Which finder do I use? Person Search vs Segment Search vs AI Research
ListPlus has three ways to find people, and each answers a different question: Person Search for "who is this one person", Segment Search for "who matches these criteria", and AI Research for "who is doing this specific thing right now". They live behind Person, Segments and Research in the left navigation, and a switcher at the top of each page lets you jump between them.
Comparison#
| Person Search | Segment Search | AI Research | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best for | One named person | A group defined by filters (role, industry, size, location) | A group defined by a signal no filter can see (hiring, funding, a complaint) |
| You type | Name + company, email, domain or LinkedIn URL | Filters, or one sentence turned into filters | A plain-language brief, ideally in English |
| You get | A profile drawer for that one person | A table of up to 25 people per page | Up to 25 match cards per run, each with a source link and evidence |
| Cost | Free to search; opening a profile loads the basics for about 0.75 credits; a verified email with company phone is 2 credits, a mobile number 12 credits, each only when found | 2 credits per page of 25 results; free if nothing matches; a verified email with company phone is 2 credits, a mobile number 12 credits, each only when found | You need at least 1 credit in your balance to start; the run itself is billed by usage, plus optional paid sources per search |
| Speed | Seconds | Seconds | Several minutes; can keep running in the background |
| Without an account | Understanding your input and the candidate list are free; you can also open a few full profiles free to try it before signing up | You can build filters for free, but running the search needs a free account | You can write a brief for free, but starting the research needs a free account |
Choose Person Search when…#
You already know who you're looking for: a specific name, an email address, or a LinkedIn URL. You want their verified email, phone or a quick profile check, not a list of candidates.
Choose Segment Search when…#
Your audience is defined by attributes a database can filter on — job title, seniority, industry, company size, location. You want a table of matching people you can page through and add straight to a list.
Choose AI Research when…#
Your audience is defined by something happening rather than a fixed attribute — a company hiring for a role, a person complaining about a tool, a startup that just raised funding. No filter captures that, so AI agents search the open web (and, optionally, Reddit or X) and bring back evidence for each match.
Combining them#
The three finders feed the same lists, so you can mix them: build the bulk of a list in Segment Search from clean criteria, add the one VIP contact you need through Person Search, and layer in a smaller, signal-based group from AI Research that Segment Search can't find. If you type a group description into Person Search by mistake, it recognizes this and offers to open the same criteria in Segment Search instead of searching for one nonexistent person.
Related topics: person-search · categories-audience-database · ai-research · first-steps-by-goal · what-is-listplus · find-verified-email · find-phone-and-mobile · price-list.
FAQ#
Which finder should I use?#
Use Person Search if you have a name, email or LinkedIn URL for one specific person. Use Segment Search if you can describe your audience with filters like role, industry or company size. Use AI Research if your audience is defined by something happening — hiring, funding, a complaint — that a filter can't capture.
What is the difference between Person Search and Segment Search?#
Person Search looks up one named person and opens their profile in seconds; Segment Search filters a database of roughly 300 million profiles from our data provider by criteria like role, industry, seniority or company size and returns a table of matching people. Use Person Search when you know who you want; use Segment Search when you know the criteria but not the individual names.
What is the difference between Segment Search and AI Research?#
Segment Search filters an existing provider database by fixed attributes such as job title, industry or headcount, at 2 credits per page of 25 results. AI Research instead searches the open web for people showing a specific signal that a filter database doesn't track, and takes several minutes rather than seconds.
I want a lead list of CEOs in Germany — which tool do I use?#
Use Segment Search — its filters (Job Title or Seniority, Person Location) are built for exactly this: pulling a page of matching people by role and location, rather than searching for individual names. See "Segment Search: the audience database" for the filters and steps.
I need the email of one specific person — which tool do I use?#
Use Person Search — it's built to look up one known person's contact details directly, rather than filtering a database of many people. Open their profile and use the email add-on there; see Find a verified email for the exact steps and cost.
Can I find leads with signals like hiring or funding?#
Segment Search has dedicated filters for hiring activity and funding stage, so try those first if your signal fits a filter. For less structured signals — a specific job ad, a forum complaint, a press mention — AI Research is built for it: describe the signal in your brief and it searches the open web (plus optional paid sources) for evidence a filter can't match.
Which finder is cheapest?#
Each finder bills on a different model: Person Search charges per profile you open plus optional per-contact add-ons, Segment Search charges per page of results, and AI Research has no fixed per-lead fee — it bills by the AI's actual usage. Segment Search also repeats an identical search free within 30 days, and reveals in Person Search and Segment Search only charge when something is actually found; see the price list for exact rates.
Which finder is fastest?#
Person Search and Segment Search both return results in seconds. AI Research is the slowest of the three: it searches the web over several minutes, though it can keep running in the background while you do something else.
Do the finders give me emails and phone numbers immediately?#
No. Person Search and Segment Search show whether a verified email or mobile exists and let you reveal it as a separate paid step, charged only when something is actually found — see Find a verified email and Find phone and mobile for exact rates. AI Research matches come with evidence but no contact details until you enrich them afterwards in a list.
Can I use the finders without an account?#
Person Search goes furthest without an account: understanding your input and the candidate list are always free, and you can open a few full profiles free to try it before you're asked to sign up. Segment Search lets you build filters for free and AI Research lets you write a brief for free, but actually running either one needs a free account.
Why did Person Search send me to Segment Search?#
Because your search described a group of people, not one person — for example "marketing managers in Berlin" — and a group is what Segment Search's filters are built for. ListPlus shows a "Target-group search detected" card with your criteria already set; click Open in Segment Search to run it there instead.
Can I combine Person Search, Segment Search and AI Research in one list?#
Yes — all three finders write to the same lists via their own Add to list button (Segment Search shows it as Add To List), so you can build the bulk of a list in Segment Search, add a VIP contact from Person Search, and layer in signal-based matches from AI Research. Run the duplicate check afterwards, since the same person could come from more than one finder.