01 · Product name
OSINT Framework
A visual map of OSINT tools and sources, sorted by task.
Published by Justin Nordine.
In short
The OSINT Framework is a website that organizes links to tools and sources as a tree: email, username, domain, social, and the rest. It does not collect data. Justin Nordine maintains it as a free map. Use it to discover a tool, then read that tool’s listing here before you depend on it.
Product pricing strategy
02
Free
OSINT Framework is free. You do not buy a seat to use what the project publishes.
Yes. The site is free to browse. The tools it links to set their own prices.
Utility and features
03
The Framework is a directory of directories, drawn as a mind map. You click a task, then a narrower task, then a link that leaves the site. That structure is still useful when you do not know the name of the tool you need. It is a poor place to stop. Links rot, tools become paid, and a listing there is not a review.
- A map, not a collector. Nothing is queried on your behalf. You follow links to other people’s tools and accept their terms.
- How it is organized. Tasks, then subtypes, then tools. The same tool can appear in more than one branch.
- How to use it with this directory. Find a candidate on the map. If Osint Daily has a page for it, read the answer block before you install.
Osint Daily exists partly because a map is not a briefing. The Framework will show you that a username tool exists. Sherlock’s page on this site tells you what a hit means. Keep both. The Framework is free, static, and honest about being a set of outbound links. There is no account and no API that does the research for you.
- 1
Open osintframework.com and start from the task, not from a brand name.
- 2
Open two or three links. Note which are live, paid, or abandoned.
- 3
Come back to the Osint Daily directory and search the tool name.
- 4
If it is missing and it is real, send it through the submit form.
Caveats
04
The OSINT Framework is a curated tree of links maintained as a public site. Links rot, tools disappear, and some destinations are commercial, sketchy, or both. Inclusion is not vetting.
It does not query anything for you. It will not tell you if a username exists. Use it to choose a tool, then use that tool under its own rules. Prefer the maintained projects this directory has actually described.
Screenshots
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Potential use cases
06
- The task is vague: ‘find something on this username.’ Open the framework and walk the username branch until you have a short list of source types, not fifty tabs. The output is a reading list. Pivot into the tools this directory already reviews, such as Sherlock or Maigret, and treat the rest as links to evaluate. A link in the framework is not a recommendation and not a confirmation that the site still works.
- You need a niche or regional source this directory does not list. Use the framework as the map, open the project’s own page, and decide whether it is maintained. The output is a candidate, which you then verify. Do not add it to a case report because the framework linked it.
- A new analyst needs to see how wide the field is. One branch, ten minutes, then a written list of three tools they will actually learn. The framework is a taxonomy. It is not a search engine and it does not return data about a person.
Hard cases
The case where the first result is easy to over-read.
A branch full of tools you have not reviewed
The username branch lists a dozen sites. Picking all of them is how a case becomes a pile of terms-of-service violations and dead links. Choose two you can explain, run those, and note that the framework suggested more. If a link asks you to upload someone else’s personal data to a random web form, stop and find a local tool instead.
Questions
Is the OSINT Framework free?
Yes. The site is free to browse. The tools it links to set their own prices.
Does the OSINT Framework run searches?
No. It is a curated tree of links. Collection happens on the sites you click through to.
Citations
07
Titled sources. These public pages are what the quotes on this listing come from.
Product
OSINT Framework
https://osintframework.com/Documentation
OSINT Framework README
https://github.com/lockfale/osint-framework/blob/master/README.md