Is Cheaterbuster legit? An honest review of price, renewals, and refunds

Who runs Cheaterbuster?

Cheaterbuster’s terms name Magnus Technology LLC as the company behind the website and say California law governs them. Its About page says three technical founders started building it in 2016, after a friend asked how to know if a partner was cheating. [3] [4]

It also has a history under another name. A post on Cheaterbuster’s blog, dated September 28, 2018, announced that Swipebuster had become Cheaterbuster, with a new site, layout, and web address. If you remember Swipebuster, this is the same service. [5]

Cheaterbuster describes itself as a public records search engine. Its site says it only gathers publicly available information and doesn’t scrape private data, hack accounts, or track devices in real time. [1]

How does Cheaterbuster work?

You enter a first name, an approximate age, and a likely location. Its FAQ asks for the first name only, with no last name or extra characters. The system then looks for matching data, and you follow progress in your account. Most searches finish within minutes, though Cheaterbuster says timing varies with how crowded the area is and how busy its system is. [1] [2]

A subscription covers one person. Cheaterbuster lists facial recognition search, dating app search, social analysis, and date safe monitoring as included, and weekly monitoring reruns the search on a schedule. It also sells add-on reports, which can be one-time or monthly. [2] [3]

One thing you won’t find is a list of dating apps. Cheaterbuster describes checking public profile, social, photo, and public-record signals without naming the apps. If you need a particular app covered, ask before you pay. [2]

How much does Cheaterbuster cost?

A search costs $19.99 plus tax. That price starts a subscription with weekly updates, and it renews automatically at the end of each billing period until you cancel. [1] [2] [3]

The renewal price is the number that matters most, and you only see it at checkout. Read that line before you pay, and put the renewal date in your calendar.

Does Cheaterbuster work?

That depends on what you mean by “work.” Cheaterbuster runs real searches and returns results, and some reviewers praise how fast they arrive. Whether a result is the right person depends heavily on what you searched with. A first name, age, and city can fit more than one person, which is why its terms warn that matches may not always be the person you meant. [3] [6]

Facial recognition helps, and it’s part of the subscription. But because Cheaterbuster doesn’t name the apps it checks, you can’t tell from its site whether the app you’re worried about was covered. [2]

One limit applies to every service in this space, ours included: a profile that turns up is a lead to look at, and an empty result doesn’t prove there’s nothing there.

What do Cheaterbuster reviews on Trustpilot say?

When we checked Cheaterbuster’s Trustpilot page in October 2026, it showed no TrustScore. Trustpilot’s notice said the company’s rating was unavailable due to a breach of its guidelines, and that it had removed a number of fake reviews. The page listed 316 reviews, 58% of them one-star and 38% five-star, with very little in between. [6]

Trustpilot says it doesn’t fact-check reviews, so treat these as patterns rather than proven facts. These themes came up most in recent reviews: [6]

• Charges people didn’t expect. Several reviewers say their total grew past the advertised search price once add-ons or renewals came in. Cheaterbuster’s replies point out that add-ons are billed separately.
• Refunds. Some reviewers describe refund requests that went unanswered or were turned down.
• Results. Some say results were missing, blurred, or matched the wrong person.
• Speed and ease. Positive reviews often mention quick results, a simple setup, and alerts.

Cheaterbuster replies to many of the negative reviews, usually pointing people to its support email. If you do buy, keep your receipt and the renewal date somewhere you’ll find them.

Can you get a refund from Cheaterbuster?

Sometimes. Its terms list four cases where it refunds in full: [3]

• Your first purchase of a plan or add-on returned no matching profiles, and you ask within 30 days.
• A technical problem meant your results were never delivered.
• You were charged twice, or charged an amount you didn’t agree to.
• You were charged after a confirmed cancellation.

It won’t refund a search that returned one or more matching profiles, even if they aren’t the person you hoped to find. It also won’t refund an add-on report you opened, or a plan that renewed on schedule. [3]

How do you cancel a Cheaterbuster subscription?

Log in, open Subscription Management, and choose Cancel Subscription. You can also email support from the address you signed up with, and Cheaterbuster says it handles emailed cancellations within 24 hours. You keep access until the end of the period you paid for. Our guide to cancelling Cheaterbuster has the full steps. [2] [3]

Cheaterbuster pros and cons

What it does well

• Speed: most searches finish within minutes. [1]
• A low first payment of $19.99 plus tax. [1]
• A full refund if your first search finds no matching profiles. [3]
• Weekly monitoring for as long as you stay subscribed. [2]
• Clear written billing rules, including what checkout must show you before you pay. [3]

Where it falls short

• It’s a subscription, and renewals aren’t refunded. [3]
• The renewal price isn’t on its public pages; you only see it at checkout. [3]
• There’s no published list of the dating apps it checks. [2]
• Each subscription covers one person. [2]
• There’s no refund if the match it finds turns out to be someone else. [3]
• Its Trustpilot page showed no TrustScore when we checked, after a guidelines breach notice. [6]

Our verdict on Cheaterbuster

Cheaterbuster is legit in the sense that matters most: it’s a named company with public terms, and it runs the searches it sells. It fits well if you want an answer in minutes and you’re organized about subscriptions. It fits less well if you need to know exactly which apps were checked, or if a surprise renewal would cause real problems at home.

We make CheaterBusting, so read our view with that in mind. Here’s the honest split.

Should you choose Cheaterbuster or CheaterBusting?

Pick Cheaterbuster if

• You need results today, not next week.
• You want weekly checks to keep running after the first search.
• You want your money back if the first search finds no match.
• You’re comfortable cancelling before the renewal date.

Pick CheaterBusting if

• You want a list of apps checked. Cheaterbuster publishes no app list, and we name all 12.
• You’d rather pay once. Nothing renews, so there’s nothing to cancel. [7]
• You want photo matching on every app, with a confidence note on each possible match.
• You want a guaranteed report date, with a full refund if we miss it. [8]

Our reports take longer, within 21 days or 7 days with Express, and our prices start at $119. That buys one payment, up to 12 named apps, and a date you can plan around. [7]

Cheaterbuster review FAQ

Sources

Checked October 2026. Numbers match the bracketed references above. Cheaterbuster’s prices and policies can change, so check its site before you buy.

1. Cheaterbuster homepage and FAQ section: price per search, search time, anonymity, public-records statement
2. Cheaterbuster FAQ: subscriptions, search fields, one person per subscription, cancellation, billing name
3. Cheaterbuster Terms and Conditions: operator, automatic renewal, add-ons, refunds, governing law
4. Cheaterbuster About Us
5. Cheaterbuster blog: Swipebuster is Now Cheaterbuster (September 28, 2018)
6. Trustpilot: Cheaterbuster reviews, rating notice, review count, and star split
7. CheaterBusting pricing
8. CheaterBusting refund policy