Is PimEyes the Best for Face Search?
Expert Analysis: Best Reverse Image Search Engines
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 PimEyes 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
Can PimEyes 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.
PimEyes failed this test showing a message "The photo appears to be low quality, making it difficult to identify facial features."
Score: 0 Points
Can PimEyes 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!
PimEyes found plenty of matching pictures of this doctor. After clicking thru the results, the user would find out this pic is used in many scams.
Score: +5 Points
Can PimEyes 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.
PimEyes failed to find the face in this poor-quality image and displayed the message "Face not found. Make sure the face on the photo is clearly visible."
Score: 0 Points
Can PimEyes 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.
PimEyes found five matching photos of this child predator.
Score: +5 Points
Can PimEyes 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.
PimEyes found many matching photos on news websites, showing that it regularly updates its image database with new content.
Score: +5 Points
Can PimEyes 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.
PimEyes failed to find the face in this photo and displayed the message "Face not found. Make sure the face on the photo is clearly visible."
Score: 0 Points
Can PimEyes 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.
PimEyes found many matching photos of this obscure celebrity from Laos.
Score: +5 Points
Can PimEyes 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.
PimEyes found explicit images of this OnlyFans girl on many shady copyright-infringing "leak" websites. PimEyes seems to be focused on helping users fighting "revenge" kind of content.
Score: +5 Points
Can PimEyes 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.
PimEyes found many matching photos of this Japanese adult performer. PimEyes shines when it comes to searching for adult film stars.
Score: +5 Points
Can PimEyes 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.
PimEyes found many matching photos of this person in her older years. However the photos seem to be limited to the subject in her 30s and 40s.
Score: +5 Points
Can PimEyes 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.
PimEyes found many matching photos of this soldier; however, it did not find any of his social media.
Score: +4 Points
Can PimEyes 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.
PimEyes found many matching photos of this person.
Score: +5 Points
Can PimEyes 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.
PimEyes found many memes with an exact match of this facial expression, and also found the player with other facial expressions.
Score: +5 Points
Can PimEyes 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.
PimEyes found many similar images of AI-generated women.
Score: +5 Points
Can PimEyes 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.
PimEyes failed to find a face in this blurred photo and displayed the message "Face not found. Make sure the face on the photo is clearly visible."
Score: 0 Points
Can PimEyes 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?
PimEyes found many matching photos of this Iraqi model. However found zero profiles from the top social media sites. Because this is a social media test, we are lowering the test score to 3.
Score: +3 Points
PimEyes - Bottom Line Comparison
Pros
Bottom Line
PimEyes is a powerful search engine with a vast image database. It focuses on indexing shady, copyright-infringing websites with "leaked" adult content, specializing in helping users combat revenge porn. It is highly effective at finding adult content. However, its effectiveness for other purposes is limited by the lack of social media indexing and its inability to search blurry or low-quality images. Despite these drawbacks, PimEyes is a highly recommended reverse image search engine.
Excels in Adult Oriented Searches
Large Image Database
Decent Facial Recognition Algorithm
Cons
No Social Media Images
Does not work with Low Quality Photos
Lots of Low Quality Adult Website Results
Total Score: 57 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 |
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
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