Phone number lookup
Check whether a number is valid, how it should be formatted, what the numbering plan and the regulator's own allocation table say about its block, and whether it is fictional, disposable or held by a virtual-number wholesaler. Free, and without dialling anything.
Live demo
POST /demo/phone · no key needed
Response
Look up any number to see the full API response, straight from the live service. National formats need the country.
What gets checked
Every lookup runs the same pipeline as the Spaw API. The number is parsed against libphonenumber's metadata for its region, which settles validity, the E.164, national and international forms, the line type and the time zones. Where a regulator publishes its allocation table (NANPA, the CNAC, Ofcom, ARCEP, ACMA, ACM, the NAD, the CRT (formerly the IFT), UKE and MIMIT today), the block the number sits in is read too: whether it is allocated, who holds it, and, for the North American plan, whether the holder is a wireless carrier or a virtual-number wholesaler. Fictional ranges, the list of numbers published by SMS-receiving sites and a few digit patterns add the risk signals.
Reading the answer
valid means the number is assignable: it fits the plan and, where the table is installed, sits in an allocated block. An unassigned block answers invalid with the reason unassigned_block, because no carrier can have a subscriber there, except a number in a range reserved for fiction (is_fictional), which answers valid even where the regulator lists its block as protected. The flags are tri-state: false is a checked negative and null means the dataset that would answer is not installed for that region. The risk score is plain arithmetic over the flags, listed in risk_signals with the dataset behind each one.
Data synced on 2026-10-21: the newest regulator table, listed-number list and rate-centre map behind every answer on this page.
Explore the data behind an answer
The numbering plans and regulator tables the lookup reads, published as pages about regions and ranges — never about a number or the person using it.
- Phone facts by country
Calling code, number formats and an example number per line type for every region, the regulator table behind its answers and the area-code pages beneath it.
- Phone data sources
Every regulator, list and library a phone answer reads: the files, the terms as each publisher states them, what the copy installed here holds, and the regulators whose tables are not synced.
- Network carriers
What each carrier brand’s legal entities were allocated in the North American, UK and French tables, counted in numbers as a share of each table: original allocation, not who serves a number today.
- New and upcoming area codes
North American area codes put in service in the last two years, those assigned and not yet in service, and those in relief planning, from NANPA’s NPA report.
Area code pages
Area codes and number ranges in the regulators' tables have pages of their own: how many blocks each holds, which carriers were allocated them, and what the numbering plan says about the range. Every country's are listed on its phone facts page.
Frequently asked questions
Can this tell me who owns a number or who called me?
No. There is no caller name, no reverse lookup and no do-not-call scrub, because those sit on regulated personal data that open sources do not carry. The lookup says whether the number is valid for its numbering plan and, where the regulator publishes its table, which block it sits in and which carrier that block was originally allocated to. For a North American number it also counts the complaints consumers filed with the FTC naming it as the caller over the last 90 days: that is not the Do Not Call Registry, it says nothing about whether you may call or text the number, and the reports are unverified and caller ID is often spoofed.
Does this tell me whether a number is active right now?
No. It tells you whether the number is valid for its numbering plan, which block it sits in and who that block was allocated to, whether the regulator lists that block as allocated at all, and whether the number is fictional, disposable or held by a virtual-number wholesaler. Live reachability needs a query to the carrier networks. The live carrier-network check (hlr: true) is not enabled on the service: hlr_checked answers false and nothing extra is charged.
Is the carrier the one serving the number today?
Not necessarily. The carrier comes from the regulator's allocation table or the numbering metadata, both of which record who a block was originally allocated to. A ported number keeps its original block, so the answer says who was allocated the block, never who serves the number now.
Why does a US number come back as fixed_line_or_mobile?
The North American plan assigns mobiles and landlines from the same blocks, so the number alone cannot tell them apart. When the block holder is a wireless carrier or a virtual-number wholesaler, the lookup uses that to settle the type and says so in line_type_source. Otherwise it stays honest and leaves the type ambiguous.
Is there a limit on this free lookup?
Ten lookups a minute per visitor, and repeated lookups of the same number are answered from a short cache. For volume, batch and bulk lists of up to 100,000 numbers, webhooks and monitors, create a free API key with 10 lookups a month included.
More free tools
All free toolsNeed this at scale?
The Spaw API runs the same lookup with batch and bulk endpoints, monitored number lists, your own suppression list and SMS outcome reporting — 100 free credits a month, no card required.