Whitepages is an American provider of online directory services, fraud screening, background checks, identity verification, property data analysis, and data access via APIs for consumers and businesses. It has the largest database available of contact information on residents of the United States.

Whitepages was founded in 1997 as a hobby for then-Stanford student Alex Algard. It was incorporated in 2000 and received $45 million in funding in 2005. Investors were later bought-out by Algard in 2013. From 2008 to 2013, Whitepages released several mobile apps, a re-design in 2009, the ability for consumers to control their contact information, and other features. From 2010 to 2016, the company shifted away from advertising revenue and began focusing more on selling business services and subscription products.

The idea for Whitepages was conceived by Alex Algard, while studying at Stanford in 1996. Algard was searching for a friend's contact information, and the phone company gave him the wrong number. He thought of an online email directory as an easier way to find people. Algard bought the Whitepages.com domain for $900, which he says was all of his savings at the time. He continued operating the website as a hobby while working as an investment banker for Goldman Sachs. He expanded the database of contact information using data licensed from American Business Information (now a part of Infogroup). Eventually, Whitepages was producing more ad-revenue than Algard was earning at Goldman Sachs. In 1998, Algard left his job to focus on the website; he incorporated Whitepages in 2000.

The site grew and attracted more advertisers. The company brokered deals with Yellowpages and Superpages, whereby Whitepages earned revenue for sending them referral traffic. By 2005, $15 million in annual revenues was coming from these contracts. In 2003, Algard stepped down as CEO to focus on CarDomain.com, which he had also founded and Max Bardon took his place as CEO temporarily. In 2005, Technology Crossover Ventures and Providence Equity Partners invested $45 million in the company. That same year, MSN adopted Whitepages' directory data for its "Look it up" feature. Algard returned to the company in 2007. By the end of that year, the Whitepages database had grown to 180 million records and the company was listed as one of Deloitte's 500 fastest growing technology companies in North America three times. By 2008 the company had $66 million in annual revenues.

In 2008, Whitepages said it would start working on options for users to control their information on the site. That same year, it acquired VoIP developer Snapvine in order to add features where users could be called through the website without giving out their phone number. It also introduced an api, which gave third-party developers access to Whitepages' data. Whitepages released an iOS app that August, followed by the Whitepages Caller ID app for Android devices in February 2009 and for Blackberry that May.

The app displayed information on callers, such as their latest social media posts, local weather at the caller's location and the identity of the caller. The ability for consumers to add themselves to the directory was added in the summer of 2009 and being able to edit existing entries was added that October.

Whitepages.com underwent a re-design in 2009. According to VentureBeat reporter Matt Marshall, the redesign made the advertising "cleaner" and made it more obvious when someone was going to a third-party website like US Search. Marshall had previously criticized Whitepages, because website users that clicked on US Search ads and purchased data from US Search were sent through perpetual advertisements for other services that made it difficult to access the information they paid for. A local business lookup feature called "Store Finder" was added in June 2010. The following month, Whitepages.com launched a deal site, Dealpop.com, which differed from Groupon by offering short-term deals on nationally available products. Dealpop was sold to Tippr the following year.

In 2010, Superpages and Yellowpages cut back spending with Whitepages from $33 million to $7 million, causing a substantial decline in revenues and a tense relationship with investors. Algard spent $50 million in cash the company had on-hand and $30 million from a bank loan, to buyout the investors in 2013. He also used his personal house, savings account and personal belongings as collateral for the loan. Algard began shifting the company's business model to reduce its reliance on advertising and instead focus on business users and paid subscriptions.