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
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