict the scan to specific sites. Accepts full URLs, bare domains, or Sherlock site names — all three formats are equivalent.

Example input:

{
  "usernames": ["johndoe", "john_doe"],
  "timeout": 30,
  "includeNsfw": false,
  "siteList": []
}

Output — what data does this username finder return?

Results are saved to the Apify dataset as the run progresses. Only confirmed claimed profiles are included — platforms where no account was found are excluded from output. Download in JSON, CSV, HTML, or Excel from the Output tab, or pull results via the Apify Dataset API.

Example output:

[
  {
    "username": "johndoe",
    "site": "GitHub",
    "site_domain": "github.com",
    "url": "https://github.com/johndoe",
    "status": "Claimed",
    "categories": ["software", "tech"],
    "is_nsfw": false,
    "response_time_s": 0.42,
    "extraction_date": "2026-04-29",
    "extraction_datetime": "2026-04-29T14:30:00Z"
  },
  {
    "username": "johndoe",
    "site": "Reddit",
    "site_domain": "reddit.com",
    "url": "https://www.reddit.com/user/johndoe",
    "status": "Claimed",
    "categories": ["social media", "forum"],
    "is_nsfw": false,
    "response_time_s": 0.81,
    "extraction_date": "2026-04-29",
    "extraction_datetime": "2026-04-29T14:30:00Z"
  }
]

Output fields

Field	Type	Description
username	string	The searched username.
site	string	Platform name as listed in the Sherlock database (e.g. GitHub, Reddit).
site_domain	string	Bare domain without scheme or path (e.g. github.com).
url	string	Direct link to the confirmed profile page.
status	string	Always Claimed — only found profiles appear in output.
categories	array	Platform type tags (e.g. ["social media", "tech"]). Useful for filtering and downstream reasoning.
is_nsfw	boolean	true if the platform hosts adult content.
response_time_s	number	HTTP response time in seconds for that site.
extraction_date	string	Date of the run in YYYY-MM-DD format (UTC).
extraction_datetime	string	Full UTC timestamp in ISO 8601 format.

Advanced tips for better username search results

Use a proxy for higher detection accuracy

Platforms like Instagram and TikTok may block or rate-limit requests from cloud data center IPs, causing false negatives. Routing requests through a residential proxy via Apify Proxy or a custom provider significantly improves hit rates on those platforms.

Lower the timeout to speed up runs

The default 60-second timeout is conservative. Setting timeout to 15–30 seconds cuts total run time by 50–70% with minimal impact on accuracy — slow sites rarely return actionable data.

Schedule recurring username monitoring

Use Apify's built-in Scheduler to run this Actor on a cron schedule (e.g. daily or weekly) to track a username's growing presence over time or detect new account registrations.

Connect to your data pipeline via API

The Actor is fully API-accessible. Use the Apify REST API or the official SDKs for Python, JavaScript, PHP, and Go to trigger runs, pass input, and retrieve datasets programmatically. See the API tab for ready-to-use code snippets.

Frequently asked questions

Is it legal to search for usernames across social networks?

This tool only accesses publicly available profile pages — the same pages any browser user can visit without logging in. It does not bypass authentication, scrape private messages, or collect anything beyond what users have explicitly made public. Always ensure your use case complies with the Terms of Service of each platform and applicable local law. If in doubt, consult a legal professional.

How accurate is the username search?

Accuracy depends on Sherlock's per-site detection heuristics. Most sites are highly reliable. A small number of platforms use ambiguous HTTP responses or client-side rendering that may occasionally produce false positives or false negatives. The response_time_s field can help flag anomalously fast responses that may warrant manual verification.

What is the difference between this and searching manually?

Manually checking 400+ platforms for one username would take several hours. This Actor does the same job in under 2 minutes, returns machine-readable structured data, and can be automated or integrated into existing workflows.

How do I limit the search to specific social networks?

Use the siteList input. You can pass a full URL (https://github.com), a bare domain (github.com), or the Sherlock site name (GitHub) — all three formats resolve to the same site. Mix and match formats freely.

How many usernames can I search per run?

Free accounts are limited to 1 username per run. Paid accounts can search up to 10 usernames per run, processed concurrently. If you provide more than the allowed amount, the Actor will process the first N and log a warning for the rest.

Can I run this on a schedule to monitor username registrations?

Yes. Use the Apify Scheduler or the API to set up recurring runs. Results from each run are stored separately in their own dataset, making it easy to compare over time.

How do I report a bug or request a new site to be added?

Site detection logic lives in the upstream Sherlock Project repository — open an issue there for site-specific problems. For issues with this Actor specifically, use the Issues tab on this page.

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Data and privacy notice: This Actor only extracts data that individuals have chosen to make publicly available. Results may contain personal data subject to GDPR in the EU and equivalent regulations elsewhere. Do not collect or store personal data without a legitimate legal basis. Use responsibly.