MyRecon OSINTShort answer
For username coverage, WhatsMyName wins: 700+ sites, a web app, and detection rules that require both a positive and a negative signal. MyRecon wins when the investigation goes past the username, into email, breaches, domains, DNS and IPs, and when you want each match scored rather than matched against a rule. Both are free; using both is sensible.
| Feature | MyRecon | WhatsMyName |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A multi-lookup OSINT tool | A community dataset, plus the whatsmyname.app front end |
| Sites | 100+ on the web, 560 in the Android app | 700+, per its README |
| How a hit is decided | Scored evidence: status, content, metadata, redirects | Per-site rules: expected code and string for found, and for missing |
| Confidence label per match | Yes, high / medium / low | No, a rule matches or it does not |
| Shows what it rejected, and why | Yes | No |
| Email, breach, domain, DNS, IP | Yes | No |
| Export | JSON, CSV | CSV from the web app |
| Data licence | Code MIT | Dataset CC BY-SA 4.0 |
| Used inside other tools | No | Yes, many OSINT tools consume the dataset |
What WhatsMyName is
WhatsMyName is a community-maintained dataset of more than 700 websites, started in 2015 by Micah Hoffman (WebBreacher) specifically to deal with false positives in existing username checkers. Each site entry describes how to tell a real account from a missing one: an expected status code and a string that should appear when the account exists, and a separate code and string that indicate it does not. The data is licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 and is used by a long list of other OSINT tools. The public front end at whatsmyname.app lets you run a search in the browser, filter by category and export to CSV.
Two answers to the same problem
The false-positive problem is simple to state. Many sites answer "200 OK" whether or not a profile exists, or show a login wall, or redirect every unknown name to the homepage. A checker that reads only the status code will report accounts that are not there.
WhatsMyName's answer is a stricter rule per site: a hit needs the right code and the right text, and the dataset also records what "missing" looks like. That is a real improvement over status-only detection, and it is why the dataset is so widely reused.
MyRecon's answer is to score rather than match. Status, page content, profile metadata such as an avatar or display name, and redirect behaviour are combined into a score, and the match is labelled high, medium or low. Anything that answered but did not clear the bar is listed in a "not confirmed" panel with its status code and the reason. The trade-off is honest: rules are transparent and easy to audit per site; scoring is more forgiving of small page changes and tells you how sure it is. Our Android app adds a third layer, requesting an impossible control handle on every platform so a site that answers both alike cannot produce a match.
Where WhatsMyName beats MyRecon
- Coverage. 700+ sites to our 100+ on the web.
- A shared, open dataset. It improves every tool that consumes it. Our platform list serves our own tools.
- Transparent per-site rules. You can read exactly why a site reported a hit. That is excellent for training and for auditing a result in a report.
- Category filtering. Useful when you only care about, say, gaming or developer platforms.
Where MyRecon beats WhatsMyName
- It does not stop at the username. Email intelligence, breach exposure, RDAP registration data, DNS records, IP ownership, SPF and DMARC verdicts, and a k-anonymity password check, all on one page with one-click pivots between them.
- Graded confidence. A medium match is still shown, and labelled, instead of being a silent miss because one string changed on the site.
- Visible rejects. You see which platforms were reachable but inconclusive, so "not found" and "could not tell" are never the same thing.
- Profile enrichment. Avatars and bios on confirmed matches help you judge at a glance whether two accounts are the same person.
Which one should you use?
For a pure username sweep with the widest reach, use WhatsMyName, and read its results with the same care you would give any checker. For an investigation that will move from a handle to an email, a domain or an IP, or when you want each match graded, use MyRecon. Accounts that show up in both are the ones to trust first.
Questions people ask
Does MyRecon use the WhatsMyName dataset?
No. MyRecon's platform list and scoring are maintained separately. WhatsMyName's data is licensed CC BY-SA 4.0, and any tool that does use it is required to credit it.
Why do two username checkers give different results for the same handle?
They check different sites, decide existence with different rules, and send requests from different networks, some of which a platform may block. A result both tools agree on is much more likely to be real.
Which is better for checking my own footprint?
Either works for usernames. MyRecon also checks your email against breach data and your passwords with k-anonymity, which covers the other half of a personal footprint review.
Other comparisons
MyRecon vs Sherlock
400+ sites from a terminal against a confidence-scored search in the browser.
Compare CLI scannerMyRecon vs Maigret
The largest site list in open source, and what a bigger list does and does not buy you.
Compare Breach searchMyRecon vs Have I Been Pwned
The breach authority, which we build on, and what we add around it.
CompareRun the test yourself
Search a handle you own, then one that cannot exist, like zq-no-such-user-8841. A tool worth trusting reports nothing for the second.
Review your public footprint with MyRecon
MyRecon helps you review public username leads from supported sites. Compare each tool's current coverage and verify candidate profiles at their source. The Android app runs a username sweep from your phone and labels uncertain checks as unknown.
Core app tools are free and need no signup. The Google Play listing is in closed testing, so only eligible testers can access it until public release. View MyRecon on Google Play.