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IMMUNITYSEC

Holehe

Holehe checks whether an email address is attached to an account on more than 120 websites. It is open source under the GPL-3.0-only license. It runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows.

Updated

Pricing
Open Source
License
GPL-3.0-only
Platforms
Linux, macOS, Windows
Category
Open Source Intelligence Tools
Official websiteSource repository

What Is Holehe?

Holehe checks whether an email address is attached to an account on more than 120 websites. Each module queries a site's registration, login, or password recovery flow, and the README states that checks do not alert the target email. Output lists registered and unregistered sites, and some modules return partially obfuscated recovery emails or phone numbers.

Use Cases

Mapping account footprint for an email address during authorized investigations.

Strengths and Limitations

Strengths

  • +Does not alert the target email address, according to its README.
  • +Covers major platforms including social and commerce sites.
  • +Simple CLI with CSV export.

Limitations

  • -Depends on each site's registration, login, or reset flow, which changes over time.
  • -Sites can rate-limit requests; module output flags when this happens.

Defensive Use

Fraud and account takeover investigations that need to map a compromised email's reach.

Holehe Alternatives

3 tools
ToolPricing
Maigret

Username OSINT tool that checks thousands of sites and builds a dossier report with profile metadata.

Free / Commercial
Sherlock

Python command-line tool that searches a username across more than 400 social networks and returns links to matching public profiles.

Open Source
theHarvester

Lightweight, passive OSINT harvester that collects emails, subdomains, IPs, URLs, and names from public sources for authorized reconnaissance.

Open Source

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Holehe?→

Holehe checks whether an email address is attached to an account on more than 120 websites. Each module queries a site's registration, login, or password recovery flow, and the README states that checks do not alert the target email. Output lists registered and unregistered sites, and some modules return partially obfuscated recovery emails or phone numbers.

What is Holehe used for?→

Mapping account footprint for an email address during authorized investigations.

What are the strengths of Holehe?→
  • +Does not alert the target email address, according to its README.
  • +Covers major platforms including social and commerce sites.
  • +Simple CLI with CSV export.
What are the limitations of Holehe?→
  • +Depends on each site's registration, login, or reset flow, which changes over time.
  • +Sites can rate-limit requests; module output flags when this happens.
How is Holehe used defensively?→

Fraud and account takeover investigations that need to map a compromised email's reach.