BLOG POSTS

MangoHost Blog / How to Find Out Who Hosts a Website (And Dig Up the Owner Info)

How to Find Out Who Hosts a Website (And Dig Up the Owner Info)

information

Hey there, fellow web wranglers! 🕵️‍♂️ Whether you’re poking around your competitor’s site, troubleshooting for a client, or just plain curious, you’ve probably wondered: “Who’s hosting this website?” And, if you’re a little more nosy (don’t worry, we all are), maybe even: “Who owns this thing?”

Let’s dive deep into the art of uncovering website hosting and ownership secrets. I’ll walk you through practical tools, real-world examples, and a few pro tips (plus some classic rookie mistakes to avoid). Grab your digital magnifying glass—let’s get sleuthing!

Why Bother? The Importance of Knowing Who Hosts a Website

SEO Spying: See where competitors host their sites (maybe they’re using some super-fast host you’ve never heard of).
Troubleshooting: If a site’s down, you might want to contact the host or check if it’s a network-wide issue.
Security: Spotting shady hosts or figuring out if your own site is on a shared server with some… less savory neighbors.
Ownership: Sometimes you need to contact the real site owner (not just the email on the contact page).

There’s a lot of power in this info, but there are also a bunch of ways to get tripped up. So let’s do it right!

Step 1: Find Out Who Hosts the Website

1.1 The Quick and Dirty: Online Tools

The fastest way? Use an online “Who is hosting this?” tool. There are tons out there, but these are my go-tos:

Just pop in the URL and, boom, you’ll usually see who’s hosting it (like SiteGround, Bluehost, Cloudflare, etc). But! Sometimes you’ll see Cloudflare or another CDN, which means the real host is hidden behind a proxy. 😬

1.2 Dig Deeper: DNS and IP Lookup

If the online tools come up empty, time to get your hands dirty with some command-line magic. Here’s how:

Find the site’s IP address:
```
nslookup example.com
```
or (on Mac/Linux)
```
dig +short example.com
```
This spits out the IP address. Copy it!
Find out who owns the IP:
```
whois [IP_ADDRESS]
```
This will show you the organization that owns the IP block. If you see something like “Amazon Technologies Inc.” or “Google LLC”, you know it’s on AWS or Google Cloud. If it says “OVH SAS” or “DigitalOcean”, that’s your host.

Note: If you see Cloudflare, Sucuri, or another CDN, the real host is hidden. See the bonus section for tricks to peek behind the curtain!

1.3 Trace the Route (Optional)

Want to see the network path to the host? Use traceroute or tracert:

traceroute example.com

tracert example.com

Sometimes, you’ll spot clues in the hostnames along the way (like “linode.com” or “bluehost.com”).

Step 2: Find Out Who Owns the Website

2.1 The Classic: WHOIS Lookup

WHOIS is the old-school way to see who registered the domain. Try these:

DomainTools WHOIS
who.is
Or command line:
```
whois example.com
```

You’ll get info like registrant name, email, address, and so on… unless they’re using privacy protection (which is super common now). In that case, you’ll just see “Redacted for privacy” or a proxy email.

2.2 Check the Website Itself

Look for an “About” or “Contact” page (duh, but you’d be surprised how often people skip this).
Check the site’s footer for company names or legal info.
Look at privacy policy or terms pages—sometimes they have the legal entity name.

2.3 Dig Into the Code

View page source (Ctrl+U or right-click → “View Source”).
Search for email addresses, phone numbers, or company names in meta tags or comments.

2.4 Social Sleuthing

Check out the site’s social media links (Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc).
Look up the company or site name on LinkedIn to see who’s behind it.

2.5 Bonus: Reverse Search the Google Way

Google this:

"example.com" email

"example.com" contact

Sometimes you’ll find forum posts, job listings, or press releases that reveal the owner or team.

Step 3: Practical Examples

Example 1: Find the Host of “example.com”

Online Tool: Go to hostingchecker.com and type in example.com.
Command Line:
```
nslookup example.com
whois [IP_ADDRESS]
```
If the IP is 93.184.216.34, whois 93.184.216.34 will show “Internet Assigned Numbers Authority” (which is just a placeholder for the example domain).

Example 2: WHOIS Lookup for “yourcompetitor.com”

Go to who.is and enter yourcompetitor.com.
If privacy-protected, look for the registrar’s proxy email (sometimes you can email and it will forward to the owner).

Example 3: Bypassing Cloudflare

Use SecurityTrails or DNSDumpster to look up historical DNS records.
Sometimes you’ll see the old IP address before they switched to Cloudflare. Use whois [old IP] to find the original host.

Bonus: Common Beginner Mistakes, Tips, and Myths

Beginner Mistakes

Assuming the registrar (e.g., GoDaddy) is always the host. Not true! Many people register domains in one place and host elsewhere.
Trusting WHOIS info blindly. Thanks to GDPR and privacy services, WHOIS is often useless for finding real owners.
Stopping at “Cloudflare” or “Akamai” and giving up. There are ways to dig deeper!

Selection Tips

Use multiple tools. If one comes up blank, try another. Some are better at parsing certain hosts.
Check historical DNS records (SecurityTrails, DNSDumpster) to see if the site recently moved hosts or used to expose its real IP.
If you’re trying to contact an owner, be polite and clear about your intentions. Don’t spam!

Common Myths

Myth: “You can always find out who owns a site.”
Reality: Nope. If someone wants to stay hidden, it’s almost impossible (unless you’re law enforcement with a subpoena).
Myth: “Cloudflare is a host.”
Reality: Cloudflare is a CDN and DDoS protection service. The real host is behind it.
Myth: “All WHOIS info is accurate.”
Reality: Not anymore, thanks to privacy laws and proxy registrations.

Conclusion: Why, How, and Where to Use This Info

Knowing who hosts a website—and who really owns it—is super useful for SEO, competitive research, and troubleshooting. But don’t get discouraged if you hit a few dead ends. The internet is full of privacy shields and proxies, but with the right tools and a little persistence, you can usually dig up at least a few juicy nuggets. 🕵️‍♀️

Summary of steps:

Start with online hosting checker tools for quick results.
Use DNS and WHOIS lookups for deeper info.
Check the site’s own pages and social media for ownership clues.
Don’t fall for common myths—use multiple methods and keep digging!

And, as always: use your powers for good, not evil. If you’re just curious, that’s cool; if you’re troubleshooting or reporting abuse, even better. But don’t be a creep. 😉

Happy hunting! If you’ve got your own tricks or horror stories, drop them in the comments (or, you know, tweet me).

This article incorporates information and material from various online sources. We acknowledge and appreciate the work of all original authors, publishers, and websites. While every effort has been made to appropriately credit the source material, any unintentional oversight or omission does not constitute a copyright infringement. All trademarks, logos, and images mentioned are the property of their respective owners. If you believe that any content used in this article infringes upon your copyright, please contact us immediately for review and prompt action.

This article is intended for informational and educational purposes only and does not infringe on the rights of the copyright owners. If any copyrighted material has been used without proper credit or in violation of copyright laws, it is unintentional and we will rectify it promptly upon notification. Please note that the republishing, redistribution, or reproduction of part or all of the contents in any form is prohibited without express written permission from the author and website owner. For permissions or further inquiries, please contact us.