Maigret
Searches for a username across thousands of websites to gather public account info.
- Stars
- 39.6k
- Forks
- 3.1k
- Licence
- MIT
- Language
- Python
- Last update
- 4 days ago
- Type
- App
What it is
Maigret takes a username and checks whether accounts with that name exist on a large list of websites, then collects whatever public information it can from those profile pages. It produces reports in several formats and can also run from Python code. Its main use is open-source intelligence (OSINT) research into a person's online footprint.
- Run a quick search for a username with the command maigret YOUR_USERNAME
- Generate HTML or PDF reports of found accounts
- Narrow a search to certain site categories or countries using tags
- Run an optional AI summary of findings with the --ai option using an OpenAI-compatible API
- Use recursive search to follow usernames and IDs discovered on other sites
Great for
- Investigators and analysts doing OSINT research on a username
- Security researchers mapping where a handle is used online
- Developers who want to embed username lookups in Python projects
- People who want a web UI or HTML/PDF report from a username search
Not ideal for
- Anyone wanting to look up someone without a legitimate purpose, since it is built to profile people by username
- Users needing guaranteed complete results, because a default run checks only the 500 highest-ranked sites
- People who cannot install Python or run a command line, unless they use the Windows exe or a web option
How to get it
- 1
Install with a package manager
You'll need: Python 3.10 or higher
Install from PyPI
pip install maigretRun a search
maigret YOUR_USERNAME - 2
Run it
- Make sure Python 3.10 or higher is installed.
- Run pip install maigret.
- Run maigret YOUR_USERNAME with a username you are authorized to research.
- Open the generated report to review the results.
- 3
Get the most out of it
- Use -a to scan all supported sites instead of the default 500 highest-ranked ones.
- Use --tags to narrow searches by site category or country.
- Try the web interface for browsing results as a graph and downloading reports.
- Use the Python library import to run searches programmatically.
- Enable the optional --ai mode for a summary, if you have an OpenAI-compatible API.
Downloads
Strengths
- Covers a very large number of sites (README cites 5,900)
- No API keys required, according to the README
- Offers CLI, Python library, web interface, and Windows standalone options
Trade-offs
- Results depend on site availability and blocking, and the README says bypass is only partial
- Using it to profile people raises privacy and ethical concerns that users must consider themselves
- Some features like AI analysis and the auto-updated database depend on network access
How it compares
| Project | Stars | Type | Level | Updated | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| maigret (this) | 39.6k | App | intermediate | 4 days ago | Investigators and analysts doing OSINT research on a username |
| sherlock | 95.4k | CLI | intermediate | 4 days ago | Security researchers doing authorized open-source intelligence work |
| spiderfoot | 24.2k | App | intermediate | 7 months ago | Security professionals doing reconnaissance during penetration tests or red team exercises |
| httpx | 10.6k | CLI | intermediate | 4 days ago | Security testers doing reconnaissance on lists of hosts they are authorized to test |
| web-check | 35.3k | App | intermediate | 4 days ago | Developers checking how a site is configured |
| crowdsec | 15.4k | App | intermediate | 6 days ago | System administrators who run Linux servers and want fail2ban-style protection with more flexibility |
Stats synced from GitHub. The assessment above was drafted with AI from the project's README on 2026-10-29 and may miss recent changes — check the README before relying on a command. MIT licence: free to use, modify and distribute, including commercially, as long as you keep the copyright notice.