How to Find Someone on Reddit in 2026 (With or Without a Username)

Quick answer: If you know the username, go straight to reddit.com/user/USERNAME. If you only know part of it, use the People tab in Reddit search. If you don't know the username at all, search Google with site:reddit.com plus a phrase, topic or place the person is likely to mention, then check which accounts show up repeatedly in the same subreddits. Reddit has no built-in way to look someone up by email address or phone number.

Which method to use

• Exact username: open reddit.com/user/USERNAME. Exact match.
• Part of the username or a display name: Reddit search → People tab. Good if the fragment is distinctive.
• Something they posted: Google "exact phrase" site:reddit.com. Good for public, indexed posts.
• Topics, city or communities they're into: search inside those subreddits and look for repeat posters. Slow; gives you candidates, not proof.
• Email address or phone number: no Reddit feature for this. Ask the person, or check whether they link their Reddit on a public profile.
• A photo: reverse image search (Google Lens) and look for reddit.com results. Only works if the same image was posted publicly.

1. If you know the username

1. Go to reddit.com/user/USERNAME (or type u/USERNAME in the search bar).
2. If the page loads, open the Posts and Comments tabs. Some users hide their activity, so an empty tab doesn't always mean an empty account.
3. "This account has been suspended" or "Sorry, nobody on Reddit goes by that name" means the account is suspended, deleted, or the spelling is off. Try common variations (underscores, numbers at the end).
4. To keep up with their public posts, use Follow on their profile.

2. If you only know part of the username or a display name

1. Search the fragment in the Reddit search bar.
2. Switch to the People tab. It matches usernames and display names.
3. Open the likely candidates and compare their communities, posting times and writing style with what you know.

3. How to find someone on Reddit without their username

This is the most common case, and there is no single search for it. Work from the clues you have:

• Google with site:reddit.com. Search "a phrase they used" site:reddit.com, or combine topics: site:reddit.com "your city" "their hobby". Google often finds old posts that Reddit's own search misses.
• Communities. If you know they're into a hobby, a game, a local area or a profession, search inside those subreddits for keywords they'd use and note usernames that keep appearing.
• Linked profiles. Many people link Reddit from a personal site, a Linktree, a GitHub profile or a creator page. Check those first; it's the most reliable confirmation you'll get.
• Writing style. Distinctive phrases, recurring jokes or the same signature across platforms can help you narrow candidates, but treat this as a guess until something confirms it.

Expect to end up with candidates, not certainty. Reddit is designed to be pseudonymous.

4. Can you find someone's Reddit by email or phone number?

Not through Reddit. Reddit doesn't offer search by email or phone number, and its password reset flow doesn't reveal which username belongs to an address. Third-party "people search" sites claim to link emails or phone numbers to social accounts; their results are hit-and-miss and depend on data the person may never have meant to share. If you need to reach someone you already know, the simplest route is to ask them for their username.

5. Find someone from a photo

Run a reverse image search (Google Lens or similar). If the same image was posted publicly on Reddit, a reddit.com result will usually show up and lead you to the post and its author.

6. Find someone you've already talked to

• Check Chat and your inbox (Messages); every message thread links to the other user's profile.
• Check your own comment history: replies show the usernames of people you talked with.
• Look at your Following list on your profile if you followed them before.

Why Reddit search misses people

Reddit's search favors recent and popular content, deleted accounts show as [deleted], and some users hide their post history. Third-party archive tools that used to index Reddit lost most of their access after Reddit's 2023 API changes, so Google is now usually the better index for older posts.

Stay on the right side of privacy

Searching public profiles is fine; trying to unmask someone who chose to stay anonymous, or contacting them after they've made it clear they don't want contact, is not. Reddit's content policy prohibits harassment and posting someone's personal information. If you're doing this for work (recruiting, creator outreach, research), only use public information, record where each match came from, and give people an easy way to opt out.

Doing this at scale: recruiting, creator outreach and research

If your team checks dozens of candidates a week, the steps above become repetitive: search, open profiles, compare clues, copy links into a sheet. Sai can run that loop in a browser for you: given a sheet of public clues, it searches Reddit and Google, opens candidate profiles, and writes back profile links, top communities and the evidence for each match, then flags anything it couldn't confirm. It works only with public pages and won't look up private contact details.

Related guides: view deleted Reddit posts · change your Reddit username · clean your Reddit history