Which is Better for Face Search:
Bing or SocialCatfish?
Best Reverse Image Search Engines: Comprehensive Test Results
Disclaimer: This is not an independent review. These tests were conducted in May 2024 as part of internal competitive analysis by an expert paid by FaceCheck.ID.
Below tests evaluate the effectiveness of Bing and SocialCatfish for searching the Internet using a photo of someone's face. We used various criteria to match different practical use cases. You should test the search engines yourself to see which one works best for your needs. Each search test is awarded 0 to 5 score points based on how well the search performed. Points are summarized and charted at the end.;
Versus
16 Search by Face Tests
VS
Find a Better Reverse Image Search Tool Than Bing or SocialCatfish
Bing vs SocialCatfish
Bing often refuses to search for individuals, frequently returning the message "We couldn't find any results. Make sure the subject is well lit and centered." It does not employ facial recognition, as evidenced by its inability to match non-celebrity faces accurately. However, Bing can effectively identify celebrities, suggesting its capabilities are geared more towards recognized figures, evident in its "Looks like" feature for famous names.
Social Catfish, on the other hand, seems more versatile in finding matches from various angles and under different scenarios, though it too struggles with facial recognition accuracy, often marking non-matching faces as exact matches. Unlike Bing, Social Catfish does not restrict searches based on the subject’s celebrity status but shows inconsistent results and an outdated interface. While Social Catfish occasionally delivers precise matches, its overall performance is hampered by its secondary focus on image searches, primarily serving as a tool for anti-scam efforts and personal information searches.
Can Bing and SocialCatfish Recognize a Side Facial Profile?
Side Facial Profile
This screenshot from a recent video interview shows the side profile of a famous person. The goal is to test the search engine to see if it can recognize the person and find front-facing photos of them.
This screenshot from a recent video interview shows the side profile of a famous person. The goal is to test the search engine to see if it can recognize the person and find front-facing photos of them.
Bing displayed plenty of photos of a TV personality in the results, but unfortunately, none of them matched the celebrity in the original picture.
Score: 0 Points
VS
Social Catfish found 708 pictures of men in suits with glasses, but only one was a positive match for the celebrity. This shows its poor performance in recognizing faces from a side view.
Score: +2 Points
Can Bing and SocialCatfish Find Romance Scammers?
Romance Scam Photo
This picture of a handsome unsuspecting doctor has been stolen by scammers and published on dating apps and used in many online romance scams. The goal of this test is to see if the search engine can help the user uncover that this pic is associated with a scam operation. The doctor is innocent!
This picture of a handsome unsuspecting doctor has been stolen by scammers and published on dating apps and used in many online romance scams. The goal of this test is to see if the search engine can help the user uncover that this pic is associated with a scam operation. The doctor is innocent!
Bing refused to search for a person. returned zero results and displayed the message "We couldn't find any results. Make sure the subject is well lit and centered."
Score: 0 Points
VS
Social Catfish returned a few results of this stolen photo with a lead to an anti-scam website.
Score: +5 Points
Can Bing and SocialCatfish Work with Poor Quality Photos?
Bad Photo of a Killer
A low-quality photo of a serial rapist, murderer, and ex-colonel in the Royal Canadian Air Force. The goal is to test the search engine's ability with a bad quality image with .jpeg artifacts where the person isn't facing the camera directly.
A low-quality photo of a serial rapist, murderer, and ex-colonel in the Royal Canadian Air Force. The goal is to test the search engine's ability with a bad quality image with .jpeg artifacts where the person isn't facing the camera directly.
Bing refused to search for a person. returned zero results and displayed the message "We couldn't find any results. Make sure the subject is well lit and centered."
Score: 0 Points
VS
Social Catfish returned numerous match results of this killer even from a couple of different angles.
Score: +5 Points
Can Bing and SocialCatfish Find Child Abusers?
Child Molester on the Run
This is a photo of someone on the offender list for molesting kids. His status is 'Absconded,' meaning he ran away from his registered address without telling the authorities. The goal is to see if the search engine is able to find high-risk offenders.
This is a photo of someone on the offender list for molesting kids. His status is 'Absconded,' meaning he ran away from his registered address without telling the authorities. The goal is to see if the search engine is able to find high-risk offenders.
Bing refused to search for a person. returned zero results and displayed the message "We couldn't find any results. Make sure the subject is well lit and centered."
Score: 0 Points
VS
Social Catfish provided many exact match results of this predator.
Score: +5 Points
Can Bing and SocialCatfish Find Recent News?
Recently Arrested
A photo of a serious sexual offender involving a child, who fled from the police and was hunted down and arrested, was all over the Australian news two weeks ago. The goal is to check if the search engine can find recently published images in its database.
A photo of a serious sexual offender involving a child, who fled from the police and was hunted down and arrested, was all over the Australian news two weeks ago. The goal is to check if the search engine can find recently published images in its database.
Bing refused to search for a person. returned zero results and displayed the message "We couldn't find any results. Make sure the subject is well lit and centered."
Score: 0 Points
VS
Social Catfish returned several exact match results of this man.
Score: +5 Points
Can Bing and SocialCatfish Recognize a Person wearing a Mask?
Masked Celebrity Actress
This is a B-list celebrity wearing a face mask, only showing her eyes and forehead. The test is to see if the search engine can recognize faces even when they're covered by a mask. There is thousands of images of this celebrity all over the Internet, so finding a few matches should not be a problem.
This is a B-list celebrity wearing a face mask, only showing her eyes and forehead. The test is to see if the search engine can recognize faces even when they're covered by a mask. There is thousands of images of this celebrity all over the Internet, so finding a few matches should not be a problem.
Bing returned many results, however no image was matching the actress. That proves that Bing is not using facial recognition.
Score: 0 Points
VS
Social Catfish found a few matches of the actress without a mask. It found her pics just by matching her eyes and forehead. But not many matches and also false positive on the very top, so we're giving only 4 points.
Score: +4 Points
Can Bing and SocialCatfish Find Obscure Foreign Celebrities?
Unknown Singer from Laos
A picture of a not-so-famous singer from the country of Laos. Hardly anyone outside of Laos knows her. The goal of this test is to see if the search engine can find info on obscure public figures from other countries.
A picture of a not-so-famous singer from the country of Laos. Hardly anyone outside of Laos knows her. The goal of this test is to see if the search engine can find info on obscure public figures from other countries.
Bing refused to search for a person. returned zero results and displayed the message "We couldn't find any results. Make sure the subject is well lit and centered."
Score: 0 Points
VS
Social Catfish displayed plenty of results of brunette women; however, none of the women matched the obscure singer.
Score: 0 Points
Can Bing and SocialCatfish Find an OnlyFans Model?
Random OnlyFans Model
A photo of a random woman on OnlyFans who lives in Vietnam. The goal is to see if the search engine can find OnlyFans profiles.
A photo of a random woman on OnlyFans who lives in Vietnam. The goal is to see if the search engine can find OnlyFans profiles.
Bing refused to search for a person. returned zero results and displayed the message "We couldn't find any results. Make sure the subject is well lit and centered."
Score: 0 Points
VS
Social Catfish produced results of open-mouth women in glasses and marked them as exact matches. But in fact, none of them matched the searched person.
Score: 0 Points
Can Bing and SocialCatfish Find an Adult Actress by Low-Res Pic?
Low-Res Pic of Adult Actress
A low-resolution picture of an obscure Japanese adult film actress. The goal is to see if the search engine can find Asian adult film stars using low-resolution photos.
A low-resolution picture of an obscure Japanese adult film actress. The goal is to see if the search engine can find Asian adult film stars using low-resolution photos.
Bing refused to search for a person. returned zero results and displayed the message "We couldn't find any results. Make sure the subject is well lit and centered."
Score: 0 Points
VS
Social Catfish yielded numerous results of Japanese women; however, none of the women matched the searched person.
Score: 0 Points
Can Bing and SocialCatfish Find an Old Person by Their Young Pic?
Find Old Person by Young Pic
This photo is from 1976, showing a woman who was 27 years old at the time. The goal is to see if the search engine can find a more recent photo of the same person.
This photo is from 1976, showing a woman who was 27 years old at the time. The goal is to see if the search engine can find a more recent photo of the same person.
Bing refused to search for a person. returned zero results and displayed the message "We couldn't find any results. Make sure the subject is well lit and centered."
Score: 0 Points
VS
Social Catfish returned the original picture match; however, it was not able to find the person in her older years.
Score: +1 Points
Can Bing and SocialCatfish Find a Profile of a War Criminal?
War Criminal Soldier
A picture of a Russian soldier who filmed himself committing terrible war crimes. The goal is to see if the search engine can find this soldier's social media profiles.
A picture of a Russian soldier who filmed himself committing terrible war crimes. The goal is to see if the search engine can find this soldier's social media profiles.
Bing returned many exact match images of the soldier, however no images of the soldier in diferent setting. Proving that Bing does not use facial recognition.
Score: +3 Points
VS
Social Catfish delivered numerous results of the soldier; however, the top results did not match.
Score: +4 Points
Can Bing and SocialCatfish Find Escort Ads?
Brazilian Escort Ad
A photo from a Brazilian escort ad. We blurred it on this page for privacy. The goal is to see if the search engine can find images on escort ads websites.
A photo from a Brazilian escort ad. We blurred it on this page for privacy. The goal is to see if the search engine can find images on escort ads websites.
Bing refused to search for a person. returned zero results and displayed the message "We couldn't find any results. Make sure the subject is well lit and centered."
Score: 0 Points
VS
Social Catfish found many results of red-haired women; however, none of the women matched the searched person.
Score: 0 Points
Can Bing and SocialCatfish Handle Facial Expressions?
Exaggerated Expression
The camera captured a soccer player with a funny facial expression in this photo. The goal is to see if the search engine is robust enough to find images of the same person with a normal facial expression.
The camera captured a soccer player with a funny facial expression in this photo. The goal is to see if the search engine is robust enough to find images of the same person with a normal facial expression.
Bing suprisingly returned many images of the player and even section "Looks like" with the name of the player. Good job Bing! If you're searching for a football player's name, bing may help you.
Score: +5 Points
VS
Social Catfish returned plenty of results of the soccer player even with a couple of different facial expressions.
Score: +5 Points
Can Bing and SocialCatfish Find AI Generated Images?
AI Generated Girl
This image was generated by an artificial intelligence app. The goal is to test if the search engine can find similar AI images.
This image was generated by an artificial intelligence app. The goal is to test if the search engine can find similar AI images.
Bing refused to search for a person. returned zero results and displayed the message "We couldn't find any results. Make sure the subject is well lit and centered."
Score: 0 Points
VS
Social Catfish discovered some AI-generated pics of women; however, none of them was really too similar to the source person.
Score: +1 Points
Can Bing and SocialCatfish Work with Blurred Photos?
Blurred Photo
Even though this photo is heavily blurred, almost anyone would recognize the iconic president in the photo. A good reverse image search engine should be able to recognize this person too.
Even though this photo is heavily blurred, almost anyone would recognize the iconic president in the photo. A good reverse image search engine should be able to recognize this person too.
Bing returned many diferent images of the president. Seems like Bing only allows to search for celebrities or people with a large online footprint.
Score: +5 Points
VS
Social Catfish found lots of photos of the president, having no problem with the blurred pic.
Score: +5 Points
Can Bing and SocialCatfish Find Social Media Profiles?
Social Media Model
This person is a social media fitness model from Iraq. The test is: can the reverse image search engine find social media profiles of a person from an Islamic country?
This person is a social media fitness model from Iraq. The test is: can the reverse image search engine find social media profiles of a person from an Islamic country?
Bing refused to search for a person. returned zero results and displayed the message "We couldn't find any results. Make sure the subject is well lit and centered."
Score: 0 Points
VS
Social Catfish provided a plethora of brunettes; however, none of them matched the Iraqi fitness model.
Score: 0 Points
Bing and SocialCatfish - Bottom Line Comparison
Pros
Bottom Line
Bing blocked around 70% of our image searches, returning the message, "We couldn't find any results." However, it excelled with an image of a soccer player, even showing a "Looks like" section with the player's name. It appears Bing's facial search feature primarily supports celebrities, offering the "Looks like" section with their names. So, if you need to identify a celebrity from a photo, Bing could be quite useful. However, searching for regular people doesn't work on Bing.
Huge Image Database
Fast Image Search
Free Search
Cons
No Facial Recognition
Blocks Searching for People by Image
Not useful when looking up someone
Total Score: 13 Points
VS
Pros
Bottom Line
Social Catfish's reverse image search is an add-on to their primary email and phone lookup services. Since image search is not their main focus, it feels like an afterthought. The technology appears outdated, resulting in inconsistent facial recognition performance. While it delivers good results occasionally, it often falls short. However, their YouTube channel excels in raising awareness about romance scams.
Entertaining YouTube Videos
Strong Brand Name
Effective in Some Cases
Cons
Poor Face Recognition
Questionable Marketing Tactics
Slow App and Aged User Interface
Total Score: 42 Points
Best Facial Recognition Search Engines: Which One Wins?
| Test | FaceCheck | PimEyes | SocialCatfish | Yandex | Tineye | Bing | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Side Facial Profile | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Romance Scam Photo | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Bad Photo of a Killer | 5 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Child Molester on the Run | 5 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
| Recently Arrested | 5 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0 |
| Masked Celebrity Actress | 5 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Singer from Laos | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Random OnlyFans Model | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Low-Res Pic of Adult Actress | 4 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Find Old Person by Young Pic | 5 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| War Criminal Soldier | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 3 |
| Brazilian Escort Ad | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Exaggerated Expression | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 5 |
| AI Generated Girl | 5 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Blurred Photo | 5 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Social Media Model | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total Points | |||||||
| FaceCheck | PimEyes | SocialCatfish | Yandex | Tineye | Bing |
The Best Alternative to Bing or SocialCatfish for Reverse Image Searches
Comparing All Available Reverse Image Search Engines
- PimEyes.com vs FaceCheck.ID
- PimEyes.com vs Google.com
- PimEyes.com vs Tineye.com
- PimEyes.com vs Bing.com
- PimEyes.com vs SocialCatfish.com
- PimEyes.com vs Yandex.com
- FaceCheck.ID vs Google.com
- FaceCheck.ID vs Tineye.com
- FaceCheck.ID vs Bing.com
- FaceCheck.ID vs SocialCatfish.com
- FaceCheck.ID vs Yandex.com
- Google.com vs Tineye.com
- Google.com vs Bing.com
- Google.com vs SocialCatfish.com
- Google.com vs Yandex.com
- Tineye.com vs Bing.com
- Tineye.com vs SocialCatfish.com
- Tineye.com vs Yandex.com
- Bing.com vs SocialCatfish.com
- Bing.com vs Yandex.com
- SocialCatfish.com vs Yandex.com
Single Test Results
On the subject in other languages
Który jest lepszy do wyszukiwania twarzy: Bing czy SocialCatfish?
Qual é melhor para busca de rostos: Bing ou SocialCatfish?
ما هو الأفضل للبحث بالوجه: Bing أو SocialCatfish؟
Что лучше для поиска по лицам: Bing или SocialCatfish?
Qual è migliore per la ricerca di volti: Bing o SocialCatfish?
哪一个更适合人脸搜索：Bing 还是 SocialCatfish？
Který je lepší pro vyhledávání obličejů: Bing nebo SocialCatfish?
चेहरे की खोज के लिए कौन बेहतर है: Bing या SocialCatfish?
顔検索に最適なのはどちら？：Bing か SocialCatfish?
Welcher ist besser für die Gesichtssuche: Bing oder SocialCatfish?
¿Cuál es mejor para la búsqueda facial: Bing o SocialCatfish?
Quel est le meilleur pour la recherche faciale : Bing ou SocialCatfish ?
Yüz Araması için Hangisi Daha İyi: Bing veya SocialCatfish?
얼굴 검색에 더 좋은 것은 무엇입니까: Bing 또는 SocialCatfish?
