Proofwire vs 1Lookup
1Lookup is the broadest product in this category — 43 data products on a single credit balance. We are deliberately narrower. The real difference is not the product count, it is what each of us is willing to show you before you pay.
How to read this page. 8 dimensions compared: we come out ahead on 5, behind on 2. Every claim about 1Lookup links to their own documentation or to public reviews. We have not run 1Lookup through our own benchmark, so you will not find a head-to-head accuracy number here — comparing our measurement to someone else's would not be a comparison.
Choose 1Lookup if
- You need breadth we simply do not have: skip tracing, B2B prospecting, SEO intelligence, transcription.
- One vendor and one invoice for many different data needs matters more than depth in any one of them.
- You want a single credit balance spanning enrichment, social and search products.
Choose Proofwire if
- You need to justify a decision later, to an auditor or to a colleague who disagrees.
- You would rather be told "we do not know" than be charged for a guess.
- You want the accuracy claim to come with a dataset you can run yourself.
Side by side
| Dimension | 1Lookup | Proofwire | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Product breadth | 43 products: validation, enrichment, prospecting, SEO, social, transcription | Three: phone, email, IP. Plus 15 free tools. | Vendor documentation |
| Accuracy claim | "99.97% accuracy", "15% more accurate than competitors" | A published labelled dataset, per-case results, and a command that reproduces them | Vendor documentation |
| Published dataset or methodology | None that we could find | Ships with the source; structural and network accuracy reported separately | — |
| Independent reviews | 7 on Trustpilot. None on G2, SourceForge or ProvenExpert at the time of writing | None yet. We are newer than they are. | Customer reviews on Trustpilot |
| Credit expiry | Monthly credits roll over for 3 months; separately purchased credits last one year | Credits never expire. There is no expiry column in the ledger. | Vendor documentation |
| Evidence behind a verdict | Confidence scores and freshness indicators | Every signal, its contribution in log-odds, its age, and which providers were skipped and why | Vendor documentation |
| Free tier | 7-day trial, 100 credits | 100 credits with no time limit, plus 15 tools that are free permanently and need no account | Vendor documentation |
| Track record | Operating since 2022, with real revenue and real customers | New. That is a genuine risk and you should weigh it. | — |
They are bigger, older and broader than us
This should be said plainly. 1Lookup has been running since 2022, has paying customers, and covers a range of data products we have no intention of matching. If you need skip tracing or B2B prospecting alongside validation, we are not a substitute, and pretending otherwise would waste your time.
The claim we cannot verify, and neither can you
1Lookup states 99.97% accuracy and being 15% more accurate than competitors. We could not find a dataset, a methodology or an independent measurement behind either figure - and neither, presumably, can you. That is not an accusation of dishonesty; it is the normal state of this entire category. It is also the specific thing we set out to change: our benchmark ships with the source, states which cases depended on a live network probe, and says so explicitly when those ran against a simulator rather than a real carrier.
Breadth against depth is a real trade, not a slogan
Forty-three products means forty-three data sources to license, refresh and stand behind. We chose three because we would rather be able to explain every verdict in one of them than offer a shallow answer in forty. Whether that trade suits you depends entirely on what you are buying it for.
Where the credit terms differ
Their FAQ states that unused monthly credits roll over for three months, and separately purchased credits last one year. Ours have no expiry at all - a deliberate response to how much resentment expiry clauses generate across this category, with NeverBounce introducing a one-year expiry in fine print as the best-documented example. If you spend your balance steadily every month the difference never comes up. If your usage is lumpy, it will.
Questions
Is this page fair to 1Lookup?
We have tried to make it so. Every claim links to their own site or to a public review page, we list three dimensions where they beat us, and we say outright that they are older and more established. If you find something inaccurate here, write to support@proofwire.app and we will correct it.
Have you benchmarked 1Lookup against your dataset?
No. We publish our own results on our own dataset and do not claim a head-to-head number we have not measured. Comparing our measurement to somebody else marketing figure would not be a comparison.
Why build this at all if they are established?
Because the recurring complaints in this category are not about missing features. They are about verdicts you cannot check, bills you cannot predict, and cancellations that do not take effect. Those are answerable by a smaller product with different defaults.
Check it yourself
Do not take our word for any of this. Run our public benchmark with npm run bench, read the labelled dataset it ships with, or try the free tools without an account.
Think something here is unfair or out of date? Tell us and we will correct it.