Which is Better for Face Search:
Google or Yandex?
The Most Effective Reverse Image Search Engines Tested
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 Google and Yandex 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
Reverse Image Search: The Best Option Besides Google or Yandex
Google vs Yandex
Google's reverse image search is highly effective for identifying commercial products, often displaying the message "Results for People are Limited" and failing to match individuals, due to its lack of facial recognition technology. In contrast, Yandex offers a more flexible approach, allowing searches for faces without using facial recognition technology and providing results from diverse angles, particularly from Russian and Eastern European sources, though it has limited reach in Western and Asian regions. Both platforms excel within their respective focuses; Google in commercial product identification and Yandex in broader image searches across specific geographical areas.
Can Google and Yandex 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.
Google displayed zero matches and showed a message "Results for People are Limited".
Score: 0 Points
VS
Yandex displayed many men in suits on TV matching the overall setting, but none of them matched the celebrity in the original picture, confirming the lack of facial recognition.
Score: 0 Points
Can Google and Yandex 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!
Google displayed zero matches and showed a message saying, "Results for People are Limited." This suggests that Google is intentionally blocking searches by a photo of a person.
Score: 0 Points
VS
Yandex found several images of the doctor in different settings.
Score: +5 Points
Can Google and Yandex 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.
Google displayed zero matches and showed a message "Results for People are Limited".
Score: 0 Points
VS
Yandex found a few exact matches, but due to the extensive presence of the killer's images on the internet, we consider these results poor.
Score: +2 Points
Can Google and Yandex 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.
Google finds one result for this child predator which is the registered offender's website.
Score: +3 Points
VS
Yandex found one image of the predator on a Russian language website. It appears Yandex did not index any of his images from Western websites.
Score: +2 Points
Can Google and Yandex 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.
Google finds only one exact match for this person.
Score: +2 Points
VS
Yandex did not find any image of this Australian man. Most of the image results are from Russian language websites.
Score: 0 Points
Can Google and Yandex 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.
Google displayed zero matches and showed a message "Results for People are Limited".
Score: 0 Points
VS
Yandex found many women in black masks, but none of them are the actress. This proves that Yandex does not use facial recognition.
Score: 0 Points
Can Google and Yandex 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.
Google finds only one exact match for this person.
Score: +2 Points
VS
Yandex found similar-looking Asian women with smooth skin and bright red lips, but none of them are the singer from Laos we are searching for.
Score: 0 Points
Can Google and Yandex 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.
Instead of finding a person, Google finds similar hairbands to what the OF girl is wearing on her head. Google reverse image search is made for searching commercial products, not for people searching.
Score: 0 Points
VS
Yandex found many women in glasses with open mouths, but none of them are the OnlyFans model we are looking for.
Score: 0 Points
Can Google and Yandex 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.
Google displayed zero matches and showed a message "Results for People are Limited".
Score: 0 Points
VS
Yandex found one exact match of this Asian adult star, leading to two websites.
Score: +3 Points
Can Google and Yandex 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.
Google displayed zero matches and showed a message "Results for People are Limited".
Score: 0 Points
VS
Yandex found an exact match of this woman but failed to find any pictures from her older years.
Score: +1 Points
Can Google and Yandex 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.
Google finds only one exact match for this person.
Score: +2 Points
VS
Yandex found one exact match of this war criminal, leading to several websites.
Score: +4 Points
Can Google and Yandex 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.
Google displayed zero matches and showed a message "Results for People are Limited".
Score: 0 Points
VS
Yandex found many red-haired women, but none of them are the person we are looking for.
Score: 0 Points
Can Google and Yandex 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.
This is the only case in our tests when Google actually finds the person in the picture and delivers useful results.
Score: +5 Points
VS
Yandex found the soccer player with many different facial expressions and delivered useful results.
Score: +5 Points
Can Google and Yandex 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.
Again, instead of finding a person, Google finds similar hairbands to what the AI girl is wearing in her hair.
Score: 0 Points
VS
Yandex found similar-looking photos, but none of them seem to be AI-generated or match the original picture.
Score: +1 Points
Can Google and Yandex 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.
Google displayed zero matches and showed a message "Results for People are Limited".
Score: 0 Points
VS
Yandex had no problem with this blurred photo and found many images of the president.
Score: +5 Points
Can Google and Yandex 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?
Google displayed zero matches and showed a message "Results for People are Limited".
Score: 0 Points
VS
Yandex found many brunettes with similar face shapes, but none of them are the Iraqi fitness model.
Score: 0 Points
Google and Yandex - Bottom Line Comparison
Pros
Bottom Line
Google is not effective for reverse image searching by face. It does not use facial recognition and intentionally blocks searches by a person's image, displaying a "Results for People are Limited" message. While this feature worked in the past, as of 2024, it is now entirely useless for this purpose. Google has focused its reverse image search on identifying commercial products rather than people, and it excels in this area. If you need to find a product by image, Google is perfect for that.
Fast Image Search
Free Search
Fresh Index
Cons
No Facial Recognition
Results for People are Limited
Not Useful when Searching by Face
Total Score: 14 Points
VS
Pros
Bottom Line
Yandex primarily indexes images from Russian and Eastern European websites. Since it doesn't use facial recognition algorithms and has limited indexing of Western and Asian websites, it didn't perform well in our tests. However, unlike Google and Bing, Yandex doesn't block face searches, which is a plus. If you're looking for images specific to Russian-speaking countries or Eastern Europe, Yandex could be a useful tool.
Allows Face Search
Good User Interface
Fast Search
Cons
No Face Recognition
Focused on Russian Websites
Annoying Captcha
Total Score: 28 Points
Facial Recognition Search Engines: The Ultimate Comparison
| 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 |
Top Substitute for Google or Yandex Reverse Image Search
All-Inclusive Comparison of 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
Qual è migliore per la ricerca di volti: Google o Yandex?
¿Cuál es mejor para la búsqueda facial: Google o Yandex?
Qual é melhor para busca de rostos: Google ou Yandex?
Który jest lepszy do wyszukiwania twarzy: Google czy Yandex?
Welcher ist besser für die Gesichtssuche: Google oder Yandex?
얼굴 검색에 더 좋은 것은 무엇입니까: Google 또는 Yandex?
Что лучше для поиска по лицам: Google или Yandex?
Quel est le meilleur pour la recherche faciale : Google ou Yandex ?
Který je lepší pro vyhledávání obličejů: Google nebo Yandex?
哪一个更适合人脸搜索：Google 还是 Yandex？
顔検索に最適なのはどちら？：Google か Yandex?
ما هو الأفضل للبحث بالوجه: Google أو Yandex؟
Yüz Araması için Hangisi Daha İyi: Google veya Yandex?
