Best Craigslist Search Engines | Digital Trends (2024)

Best Craigslist Search Engines | Digital Trends (1)
Craigslist has come a long way since its inception in the mid-90s. What started out as a small email distribution list among friends has grown into a tour-de-force of classified ads that has arguably led to the demise of traditional newspapers across the country. The website is your first choice for finding that vintage Surly, a new one-of-a-kind apartment, or even what you believe to be your true love (you shared a moment on the bus ride home, remember?). Point being, Craigslist is quick, relatively cheap, and incredibly convenient. It can also be a pain. The site features no overarching search utility, forcing you to repeatedly click the back button again and again if you want to search for a particular item in multiple locations. Fortunately, there is an online surplus of websites that will help you scour the nether regions of Craigslist — whether you want to isolate your search to a particular city or open it up to the entire world. And while Craigslist has legal taken action against some of these search engines on the basis of copyright infringement, a good number of them are still up and running (at least for now). Here are our top picks for the best Craigslist search engines to aid you in your hunt.

This article was originally posted on Feb. 17, 2013 and has been updated to reflect recent changes. Aaron Liu contributed to this article.

Search Tempest

Search Tempest is an extremely popular Craigslist search engine. Aside from the sleek interface and simple navigation, the site boasts a great search feature that allows users to search for whatever your looking for, wherever they’re looking for it. Users can restrict their search results by radius, Craigslist category, images, or even minimum and maximum price. All results are listed by city, based on the given search radius. There’s also an option to include eBay and Amazon search results if you want to expand your search beyond Craigslist and include other online resellers. Keep in mind ads are a plentiful and that occasionally the site turns up spotty results due to its use of Google’s search engine.

Search All Junk

Search All Junk is certainly not the best looking Craigslist search engine, but it’s as basic as it gets and works as intended. The site, formerly known as Search All Craig’s, features a custom Google search that will search all of Craigslist, Penny Saver, Recycler, and a few other sites. Users can further narrow their results by region — such as the West Coast, Midwest, and U.K. — and view their results in a simple list. While Search All Junk searches multiple sites, the bulk of the results tend to be Craigslist. Look no further if simplicity is what you’re looking for.

Ad Hunt’r

Ad Hunt’r is another great alternative to Craigslist powered by Google’s custom search. The site looks fairly sleek (it even dons Craigslist’s flagship colors) and does a nice job of sorting through Craigslist postings from around the globe. Just punch in what your looking for on the homepage and filter your results by location, post date, price range, category, wording, or website. You can even fine tune your results to omit any words or search exact phrasing to better pinpoint what you’re looking for. Like Search Tempest, you will be subjected to a fair share of sponsored ads.

Dailylister

Dailylister is a nationwide Craigslist search engine that also combs smaller classified sites such as Oodle and Geebo. The site does a decent job of searching classified sites, but the filtering options are limited to region, category, and post date. It’s not the most intuitive search engine, but it works.

Best Craigslist Search Engines | Digital Trends (5)

Zoom the List

We’re not going to lie, Zoom the List looks a little bit sketchy at first glance. However, reservations aside, the site does a nice job of compiling and filtering a list of any item you may be looking for. Users can search all of Craigslist at once or merely their local area and results can be filtered by state, county, post date, and category. The quick access menu on the left-hand side is also surprisingly useful for selecting a specific state.

Have you had better luck using Craigslist search engines other than the ones we recommend? What are you using to search all of Craigslist for that dream item of yours? Let us know in the comments below.

[Image courtesy of Gil C/Shutterstock]

Best Craigslist Search Engines | Digital Trends (2024)

FAQs

Best Craigslist Search Engines | Digital Trends? ›

The best alternative to Craigslist, in our opinion, is Offer Up. The app offers a robust array of listings, is easy to use, includes a verified account feature, and includes buyer ratings. Other worthy alternatives to Craigslist include Facebook Marketplace, Locanto, Mercari, and Recycler.

What site is better than Craigslist? ›

The best alternative to Craigslist, in our opinion, is Offer Up. The app offers a robust array of listings, is easy to use, includes a verified account feature, and includes buyer ratings. Other worthy alternatives to Craigslist include Facebook Marketplace, Locanto, Mercari, and Recycler.

Do people use Craigslist anymore? ›

Do People Still Use Craigslist? Absolutely. You can search your local area on Craigslist and find used furniture, cars, rentals, and even jobs. However, because so many Craigslist alternatives exist, it is no longer a one-stop shopping powerhouse when it debuted in 1995.

How to do a global search on Craigslist? ›

In the search field, enter what you're looking for—whether jobs, merchandise, or love—it's all the same to Google! Follow your search word or words with "site: craigslist.org". This will focus the search for information on Craigslist and all of its subdomains. Use additional modifiers to narrow your search.

Is there a website that searches all of Craigslist? ›

To use the website, open www.searchcraigslist.org in a browser and enter your search term. For most searches, you'll get probably many pages of results.

What is the best Craigslist search engine? ›

SearchCraigslist.org — Web app

One of the simplest and most effective Craigslist searchers online, SearchCraiglist returns fast and complete results for any search term you want (just remember the first few results are going to be ads, just like on Google). You can search your results by relevance or date.

What is the most popular classifieds site? ›

However, here are some of our favorite picks:
  • 1 of 5 Best Classified Ads Websites- Craigslist.
  • 2 of 5 Best Classified Ads Websites- Facebook Marketplace.
  • 3 of 5 Best Classified Ads Websites-eBay.
  • 4 of 5 Best Classified Ads Websites- Gumtree.
  • 5 of 5 Best Classified Ads Websites- OLX.
  • Security and safety concerns.
Apr 23, 2024

Why is Craigslist so outdated? ›

One of the main reasons why the UI/UX of Craigslist is so poor is that the platform has not undergone a significant redesign in over a decade. The platform's design is outdated and lacks the modern features and functionality that users have come to expect from online marketplaces.

Is Facebook marketplace better than Craigslist? ›

Facebook Marketplace is better than Craigslist if you're trying to sell merchandise as fast as possible. Listing is easier, and same goes for messaging potential buyers and arranging sales. The downside of the Facebook Marketplace is that you can't post services, so it's just for resellers.

Which country uses Craigslist the most? ›

Craigslist receives traffic from all over the world, with 75.81% coming from the US alone.
  • United States – 190 million visitors (75.81%);
  • Guam – 45 million visitors (17.98%);
  • Canada – 7.7 million (3.07%);
  • China – 1.7 million (0.68%); and.
  • UK – 705.4K (0.28%).

Is Craigslist USA only? ›

It became a web-based service in 1996 and expanded into other classified categories. It started expanding to other U.S. and Canadian cities in 2000 and now covers 70 countries.

How many countries is Craigslist in? ›

70 countries

What does everyone use instead of Craigslist? ›

Here are the top five Craigslist competitors to consider.
  • OfferUp. OfferUp is a popular alternative to Craigslist, and you can find almost any item on there. ...
  • Oodle. ...
  • 3. Facebook Marketplace. ...
  • Gumtree. ...
  • Locanto. ...
  • For Electronics. ...
  • Decluttr. ...
  • Buyback Boss.
Apr 26, 2024

Which city uses Craigslist the most? ›

In order of most visited, the Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York City, Seattle and Chicago sites have seen the most traffic over Alexa's three-month data collection period.

Can a Craigslist ad be traced? ›

It is important to remember that even if you post something on Craigslist anonymously, law enforcement may still be able to trace the content back to you.

What is the best site to sell stuff? ›

What are the best websites for selling stuff online?
  • Your own store.
  • Amazon.
  • eBay.
  • Etsy.
  • Bonanza.
  • Facebook Marketplace.
  • Rakuten.
  • Faire.

Which one is better eBay or Craigslist? ›

The decision to post listings on eBay or Craigslist is ultimately up to the seller's individual needs and product capacity. While eBay offers a wide-reaching marketplace for the sale of online goods, Craigslist provides a small-scale platform for those looking to build an audience around their goods and services.

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