--- title: "Free lookup tools that need no account" url: "https://lookvalid.com/blog/product/free-tools-without-an-account.md" canonical_url: "https://lookvalid.com/blog/product/free-tools-without-an-account" last_updated: "2026-10-22" type: "conceptual" summary: "Which LookValid tools run with no account, the per-visitor limits, how they relate to the API, and when it makes sense to move to an API key." related: ["https://lookvalid.com/tools.md", "https://lookvalid.com/docs/mcp.md", "https://lookvalid.com/docs/quickstart.md", "https://lookvalid.com/docs/rate-limits.md", "https://lookvalid.com/products/ip.md"] --- # Free lookup tools that need no account Which LookValid tools run with no account, the per-visitor limits, how they relate to the API, and when it makes sense to move to an API key. Most LookValid lookups also run as free tools. You open a page, enter a value and read the result, with no account and no key. This post lists the tools, the limits that apply to each visitor, how a free lookup relates to the same lookup through the API, and the point where a key becomes the better choice. ## What the free tools are A free tool is a normal lookup with no charge and a per-visitor limit. The pages on [the free tools page](https://lookvalid.com/tools.md) call the same lookups that the API runs, so a result you see in the browser has the same fields as the one your code would receive. The same lookups are also reachable without a key from code. The HTTP endpoint is `POST https://YOUR_API_HOST/v1/public/tools/`, and the MCP server at `https://YOUR_API_HOST/v1/mcp` offers only the free tools when you connect with no `Authorization` header. One lookup is deliberately left out: `website-scraper`, which returns full page text, needs a key and credits. ## The tools that exist There is one page per tool, and two tools can sit on the same product. The email domain check, for example, backs both the email domain checker and the DMARC checker. The last column is what the same lookup costs through the API when it finds something, so you can estimate a workload before you create a key. Free tool pages, the product behind each, and the API price in credits | Tool page | Tool | Product id | API credits | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | /tools/ip-address-lookup | IP address lookup | ip | 1 | | /tools/email-domain-checker | Email domain checker | email-domain-check | 1 | | /tools/dmarc-checker | DMARC checker | email-domain-check | 1 | | /tools/phone-number-validator | Phone number validator | phone | 1 | | /tools/who-called-me | Who called me | phone-spam | 1 | | /tools/spam-phone-checker | Spam phone checker | phone-spam | 1 | | /tools/domain-age-checker | Domain age checker | domain-age | 2 | | /tools/website-contact-finder | Website contact finder | website-contacts-scraper | 10 | | /tools/link-in-bio-extractor | Link-in-bio extractor | link-in-bio-lookup | 3 | | /tools/country-code-lookup | Country calling code lookup | country-code | 1 | | /tools/carrier-lookup | Carrier lookup | carrier-lookup | 1 | | /tools/is-this-link-safe | Link safety checker | link-safety | 1 | | /tools/vin-decoder | VIN decoder | vin-decoder | 1 | | /tools/domain-authority-checker | Domain authority checker | domain-authority | 10 | | /tools/site-files-checker | Site files checker | site-files | 2 | The [IP address lookup](https://lookvalid.com/tools/ip-address-lookup.md), the [phone number validator](https://lookvalid.com/tools/phone-number-validator.md) and the [site files checker](https://lookvalid.com/tools/site-files-checker.md) are good first stops: each one runs a live lookup on a value you type, and the page explains how to read the result. ## The limits per visitor By default a visitor can make 5 free lookups per 60 seconds and 25 per day. The two transports share one allowance, so calling the HTTP endpoint and the keyless MCP server does not double it. Listing the MCP tools costs nothing. - Who counts as a visitor: the client address the API sees. An IPv6 visitor is counted by its /64 block, so rotating inside one block does not reset the count. - The daily count resets at midnight UTC. A call that a cap refuses is not counted against the daily allowance. - `website_contacts_scraper` crawls at most 3 pages without a key, whatever page count you ask for. - A shared daily capacity and a small concurrency cap protect paying traffic. If you hit either, the response says so and tells you to retry or use a key. When a limit is reached the answer is a `rate_limited` error with the number of seconds to wait. These are the default values, and the numbers above are read from the same constants the API uses. ## How a free lookup differs from an API lookup Both paths run the same code: one lookup engine, the same input check, the same data sources. What changes is around the lookup, as the table shows. Free tools compared with the API | Topic | Free tool | API with a key | | --- | --- | --- | | Account | None | Account and API key | | Cost | Never billed | Credits per lookup, success billing on most products | | Limits | 5 per 60 seconds and 25 per day per visitor | Per-key rate limit and your balance | | Cache | A shared cache kept under one public account | A cache that belongs to your account | | Response | Result fields plus a pointer to the API | Result fields plus the credits charged and the credits remaining | | Products | Every live lookup except website-scraper | Every live lookup | Because the free cache is shared and the API cache is per account, running a lookup in the browser does not make the same lookup free on your key. The first keyed lookup of a value is a normal one. ## When to move to a key Stay on the free tools while you are checking what a lookup returns. Move to a key when you need more than 25 lookups a day, when you want `website-scraper`, when you want your balance and usage in the response, or when the lookup belongs inside a signup form, a CRM job or an agent. Here is the same IP lookup both ways. Free endpoint, no key ```bash curl -X POST https://YOUR_API_HOST/v1/public/tools/ip \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{"ip":"8.8.8.8"}' ``` Same lookup through the API with a key ```bash curl -X POST https://YOUR_API_HOST/v1/ip \ -H "Authorization: Bearer $LOOKVALID_API_KEY" \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{"ip":"8.8.8.8"}' ``` The body you send is identical. The keyed call costs 1 credit when it finds something and adds the credit fields to the answer. To set it up, follow the [quickstart](https://lookvalid.com/docs/quickstart.md) and run the keyed call yourself. By LookValid engineering. Published 2026-10-19, updated 2026-10-19. ## Related - [Free tools](https://lookvalid.com/tools.md) - [MCP server](https://lookvalid.com/docs/mcp.md) - [Quickstart](https://lookvalid.com/docs/quickstart.md) - [Rate limits](https://lookvalid.com/docs/rate-limits.md) - [IP Intelligence API](https://lookvalid.com/products/ip.md)