[2] Acronym Finder was registered and the database put online by Michael K. Molloy of Colorado in 1997, but he began compiling it in 1985, working as a computer systems officer for the USAF.

[4] Molloy and his wife served as the editors of the website, verifying user submissions for abbreviations and adding others they found to the database.

The website was maintained under Mountain Data Systems, LLC by Molloy,[5][6] before being sold off and eventually coming under the ownership of Farlex, Inc. publishers of Thefreedictionary.com.

[7] The website contains a database of meanings and expansions for abbreviations, acronyms, initialisms mainly in English but includes some entries in other languages such as French, German, Spanish etc.

The current owner of the website also publishes mobile apps for the Android and iOS operating systems.

[7][12] Acronym Finder also includes a Systematic Buzz Phrase Projector, a light-hearted tool that randomly generates jargon-like phrases and abbreviations — usually initialisms that would be unpronounceable as acronyms — and meanings from 30 cleverly chosen buzz words.

Mike Molloy the site's original owner had defended that each submission is verified before being added to the database.