Which is Better for Face Search:
SocialCatfish or Yandex?

Detailed Analysis of Leading 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 SocialCatfish 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.;

SocialCatfish

Yandex

16 Search by Face Tests

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SocialCatfish vs Yandex

Social Catfish occasionally provides accurate reverse image search results, such as matching images of known figures from different angles. However, it often struggles with facial recognition, leading to incorrect matches or false positives. Its search capabilities feel secondary to its main services of email and phone lookups.

The platform suffers from a slow interface and outdated technology. This results in inconsistent performance in its facial recognition capabilities, making it less reliable for precise searches.

On the other hand, Yandex offers a more robust image search function, particularly for images from Russian and Eastern European sources. It does not use facial recognition technology, which limits its effectiveness but allows it to operate without the restrictions on face searches that affect other engines.

Yandex is quick and has a good user interface but struggles with the diversity of its image sources. It sometimes imposes annoying captchas. Despite these limitations, Yandex provides broader search capabilities with geographical limitations.

Both platforms have their strengths and weaknesses. Social Catfish is occasionally effective but inconsistent, while Yandex offers more extensive search capabilities but with geographical limitations.

Can SocialCatfish 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.

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

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 SocialCatfish and Yandex Find Romance Scammers?

Romance Scam Photo Can SocialCatfish and Yandex Find Romance Scammers?

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!

Social Catfish returned a few results of this stolen photo with a lead to an anti-scam website. Score: +5 Points

Yandex found several images of the doctor in different settings. Score: +5 Points

Can SocialCatfish and Yandex Work with Poor Quality Photos?

Bad Photo of a Killer Can SocialCatfish and Yandex Work with Poor Quality Photos?

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.

Social Catfish returned numerous match results of this killer even from a couple of different angles. Score: +5 Points

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 SocialCatfish and Yandex Find Child Abusers?

Child Molester on the Run Can SocialCatfish and Yandex Find Child Abusers?

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.

Social Catfish provided many exact match results of this predator. Score: +5 Points

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 SocialCatfish and Yandex Find Recent News?

Recently Arrested Can SocialCatfish and Yandex Find Recent News?

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.

Social Catfish returned several exact match results of this man. Score: +5 Points

Yandex did not find any image of this Australian man. Most of the image results are from Russian language websites. Score: 0 Points

Can SocialCatfish and Yandex Recognize a Person wearing a Mask?

Masked Celebrity Actress Can SocialCatfish and Yandex Recognize a Person wearing a Mask?

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.

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

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 SocialCatfish and Yandex Find Obscure Foreign Celebrities?

Unknown Singer from Laos Can SocialCatfish and Yandex Find Obscure Foreign Celebrities?

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.

Social Catfish displayed plenty of results of brunette women; however, none of the women matched the obscure singer. Score: 0 Points

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 SocialCatfish and Yandex Find an OnlyFans Model?

Random OnlyFans Model Can SocialCatfish and Yandex Find an 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.

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

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 SocialCatfish 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.

Social Catfish yielded numerous results of Japanese women; however, none of the women matched the searched person. Score: 0 Points

Yandex found one exact match of this Asian adult star, leading to two websites. Score: +3 Points

Can SocialCatfish and Yandex Find an Old Person by Their Young Pic?

Find Old Person by Young Pic Can SocialCatfish and Yandex Find an Old Person by Their 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.

Social Catfish returned the original picture match; however, it was not able to find the person in her older years. Score: +1 Points

Yandex found an exact match of this woman but failed to find any pictures from her older years. Score: +1 Points

Can SocialCatfish and Yandex Find a Profile of a War Criminal?

War Criminal Soldier Can SocialCatfish and Yandex Find a Profile of a War Criminal?

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.

Social Catfish delivered numerous results of the soldier; however, the top results did not match. Score: +4 Points

Yandex found one exact match of this war criminal, leading to several websites. Score: +4 Points

Can SocialCatfish and Yandex Find Escort Ads?

Brazilian Escort Ad Can SocialCatfish and Yandex Find Escort Ads?

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.

Social Catfish found many results of red-haired women; however, none of the women matched the searched person. Score: 0 Points

Yandex found many red-haired women, but none of them are the person we are looking for. Score: 0 Points

Can SocialCatfish and Yandex Handle Facial Expressions?

Exaggerated Expression Can SocialCatfish and Yandex Handle Facial Expressions?

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.

Social Catfish returned plenty of results of the soccer player even with a couple of different facial expressions. Score: +5 Points

Yandex found the soccer player with many different facial expressions and delivered useful results. Score: +5 Points

Can SocialCatfish and Yandex Find AI Generated Images?

AI Generated Girl Can SocialCatfish and Yandex Find AI Generated Images?

This image was generated by an artificial intelligence app. The goal is to test if the search engine can find similar AI images.

Social Catfish discovered some AI-generated pics of women; however, none of them was really too similar to the source person. Score: +1 Points

Yandex found similar-looking photos, but none of them seem to be AI-generated or match the original picture. Score: +1 Points

Can SocialCatfish and Yandex Work with Blurred Photos?

Blurred Photo Can SocialCatfish and Yandex Work with Blurred Photos?

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.

Social Catfish found lots of photos of the president, having no problem with the blurred pic. Score: +5 Points

Yandex had no problem with this blurred photo and found many images of the president. Score: +5 Points

Can SocialCatfish and Yandex Find Social Media Profiles?

Social Media Model Can SocialCatfish and Yandex Find Social Media Profiles?

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?

Social Catfish provided a plethora of brunettes; however, none of them matched the Iraqi fitness model. Score: 0 Points

Yandex found many brunettes with similar face shapes, but none of them are the Iraqi fitness model. Score: 0 Points

SocialCatfish and Yandex - Bottom Line Comparison

Pros

Entertaining YouTube Videos

Strong Brand Name

Effective in Some Cases

Cons

Poor Face Recognition

Questionable Marketing Tactics

Slow App and Aged User Interface

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.

SocialCatfish

Total Score: 42 Points

Pros

Allows Face Search

Good User Interface

Fast Search

Cons

No Face Recognition

Focused on Russian Websites

Annoying Captcha

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.