30+
Years Online
A+
BBB Rating
3,200+
Counties Covered
1996
Site Founded

Major Editorial Citations

The journalists, researchers, lawyers and investigators who use SearchSystems.net every day rely on us because every link goes to the original government source — not a paywall, not a data broker, not a re-aggregator.

National Press

The Wall Street Journal Tier 1
“The site links to more than 15,000 searchable public-records databases, of which about 2,000 charge for access…”
Read in WSJ →
TIME Magazine Tier 1
“Subscriptions to SearchSystems.net, NETR Online or Ancestry.com offer access to census, voter and military records, marriage and death records.”
Read in TIME →
Genealogy Gems
“A FREE website that simplifies the search process: SearchSystems.net. (A hat-tip to Kim Komando for pointing this out.)”
Read article →
Cayman Compass
“This information can be sorted out on sites such as searchsystems.net…”
Read article →

US Government Recommendations

US EPA · Superfund Federal
“Search Systems… lists 38,541 searchable public record databases.”
EPA training manual →
US DOJ · COPS Office Federal
“A guide for state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies… one of the most extensive directories.”
DOJ guide (PDF) →

Professional & Research

LexisNexis
“Possible sites: searchsystems.net… finding and researching experts and their testimony.”
LexisNexis guide →
Bellingcat · OSINT Toolkit
“publicrecords.searchsystems.net — included in Bellingcat’s digital toolkit for open-source investigators.”
Bellingcat toolkit →
University of Georgia Law
“These two sites offer hundreds of links to sources for public records.”
UGA Law speech →
Reddit r/recruiting
“My secret weapon as a PI for many years has been searchsystems.net.”
Reddit thread →

Founder & Story

SearchSystems.net was founded by Tim Koster, who established the first free public-records Internet directory in 1996 — before Google existed. The company (Pacific Information Resources, Inc., dba Search Systems) has been BBB-accredited since 2004 with an A+ rating, and continues to operate as a family-run business.

Founder profile: Tim Koster on LinkedIn

Twitter / X: @Search_Systems

Press Inquiries

Journalists, researchers and academics writing about public records access — we’re happy to provide quotes, statistics, and background on records availability across all 50 states and 3,200+ counties.

Contact our team →

Last reviewed: 2026-05-06 · If you've cited SearchSystems.net in an article, study, or training material we don't list here, please let us know.