Hunchly
Web investigation capture tool. Records, hashes, and archives every page you visit during an investigation.
What should journalists know about Hunchly?
Hunchly is the gold standard for documenting web investigations. Turn it on, browse, and it silently captures full-page MHTML snapshots with SHA-256 hashes, timestamps, and URLs for every page you touch. The result is a court-ready evidence package you can assemble in minutes. Maltego acquired Hunchly in 2025, which means it now plugs into the most complete OSINT analysis pipeline on the market — from capture to link analysis to reporting. The $130/year Classic plan is a bargain for anyone doing real investigative work. The Cloud plan (powered by Kasm browser isolation) adds operational security by keeping your browsing off your own machine entirely, which matters if you're investigating hostile actors who might try to fingerprint or track you.
Building legally defensible evidence chains from web research. Documenting OSINT investigations with cryptographic integrity. Assembling court-ready evidence packages. Tracking changes across web pages over time using selectors and tags. Journalists working on investigations where evidence preservation determines whether a story holds up.
Casual research or general browsing — it captures everything while active, which creates noise. Archiving entire websites (use HTTrack or ArchiveBox for that). Historical web analysis (use Wayback Machine — 704B+ pages archived). Video evidence capture — Hunchly only grabs screenshots of video content, not the video itself.
Security & Privacy
Data is scrambled while being sent to their servers
Data is scrambled when stored on their servers
Where servers are located — affects which governments can request your data
Privacy policy summary
Classic plan keeps all investigation data local — no captured content reaches Hunchly's servers. License verification requires periodic internet. Cloud plan stores captures in Kasm's encrypted cloud (15GB cap). No telemetry on investigation content in either plan. Now owned by Maltego (Germany-based, acquired Hunchly in 2025), which also owns PublicSonar and Social Network Harvester.
How to protect yourself:
Create separate cases for each investigation. Use consistent selectors and tags — searchability depends on your discipline. Export cases before switching devices or reinstalling. Turn Hunchly OFF when not investigating — it captures every page while active, including personal browsing. On the Cloud plan, Kasm browser isolation prevents target sites from fingerprinting your real machine. For Firefox-only users, you're out of luck — Hunchly requires Chromium.
Local-first architecture (Classic plan) with SHA-256 evidence hashing is solid for investigative integrity. Cloud plan adds Kasm browser isolation, which is a real operational security upgrade for sensitive investigations. Not open source, so no independent code audit. Now owned by Maltego (German company, $100M funded), which is a more institutional owner than a solo developer — brings resources but also changes the trust calculus. Hashing proves post-capture integrity but not pre-capture authenticity. Strong reputation across OSINT community, Bellingcat endorsement, and law enforcement adoption. Evidence packages have been used in legal proceedings, though admissibility ultimately depends on jurisdiction and chain-of-custody procedures beyond the tool itself.
Who Owns This
Known issues
Chrome/Chromium-only — no Firefox or Safari support. Requires a native desktop app plus Chrome extension; the extension alone won't work. Linux users must avoid Snap-packaged browsers (Snap containerization breaks Hunchly-browser communication — use .deb install instead). Captures are MHTML snapshots, not live mirrors — dynamic/JavaScript-heavy pages may render incompletely. Video content is archived as screenshots only. SHA-256 hashing proves a capture hasn't changed since the moment Hunchly grabbed it, but cannot prove the source page wasn't manipulated before capture — a determined adversary could serve altered content and Hunchly would faithfully hash that altered version. Closed source, so no independent code audit exists. The 2025 Maltego acquisition changes the ownership and data governance picture — users should review updated terms.
Pricing
Classic: $129.99/year (local storage, single user, multiple machines). Cloud: contact sales (adds Kasm Workspaces browser isolation + 15GB encrypted cloud storage). 30-day free trial, no credit card required. Discounts for teams, nonprofits, students, and educational institutions.
This is an editorial assessment based on publicly available information as of 2026-04-02, using our published methodology. Independent security review is pending. Security posture can change at any time. This is not a guarantee of safety.
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