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People often tell me that they find it challenging to keep up with the world of OSINT and digital investigative tools. This year seemed even more difficult than in the past.
I tracked a lot of tools, but I also had to try and keep up with apps that stopped working. There were cases where I’d mentioned a tool in one of our Briefings and then realize weeks or months later that it was dead.
This post is the first of what will be my annual look at the new and updated tools of the year. Not everything listed below launched in 2025. Some products were updated with new features, while others are included because I came across them for the first time. The result is a rundown of more than 45 tools organized under headings like AI, Social Media, and Websites.
Thank you to all of the solo developers and companies that make the tools highlighted below. I want to shout out Cyber Detective, Logan Woodward, Jake Creps of The OSINT Newsletter, Henk van Ess, and Ritu Gill’s Friday 5 Newsletter for being great sources of tools and tips.
I also appreciate Niko Dekens, aka Dutch OSINT Guy, for blogging his ass off this year, Griffin Glynn and Micah Hoffman at My OSINT Training for their free bookmarklets, and the OSINT newsletters from Alicja Pawlowska and Benjamin Strick.
Alright, let’s get to the year in tools!
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