Skip tracing services vary widely in accuracy, cost, and feature set. Some charge $0.05 per lookup with 40% hit rates. Others charge $0.50 with 80% hit rates. A few are now truly free. Picking the right one is one of the biggest cost-control decisions in wholesaling.
Here's an honest comparison of the major skip tracing services in 2026.
What "hit rate" actually means
Hit rate is the percentage of records where the service returns at least one phone number. A 60% hit rate on a 1,000-address list means you get 600 phone numbers.
Hit rates vary by list type. Absentee-owner lists hit 70–85%. Probate lists hit 50–70%. Tax-delinquent lists hit 60–75%. Test each service on a sample before committing.
1. ReadyDeals — FREE, unlimited
Cost: $0. Hit rate: 70–80% on typical lists. Coverage: 79M homeowner records.
ReadyDeals owns its own homeowner database on clustered BigQuery, which makes per-lookup cost negligible. Result: unlimited free skip tracing on the free tier with a 50/hour rate limit that's invisible for normal use. No credit card, no per-lookup fee.
Data includes phones, emails, demographics (age, income, marital status), and property data.
Best for:anyone who wants free skip tracing. This is the default recommendation for all wholesalers in 2026 unless they specifically need a feature ReadyDeals doesn't have.
2. BatchSkipTracing — the real-estate standard
Cost: $0.20–$0.25 per lookup (premium tier), $0.10–$0.15 (basic). Hit rate: 75–85% on real-estate-specific lists.
BatchSkipTracing is the longtime industry favorite. Their real-estate focus means their data is tuned for wholesalers — phones, emails, property history. Bulk discounts for 10K+ lookups.
Best for:wholesalers who want premium-quality data and don't mind paying. Consider pairing with ReadyDeals: use ReadyDeals free first, then escalate to BatchSkip for the subset that didn't hit.
3. Skip Genie
Cost:$30–$50/month unlimited ("all you can eat" model). Hit rate: 55–70%.
Skip Genie pitches unlimited lookups for a flat monthly fee. Cheaper than per-lookup at volume, but the data quality is inconsistent — many outdated phones.
Best for: high-volume wholesalers on a tight budget who are OK with lower hit rates.
4. TLO (TransUnion LexisNexis) — enterprise
Cost: $50–$200 per lookup. Hit rate: 90%+. Requirement: permissible purpose under GLBA.
TLO is licensed-investigator-grade. Access requires a licensed business with permissible purpose (debt collection, fraud investigation, licensed PI work, etc.). Most wholesalers don't qualify.
Best for: licensed businesses with permissible purpose. Not for typical wholesaling.
5. IDI (Interactive Data Intelligence)
Similar to TLO. Enterprise-grade, GLBA-restricted. $20–$100 per lookup.
6. TruePeopleSearch / Whitepages Premium
Cost: $5–$30/month unlimited. Hit rate: 30–60%.
Consumer-oriented. Data quality is mixed, hit rates on real-estate lists are modest. Fine for one-off manual lookups; not great for bulk.
7. PropStream included skip trace
Cost:Included in PropStream's $99/mo subscription. Hit rate: 65–75%.
If you're paying for PropStream for list-building anyway, their included skip trace is functional. Quality is mid-tier.
8. BatchLeads included skip trace
Cost:Included in BatchLeads' $99/mo subscription. Hit rate: 70–80%.
BatchLeads' skip trace is tied to BatchSkipTracing's data, so quality is comparable to paying for BatchSkip directly. Good if you're already on BatchLeads.
Head-to-head comparison
| Service | Cost | Hit rate | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| ReadyDeals | Free | 70–80% | Everyone |
| BatchSkipTracing | $0.20/ea | 75–85% | Premium data |
| Skip Genie | $30–50/mo | 55–70% | Budget volume |
| TLO | $50+/ea | 90%+ | Licensed PI only |
| IDI | $20+/ea | 85%+ | Licensed only |
| TruePeopleSearch | $5–30/mo | 30–60% | Manual lookups |
| PropStream (inc.) | In $99/mo plan | 65–75% | PropStream users |
| BatchLeads (inc.) | In $99/mo plan | 70–80% | BatchLeads users |
The stacking strategy
Most savvy wholesalers use a two-tier approach:
- First pass: ReadyDeals (free) — captures 70–80% of the list
- Second pass on misses: BatchSkipTracing ($0.20/ea) — captures another 10–15%
Net effect: 85%+ hit rate at dramatically lower cost than premium-only approach.
Bottom line
ReadyDeals is the obvious default for 2026 — free, unlimited, 70–80% hit rates on a 79M database. For the remaining 20%, BatchSkipTracing at $0.20 is the best paid supplement.