Most of the time, people is the correct word to choose as a plural for person. Persons is archaic, and it is safe to avoid using it, except in legal writing, which has its own traditional language. Peoples is only necessary when you refer to distinct ethnic groups (for example, within the same region).

"Person" is a singular noun. It refers to one human being. "People" is the plural of "person" and is the plural form used in the vast majority of English conversations. "Persons" is also a plural form of "people," but it is mostly used in formal contexts, especially in legal documents. It focuses on the individuals in a group.

“Persons” used to be the preferred plural version of “person,” but that’s usually not the case anymore. There was a time when persons was the favored plural form of the word person. But in Modern English, people has become the more common word to use when referring to person in plural.

Both persons and people are what we call collective nouns, and both are the plural forms of the singular noun person. Wait, they’re both the correct term? Yes and no. Let me explain. The word people is the most common and de facto plural form, but persons is also grammatically correct, just used less frequently and in more specific contexts.