Can I find companies with Hunter?

Yes! It is certainly possible to find companies or domains using Hunter Discover.

With Discover, you can search for companies that match your ideal customer profile (ICP) and access their email data.

You can refine your search with filters such as:

Company name
Location
Industry
Company size
Keywords
Technologies (paid plan)
Funding
Year founded (paid plan)
Company type
Companies similar to (paid plan)
Hide saved companies

👉 Learn more about finding companies in Discover here.

Finding emails

Once you've identified the right companies, you can view their profiles and access professional emails. Simply click on the orange "Find all People" to retrieve emails associated with these companies.

Here you can add additional filters to target the right leads, such as:

Job title: filter by specific job titles
Verification status: Valid, Accept all or Unknown
Type: generic or personal emails
Department: Select specific departments
Show only results with: phone numbers, full names, or positions.
Location: refine by city, country, continent, economic area, nation
Saved leads: Hide existing leads
People per company: choose all, decision makers, or a specific number
All people: All leads
Decision makers: filter only by decision makers
Generic emails: filter to only return generic emails such as info@ or support@

👉 Learn more about how to find emails from Discover here.

Saving companies

If you'd like to save multiple companies at once, you can:

Select companies individually by clicking the checkboxes, or
Use the bulk select option and click the Save companies button.
From there, you can either create a new leads list or add them to an exist

💡The company save function is limited to 100 companies at a time for users on the Free plan. However, there are no limits for saving companies on paid plans.

👉Learn how to find emails from saved companies in your leads here.

How to find companies by industry or location?

With Hunter Discover, you can easily find companies by applying a wide range of filters. These filters allow you to refine your search based on specific criteria including industry, location, and much more.

👉 We have a detailed help article that explains how to tailor your research using filters in Discover here.

I typed an industry into the filter and nothing came up, but I still see companies listed under it — why?

The Industry filter's search box doesn't always surface a term when you type it. Try scrolling through the full dropdown instead. The industry is very likely there, just further down the list.

How are credits counted in Discover?

Using Hunter Discover to identify companies doesn't cost you any credits.

You can apply as many filters as you like and run multiple searches without being charged. In other words, Discover is free to use.

Credits are only used when you choose to reveal email addresses from the companies you've found. Each email revealed costs 1 credit, following the standard credit system.

The difference between free and paid plans lies in the available features and storage limits:

Filters – Premium filters such as "Similar companies", "Technology" and "Year founded" are only available on paid plans.
Saved companies – On a free plan, you can save up to 100 companies at a time. Paid plans increase this limit to 25,000 companies.

My Discover search doesn't return any results

If your Discover search doesn't return any results—or only a handful—it usually means that your filters are too strict, or we don't currently have any data in our database that matches the filters you've set.

How can I fix this?

Try loosening some of your filters.
Experiment with different keywords.
Try the AI Assistant
And remember, Discover is free to use, so feel free to play around with filters until you find the combination that gives you the best results.

Tips for starting your search

To get the most out of Discover, it helps to start with a clear customer profile in mind. This way, you'll know which filters are most relevant to apply.

If your customer base includes multiple Ideal Customer Profiles (ICPs), we recommend running separate searches for each ICP to get more tailored results.

Can I find emails in Discover?

Yes, while Discover is meant to identify companies that match your target customers, once you have found your companies, you can easily start finding emails for them and apply additional filters.

To find emails

Simply click on the orange "Find all People" to retrieve emails associated with these companies.

Here you can add additional filters to target the right leads, such as:

Job title: filter by specific job titles
Verification status: Valid, Accept all or Unknown
Type: generic or personal emails
Department: Select specific departments
Show only results with: phone numbers, full names, or positions.
Location: refine by city, country, continent, economic area, nation
Saved leads: Hide existing leads
People per company: choose all, decision makers, or a specific number
All people: All leads
Decision makers: filter only by decision makers
Generic emails: filter to only return generic emails such as info@ or support@

👉 Learn more about how to find emails from Discover here.

Can I export companies from Discover?

Yes, you can export companies found in Discover as a CSV file or save them to your Leads, where you can manage, segment and find emails for them.

For both actions, you need first to save the companies found in Discover to your Leads:

If you need to save multiple companies, select them individually or use the bulk select options by simply clicking on the orange Save all companies button to save them all at once. Create a new company leads list or select an existing list.

The companies will be visible in the Leads Companies section, where you can manage them, find emails or export them.

The Export button will be immediately visible in your Company lists after selecting the companies to export:

Export limits for companies:

Paid plans: 100.000 companies per export
Free plans: 100 companies per export

Can I find people in a specific location?

Yes, you can! First, start a Discover search for the companies you'd like to target. If you use the Headquarters location filter, it will narrow the results to companies based on where their headquarters are located.

Once you've identified the companies, you can begin finding emails. At this stage, you'll also have access to additional filters that apply to the leads you're researching. Among these is the location filter, which lets you refine your people search by city, country, continent, economic area, or nation.

Can AI help me with finding the right companies?

AI can help you quickly find the right companies. With the AI Assistant in Discover, you can simply describe your target audience in a sentence (for example, "SaaS companies with 50–200 employees in Europe"), and it will automatically apply the relevant search filters for you.

It can also suggest ways to refine your results, helping you narrow down or expand your search to find more relevant companies faster. You can also manually edit any filters and continue with your research.

Note: The number of Discover AI searches you get each month depends on your plan, ranging from 10 on the Free plan up to 300 on the highest plans. See the full breakdown under "What counts as one AI search in Discover?" below.

Can I exclude already saved companies from my results?

Yes, you can exclude already saved companies from your list by selecting the Saved Companies filter and checking the Hide already saved companies option.

This will ensure that the list of companies returned, doesn't include any companies you have already saved to your Company Leads.

Can I save a Discover search?

Yes. After setting your filters in Discover, scroll to the bottom of the filters panel and click Save this search. Give it a name and it will be stored for later use.

To reopen a saved search, click the folder icon at the bottom of the filters panel and select it from the list. You can also manage or delete saved searches from the Manage saved searches option.

Can I search for a specific company by name?

Yes. In the filters panel, use the Company name filter and type the company's name. Once the result appears, click on it to open the company profile, then click Find all People to see the contacts available for that company.

What counts as one AI search in Discover?

One AI search is counted each time you submit a new prompt to the AI assistant. In other words, each search attempt counts, not each page of results.

Your monthly AI search allowance depends on your plan:

Free: 10 searches/month
Starter: 50 searches/month
Growth : 150 searches/month
Data Platform / Scale / Enterprise: 300 searches/month

You can review your AI Search usage in the Usage section of your account.

💡Manually adjusting filters after an AI search does not count as a new AI search.

Will I be charged credits in Discover for an email I've already revealed?

No. If you've previously revealed an email through Hunter (via Discover or any other tool), revealing it again won't cost additional credits. Hunter saves this lead to your Leads and you won't charge you twice for the same address.

What filters and attributes are available in Discover?

Company search filters

When searching for companies in Hunter Discover, you can refine your results using the following filters.

Company name Type the full or partial name of a company to find it directly.
Headquarters location Filter companies by where their headquarters are located. You can search by city, country, continent, or economic area (e.g. European Union, APAC). Supports both Include and Exclude options.

Industry Filter by one or more industry categories. Hunter uses LinkedIn's industry classification — see the full list here. You can choose to match Any or All of the selected industries. Supports Include and Exclude options.

The list is hierarchical: selecting a top-level Industry automatically includes all of its sub-categories.

For example: selecting Capital Markets also pulls in companies tagged under Investment Management, Venture Capital, and other nested categories underneath it — you don't need to select each one separately.

Company size Filter by number of employees. Available ranges: 1–10 / 11–50 / 51–200 / 201–500 / 501–1,000 / 1,001–5,000 / 5,001–10,000 / 10,000+
Company type Filter by ownership structure. Supports Include and Exclude options. Available options: Educational, Educational Institution, Government Agency, Non Profit, Partnership, Privately Held, Public Company, Self Employed, Self Owned, Sole Proprietorship.
Keywords Filter by keywords that appear in a company's profile. Enter multiple keywords and choose to match Any or All of them. Supports Include and Exclude options.
Funding Filter companies that have raised funding, by:
- Round: Any, Pre-seed, Seed, Pre-Series A, Series A, Pre-Series B, Series B, Pre-Series C, Series C and later, Other.
- Amount raised: specify a range
- Date of funding: specify a range
Technologies (Paid plans) only Filter companies by the technologies they use. Browse the full list of available technologies here. Select multiple technologies and choose to match Any or All. Supports Include and Exclude options.
Year founded (Paid plans) Filter by the year the company was established. Enter an exact year or a range (e.g. founded between 2010 and 2020).
Companies similar to (Paid plans) Enter a company name to find businesses that share similar characteristics. Useful when you already have an ideal customer and want to find lookalikes.
Hide saved companies Excludes companies you've already saved to your Company Leads, so you can focus on new prospects.

People search filters

Once you've found companies in Discover and click Find all People, the following filters help you target the right contacts.

Job title Free-text input — type one or more job titles to filter contacts by their role (e.g. CEO, Head of Marketing, Account Executive).
Department Filter by department. You can select multiple departments. Available options: Executive, IT, Finance, Management, Sales, Legal, Support, HR, Marketing, Communication, Education, Design, Health, Operations.
Location Filter contacts by their personal location, independently from the company headquarters. You can search by city, country, continent, or economic area.
Verification status Filter by the email verification status:
- Valid — the email has been verified and is deliverable.
- Accept-all — the domain accepts all emails, so individual deliverability can't be confirmed.
- Unknown — verification status could not be determined.

People per company Control how many contacts are retrieved per company:

All — retrieve all available contacts
Decision makers only — retrieve only the most senior contacts
Specific number — set a maximum number of contacts per company (e.g. up to 5)
Required fields Show only contacts that have a specific field populated:
- Full name
- Job title
- Phone number — note: phone numbers are linked to personal emails only, not generic ones and results are limited.

Hide saved leads Excludes contacts you've already saved to your Leads. (active by default - can be removed)
Email category Use the tabs at the top of the results to filter by email type:
- All people — all personal email addresses found.
- Decision makers — contacts identified as the most likely decision makers (e.g. C-level, VPs, Directors).
- Generic — role-based addresses such as contact@, info@, or support@.

Which industry should I pick if my business doesn't fit neatly into one category?

Hunter's industry list follows LinkedIn's Industry Codes V2 taxonomy. Rather than searching for one perfect label, start from your ideal customer profile (ICP): think about the types of businesses you're actually trying to reach, then use the industry filter to reflect that — since some businesses genuinely span more than one category, and a single label won't always capture them.

A few tips for getting this right:

You can select multiple industries at once (matching Any or All) to broaden your search and cover businesses that could fall under more than one category.
If your results feel too broad, narrow them down with the Keywords filter, which matches terms from a company's description or profile.
Remember the list is hierarchical — selecting a parent category automatically includes its sub-categories, so you don't need to hunt for every related term separately.

👉 For a full walkthrough of combining filters like this, see How to tailor your Discover search using filters.

Hunter Discover FAQs