Find Peoples Email (Work Emails) in 2026: Fast, Legal Methods

Trying to find peoples email for B2B outreach? The old "guess the format and send" move is still the fastest way to rack up bounces, get throttled, and burn a domain.

In 2026, the goal isn't "an email." It's a send-safe work email you can trust.

We'll walk through the workflow we use: name + company to verified email, how to deal with catch-all domains without gambling, and the compliance basics that keep you out of trouble (and out of spam).

What you need (quick version)

Checklist (non-negotiables):

• Identify the company's real sending domain (not always the brand domain)
• Generate likely patterns (permutator)
• Use a finder that returns confidence signals (evidence, recency, status)
• Verify without sending (MX/SMTP checks)
• Have a plan for Valid / Catch-all / Unknown
• Deliverability guardrails: bounce <=2%, complaints <0.3%
• A catch-all strategy (because 15%-28% of B2B domains are catch-all)

Mini decision tree:

• Need 1-20 emails now -> permutator + verifier.
• Need 20-500/week -> finder + verifier + clean export to CRM/sequencer.
• Doing scale outbound -> database + real-time verification + enrichment + dedupe.

Why "finding people's email addresses" is harder in 2026 (and what "good" looks like)

Email data rots fast. Lists decay 20-30% per year from job changes, reorgs, domain migrations, and security tooling that changes how mail servers respond.

And inbox providers punish sloppy list hygiene. If you're sending cold email at any real volume, you're running a email deliverability program whether you asked for that job or not. Success isn't how many addresses you collect. It's whether you can keep bounces and complaints low enough to stay in the inbox.

What "good" looks like in practice:

• New sends stay under 2% bounce
• Spam complaints stay under 0.3%
• Role-based and disposable emails are excluded by default
• Catch-all domains go into a separate workflow (not a coin flip)

Those are operational guardrails, not legal requirements. Ignore them and your results fall off a cliff.

Look, if your average deal is in the low five figures and you're mostly doing outbound by email, you don't need a giant "everything suite." You need accurate emails, fast verification, and clean exports.

How to find peoples email fast: name + company -> verified email

This is the workflow I use when I want a clean list today and I don't want to spend next week debugging bounces.

Step 1 - Start with the domain (don't guess the person first)

1. Find the company's real email domain Companies often use multiple domains (parent company, regional domains, acquired domains).

2. Confirm the domain is mail-enabled Check MX records. No MX means don't waste time generating patterns.

3. Watch for "send-from" domains Some companies market on company.com but send from companymail.com or a subdomain. If your first pass fails, this is usually why.

Step 2 - Generate likely patterns (permutator)

Generate the common formats:

• first@domain.com
• first.last@domain.com
• f.last@domain.com
• firstl@domain.com
• last@domain.com

If you can find one real email from that company (even a generic contact), you can usually infer the pattern for everyone else. (If you want a safer version of “guess the format,” see Guess Email Address Format.)

Step 3 - Run an email finder + verifier (one motion)

You want two outcomes:

• Find candidate emails for "First Last + Company"
• Verify without sending using MX + SMTP probing (plus risk screens)

In our experience, the best setup is a finder that verifies in the same flow, returns clear statuses (Valid/Catch-all/Unknown), and doesn't make you pay twice just to get to "send-safe." (Related: email finder CRM integration.)

Prospeo's Email Finder is built for the "name + company -> send-safe email" job: real-time verification, catch-all handling, and spam-trap/honeypot filtering in the same flow. It runs on proprietary email-finding infrastructure (not third-party providers) and refreshes data every 7 days, which matters more than most people think because job changes and mailbox churn are constant. If you're trying to keep bounces down while moving fast, that's the point.

If you're scaling, don't live in CSV land. Push results into your CRM and sequencer so you don't create duplicates, broken segments, and "why did this person get hit twice?" moments. I've seen teams lose a week to that kind of cleanup after a rushed import. (Use a repeatable import leads SOP.)

Step 4 - What to do with each status (Valid vs Catch-all vs Unknown)

These are the common statuses you'll see across verifiers:

• Valid: The address passes verification checks and is considered deliverable. Do: send (still exclude role-based/disposable).

• Catch-all: The domain accepts mail for any address, so SMTP can't confirm the mailbox exists. Do: route to a separate lane (see "confidence stacking" below).

• Unknown: The verifier couldn't confirm deliverability due to timeouts, greylisting, or security gateways blocking probes. Do: re-verify later or find an alternate contact. Don't blast.

Quick decision tree:

• Valid -> add to sequence.
• Catch-all -> confidence stack -> if you're still uncertain, send only to high-fit accounts at low volume.
• Unknown -> re-verify in 24-72 hours -> if it's still unknown, replace with another contact.

Free/manual methods first (fast + surprisingly effective)

For low volume, manual discovery is often faster than paying credits. And it teaches you patterns that make every tool more accurate.

Email permutators (60-second method)

Use a permutator when:

• You're finding a handful of emails
• You already know the domain
• You can verify without sending

Skip permutators when:

• You can't verify (guessing + sending is how you spike bounces)
• The company is enterprise (catch-all is common)
• You're building lists at scale

Company website clues (press, team pages, docs)

Look for any page that contains a real person's email:

• Press releases (PR contact formats)
• Investor relations pages
• PDF documents (policies, brochures, event decks)
• Support docs and changelogs
• Press kits / media pages

Once you find one real email, you can infer the pattern for the rest.

Copy-paste OSINT queries (the stuff that actually works)

Run these in Google (swap in the company/domain):

• site:company.com "@company.com" Finds emails embedded in pages and footers.

• site:company.com "@company.com" filetype:pdf PDFs are gold: brochures, policies, and event decks often list direct contacts.

• site:company.com (email OR "e-mail") (contact OR press OR media) Surfaces press/media pages that publish real addresses.

• site:company.com "mailto:" Finds mailto links that don't show up in normal page text.

• site:company.com ("@company.com" AND (sales OR partnerships OR marketing)) Helps you locate departmental contacts and infer patterns.

• site:company.com ("vcard" OR "vcf") Occasionally surfaces downloadable contact cards.

• site:company.com ("@company.com" AND (sales OR partnerships OR marketing)) Helps you locate departmental contacts and infer patterns.

• site:company.com ("vcard" OR "vcf") Occasionally surfaces downloadable contact cards.

• site:docs.company.com "@company.com" Documentation subdomains often leak real addresses.

• ("first.last@company.com" OR "f.last@company.com") site:company.com Pattern hunting: you're trying to confirm the format, not find every person.

Social search (quick and dirty, but effective):

• On X/Twitter search: "@company.com" "email"
• On X/Twitter search: "@company.com" "contact"

Extra tactic most people forget: view page source. Emails sometimes live in:

• schema markup ("email": "...")
• JSON blobs powering "team" pages
• embedded PDFs or scripts

Reverse lookup basics (when you already have an email)

Reverse lookup is the opposite problem: you have an email and want to know who it belongs to. It's useful for cleaning inbound leads, partner lists, or mystery signups.

Mailmeteor's reverse email lookup tool is a simple starting point: https://mailmeteor.com/tools/reverse-email-lookup

Verification isn't optional: protect deliverability with two numbers

If you remember one thing: verification is cheaper than recovery.

Fixing deliverability after you spike bounces is brutal: paused sequences, new domains, warmups, and weeks of lost replies. (If you need a step-by-step, see How to Verify an Email Address.)

Operational guardrails:

• Bounce rate <=2%
• Spam complaints <0.3%

What verification actually checks (and why it sometimes lies)

A real verifier typically runs:

• Syntax: formatted like an email?
• Domain + MX: can the domain receive mail?
• SMTP mailbox checks: can the server confirm the mailbox exists (without sending)?
• Risk screens: role-based, disposable, gibberish patterns, trap signals

SMTP is the most valuable layer. It's also the most likely to be blocked by modern security gateways, which is why you'll see "Unknown" even when an address is real.

When to re-verify (simple cadence that prevents surprise bounces)

Re-verify:

• Right before first send (always)
• After 30 days if the list hasn't been used
• After 60-90 days for any "evergreen" list you keep reusing
• Immediately when you see job-change signals (new title, new company, new domain)

If you're doing outbound weekly, bake verification into the workflow like dedupe. Because it is.

Pre-send hygiene checklist (the boring stuff that saves your domain)

Before you upload to a sequencer:

• Dedupe across lists and campaigns (duplicates inflate complaints)
• Apply your suppression list (opt-outs, bounces, "do not contact")
• Exclude role-based (info@, sales@, support@) unless you've got a reason
• Exclude disposable domains
• Make sure your sending domain has SPF/DKIM/DMARC aligned (verification won't save you from bad auth) - see SPF DKIM & DMARC
• Start new domains with low volume (don't dump 2,000 "valid" emails into day one)

Catch-all domains: why tools say "unknown" (and how to proceed safely)

Catch-all domains are the biggest reason people think email finding is random. About 15%-28% of B2B domains are catch-all, and the percentage climbs in larger companies.

A catch-all (accept-all) domain is configured to accept email for any address, even fake ones. That breaks the normal SMTP "mailbox exists" test because the server says "sure" either way.

Why you'll also see Unknown:

• Security gateways like Mimecast and Proofpoint block or distort SMTP probing
• Greylisting and rate limits cause timeouts
• Some orgs intentionally suppress verification signals

Confidence stacking for catch-all (multi-signal confirmation)

When a domain is catch-all, don't guess and pray. Stack signals:

1. Confirm the company's pattern from a published email (site/PDF/press kit).
2. Confirm the person exists + role fit (company team page, speaker bio, press mention).
3. Run a second verifier (different infrastructure often yields different confidence).
4. Send 1:1 or ultra-low volume first (prove deliverability before you scale).
5. If you've got it, use a direct-dial fallback for high-value accounts instead of gambling on catch-all. (More options: B2B Phone Number.)

That last step is the difference between "we tried" and "we booked the meeting."

Common mistakes when you're trying to find peoples email (and how to avoid them)

1. Testing guesses by sending A "quick test email" is still a bounce. Verify without sending.

2. Treating catch-all as valid Catch-all is a separate lane. Mix it into bulk sends and your bounce rate creeps up fast.

3. Ignoring Unknown Unknown isn't "probably fine." It's "we couldn't confirm." Re-verify or replace.

4. Not using suppression lists If you don't suppress opt-outs and prior bounces, you'll re-hit the same people and rack up complaints.

5. Over-collecting More contacts isn't better. Two high-fit contacts per account beats 20 random ones.

6. Buying a suite when you only need emails If you're mainly trying to build a send-safe list for outbound, pay for accuracy and verification, not dashboards you'll never open. (If you’re evaluating vendors, start with Best B2B Data Providers.)

Is it legal to find and use someone's work email? (UK/EU + US, plain English)

Yes, it's legal when you do it properly. The rules are about how you process personal data and how you market by email, not whether an address is "public."

Hard rules you should follow:

• Always include a working unsubscribe and a physical address (US baseline).
• Always honor opt-outs quickly (don't "wait for the next sync").
• Don't market to personal inboxes (Gmail/Yahoo/etc.) in UK/EU contexts without consent. Stick to relevant B2B work addresses and a clear lawful basis.

UK/EU: UK GDPR + PECR basics (what changes your obligations)

Two ideas matter:

• UK GDPR governs personal data processing.
• PECR governs electronic marketing rules (including consent expectations in many cases).

As of 2026, the ICO notes its direct marketing guidance is under review due to the Data (Use and Access) Act (19 June 2025). And a named work email can still be personal data if it identifies a person, so treat it that way. (More practical detail: GDPR for Sales and Marketing.)

Useful ICO resources:

• https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/direct-marketing-and-privacy-and-electronic-communications/
• https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/direct-marketing-and-privacy-and-electronic-communications/direct-marketing-advice-generator/
• https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/direct-marketing-and-privacy-and-electronic-communications/direct-marketing-checklist/
• https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/uk-gdpr-guidance-and-resources/lawful-basis/

Practical compliance checklist:

• Pick a lawful basis (often legitimate interests for B2B outreach)
• Be transparent (who you are, why you're emailing)
• Keep targeting relevant to their role (no spray-and-pray)
• Provide an easy opt-out and honor it fast
• Respect opt-outs across all tools (CRM, sequencer, enrichment)

US: CAN-SPAM basics (what your email must include)

CAN-SPAM is the baseline. FTC business guidance hub: https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/advertising-marketing/online-advertising-marketing

Do this every time:

• Accurate "From" and routing info
• Non-deceptive subject line
• Clear identification (don't impersonate or mislead)
• A physical postal address
• A working unsubscribe
• Honor opt-outs within 10 business days
• You're responsible even if a vendor sends for you

What not to do: "generated" emails from public data (risk example)

The sketchiest pattern is scraping public records and generating personal-format emails that were never published, then blasting them.

If you're doing pattern-based guessing at all, keep it clean: use it for work emails tied to a relevant role, verify without sending, keep a real suppression/opt-out system, and don't pretend "publicly guessable" equals "free to spam."

What it can cost

Stakes are real:

• CAN-SPAM penalties can run $53,088 per email
• GDPR maximum fines can reach EUR20M or 4% of global annual turnover

Most teams won't see headline fines. They will see blocked domains, blacklisting, and a dead pipeline if they treat compliance and hygiene as optional.

Best tools to find peoples email (pricing + who they're for)

Most tools can find some emails. The difference is how often they're right, how they treat catch-all/unknown, and whether the credit system quietly taxes your workflow. (More comparisons: Email Lookup Tools.)

ZoomInfo is a full GTM suite. It's powerful, but it's priced like a suite: enterprise packages commonly run into the tens of thousands per year depending on seats and add-ons. If your only goal is "name + company -> verified email," that's usually more spend than you need.

Prospeo (Tier 1) - best for email accuracy + freshness (self-serve)

1-line verdict: If you care about fewer bounces and faster list building, this is the cleanest all-around pick.

Prospeo is "The B2B data platform built for accuracy": 300M+ professional profiles, 143M+ verified emails, and 98% verified email accuracy on a 7-day refresh cycle (industry average: 6 weeks). It's used by 15,000+ companies and 40,000+ Chrome extension users, and it runs on proprietary email-finding infrastructure (not third-party providers).

Pricing is transparent and credit-based; expect roughly ~$0.01 per verified email on paid tiers. Free tier includes 75 emails + 100 extension credits/month. (Full breakdown: Prospeo Pricing.)

A scenario where it shines: you're building a list for a new outbound offer, you pull 400 contacts, and you don't want to spend your Friday night sorting bounces, duplicates, and "why is this person in two sequences?" issues. You want verified, exportable, and done.

Hunter (Tier 1) - best for evidence you can trust

1-line verdict: Best when you want receipts (source URLs + dates), not just a guess.

Hunter's killer feature is that it shows where an email came from and when it was found (source URLs + discovery dates). That makes it easier to decide whether an address is worth sending to.

Pricing: free includes 50 credits/month; paid starts at $49/month. Verification costs 0.5 credit, so verification-heavy workflows burn credits quickly.

Skip Hunter if: you're doing bulk verification-heavy workflows and you hate credit math.

GetProspect (Tier 1) - best for predictable "valid vs accept-all" billing

1-line verdict: Great for list building when catch-all domains are common.

Free plan includes 50 valid emails + 100 verifications; paid starts at $49/month.

The standout billing mechanic: accept-all (catch-all) emails can be added without consuming your "valid emails" quota until you hit your plan limit. Searches are auto-verified and don't drain a separate verification bucket, which reduces the "pay twice" feeling.

Avoid if: you want a single "green light" status. Catch-all still needs a cautious sending lane.

Skrapp (Tier 2) - budget-friendly with fair charging

1-line verdict: Solid value if you want simple credits and fewer duplicate charges.

Free includes 100 credits/month; paid starts at $30/month. You're charged only for Valid or Catch-all results (not invalid/unknown), and duplicates are charged once, which matters when you re-run lists.

Anymail Finder (Tier 2) - "pay only for valid" in bulk

1-line verdict: Best cost control when you only want deliverable emails.

Pricing is available as credit packs: $50/1,000, $200/10,000, $500/50,000. The appeal is simple: you pay for valid results, which makes budgeting easier.

Skip it if you need a rich prospecting UI. This one's more "process lists, export results."

RocketReach (Tier 2) - broad contact pulls, but watch freshness

1-line verdict: Useful as a secondary source; don't make it your only source.

Pricing snapshots: $59 / $119 / $299 per month. The main annoyance is the split between lookup credits vs export credits. Finding and using aren't the same bucket, and that catches teams off guard.

Skip it if you sell outside US-heavy markets and freshness is non-negotiable.

ContactOut (Tier 3) - supplemental, but read the fine print

1-line verdict: Handy as a backup source; keep an eye on quota framing.

Pricing: free includes 40 emails/year. Paid Sales plan is $79/user/month and includes 6,000 emails/year (annual quota framing surprises people).

Mailmeteor (Tier 3) - reverse lookup utility

1-line verdict: Great for "who is this email?" cleanup, not primary prospecting.

Mailmeteor is most useful for reverse lookup and lightweight enrichment workflows. Pricing signal: reverse lookup tool is free; paid mail/automation plans typically start around ~$10-$20/month depending on features.

Quick comparison table

Credit economics: the tiny math that saves you money

Billing models matter more than people admit. Imagine you search 1,000 prospects and get:

• 600 Valid
• 250 Catch-all
• 150 Unknown/Invalid

What you effectively pay for:

• Pay-only-valid model: you pay for ~600 usable emails (clean budgeting).
• Credits-for-search model: you pay for all 1,000 lookups, even though only 600 are immediately send-safe.
• Charged for valid + catch-all: you pay for 850 results, then you still need a catch-all lane to avoid bounce creep.

That's why two tools with the same "emails found" can have wildly different real costs.

Benchmarks: what "accuracy" claims actually mean

Most "accuracy" numbers are marketing unless you know the test design: inputs, success definition, and whether they measured bounces after sending.

Two benchmarks are worth understanding:

Anymail Finder's benchmark (practical finder test):

• 5,000 contacts, rerun Sep 30, 2026
• Split into:
  • 2,500 domain-only (500+ employees)
  • 2,500 company-name-only (<500 employees)

Dropcontact's benchmark (error-aware test):

• 20,000 tests across 15 tools
• Tracks enrichment rate, overall error rate, and hard bounce rate
• Calls out catch-all prevalence: 15%-28% of B2B domains are catch-all

Why these benchmarks matter: the methodology (domain-only vs company-name-only, and hard-bounce tracking) matters more than the exact month.

What to ask vendors (or test yourself):

• % Valid vs Catch-all vs Unknown
• Hard bounce rate on a controlled send
• Duplicate rate when syncing to CRM
• How role-based/disposable/trap risk is handled

Mini-metrics table:

FAQ

Is it legal to find someone's work email and cold email them?

Yes. Cold emailing work addresses is legal when you follow the rules: UK GDPR/PECR in the UK/EU and CAN-SPAM in the US. Use role-relevant targeting, identify yourself clearly, include a physical address, and provide an opt-out you honor within 10 business days (US baseline).

Why do email finders disagree on the "right" address?

Tools use different sources, refresh cycles, and verification infrastructure, and many mail servers block SMTP signals. If one tool says Valid and another says Catch-all/Unknown, trust the one with stronger evidence (source + recency) and re-verify within 24-72 hours before sending.

What does "catch-all" or "unknown" mean, and should I email it?

Catch-all means the domain accepts mail for any address, so verification can't confirm the mailbox exists. Unknown means checks were blocked or timed out. Don't bulk-send either. Confidence stack and only test high-fit accounts at very low volume (think 1:1 first), or pick another contact.

What's a good free tool to find work emails?

For a free, usable workflow, start with Prospeo's free tier (75 emails + 100 extension credits/month) and verify in the same flow, then cross-check with Hunter's free credits (50/month) when you want source evidence. If you're dealing with lots of accept-all domains, GetProspect's free plan (50 valid + 100 verifications) is also practical.

How can I find a person's email address if I only have their name and company?

Use the "domain -> pattern -> finder -> verify" workflow: confirm the company's mail-enabled domain, generate likely formats, then run a finder with real-time verification so you can find peoples email without testing guesses by sending.

Summary: find peoples email without wrecking deliverability

If you want to find peoples email in 2026 and actually land in the inbox, the winning combo's simple: start from the right domain, generate likely patterns, use a finder that returns clear statuses, and verify without sending.

Treat catch-all and unknown as separate lanes, keep bounces under 2%, and outbound stops feeling like gambling.