Reverse image search is an advanced technology that transforms how we explore and find information online. Instead of typing keywords, we simply upload an image or paste its URL to find visually similar images, track down the source, or uncover more details about a picture.
You can find many free reverse image search tools on the internet, each designed for different purposes. Some focus on tracing the origin of an image, while others excel at identifying faces. To help you choose the right one, we’ve tested numerous reverse image search services. Here are our recommendations:
- Best Reverse Image Search Tools for Finding Sources
- Best Reverse Image Search Tools for Searching for Faces
- Best Reverse Image Search Tools for Identifying Locations
Reverse Image Search Tools for Finding Sources
Running a reverse image search can be helpful in various scenarios. For example, you might want to identify the source of an image to find higher-resolution versions and attribute credit correctly when using it. If you are a content creator, you might want to track the usage of your image on the internet to prevent unauthorized use of your work.
Here are the best reverse image lookup tools we recommend to find the origin of an image.
1. Google Images
Google Images is one of the most popular and widely used reverse image search tools. Backed by its vast database of indexed images from around the web, Google Images provides a powerful tool for various purposes, such as identifying the original source of an image, tracking image usage, or discovering visually similar images for design or inspiration.
To use the tool, just go to images.google.com in your web browser. Click on the camera icon in the search bar to initiate a reverse image search.
You can then either paste the URL of the image you want to search for or upload an image from your device. Google Images will then display webpages where the image appears, as well as visually similar images.
You can click on Find image source to view the webpages including this exact image. During our test, Google Images was able to find the most pages where the same image appeared consistently.
2. Bing Images
Bing Images is another popular reverse image search tool offered by Microsoft. It allows you to search for images using an image as a query instead of keywords.
With Bing’s advanced image recognition technology, you can easily track down an image across the web and find visually similar images.
Go to Bing Images. Click on the camera icon in the search bar to initiate a reverse image search. You can then either paste the URL of the image you want to search for or upload an image from your device.
Bing will then display visually similar images, as well as webpages where the image appears. Similar to Google, Bing offers an option to view exact matches by clicking on Page with this image.
While Bing was able to locate the source of our test image, the number of pages it brought up was less than Google Images during our test.
3. Yandex Images
Yandex Images is a reverse image search tool owned by the Russian search engine Yandex. It’s a decent complementary tool if you want to get more information from different databases.
This tool allows you to discover and explore images for various purposes, such as finding visually similar images, identifying the source of an image, or tracking image usage. For this guide, we tested only its ability to identify the source of the image.
To use this tool, go to Yandex Images and click on the camera icon in the search bar. You can then either click Select file to upload an image from your device or paste the URL of the image you want to search for.
During our test, Yandex was able to extend its search across webpages in different languages, whereas Google and Bing mostly provided English results. Sometimes, this tool gives better results than Google and Bing.
You can view various visually similar images and locate webpages where the image appears with Yandex Images. If you want to view websites that use this exact image, simply click on the Sites option.
4. TinEye
TinEye is a dedicated reverse image search engine that specializes in finding online images. It helps you find out where an image came from, how it is being used, if modified versions of the image exist, or if there is a higher resolution version.
To use this tool, simply go to tineye.com in your web browser. Click on the Upload button to upload an image from your device or enter the image URL into the search bar.
TinEye will then create a unique and compact digital signature during image recognition and compare it to the TinEye index to find matches. Your image won’t be added to its index though.
Unlike the other tools we’ve covered, TinEye does not typically find similar images – which means it doesn’t find different images with the same subject like Google Images and Bing Images do; it only finds image matches, including those that have been cropped, edited, or resized.
5. Baidu Image Search
Baidu Image Search is a reverse image search tool developed by Baidu, the dominant search engine in China. It allows you to search millions of images on the Internet. However, Baidu only indexes sites that use simplified Chinese characters, which will limit your search range.
It’s still a good tool if you want to see if your image has been used by Chinese websites or if you’re searching for images related to South Asian culture or people.
Reverse Image Search Tools for Searching for Faces
There are times when we need to run a reverse image search on people. The most common motivation behind this, for online daters, is to verify if the person they meet is using someone else’s picture (also known as catfishing). In other cases, you might want to run a reverse image search on yourself to trace your online presence and find out if someone else is impersonating you online.
You can use Google Images or Bing Images we covered earlier to look up someone’s photo and see if they posted the exact same image somewhere else on the internet, but it won’t be the most efficient method when it comes to finding people online. There are many tools designed for this specific purpose, and here are the best ones we’ve found:
1. PimEyes
PimEyes is an accurate search engine for reverse image searching and facial recognition. When you upload a picture to it, PimEyes checks publicly available sources like websites, blogs, news, forums, and so on to find where the face appears.
You can run free searches to find out if PimEyes can find pictures containing given faces, but the returned links are incomplete for free accounts. If you would like to view the complete source link, you’d need to pay for it.
During our test, we were able to locate the pictures of our subjects and many lookalikes on places such as their company websites, university webpages, personal blogs, etc. The results are pretty accurate. However, PimEyes doesn’t search social media, so if you’re looking to find someone’s social media, PimEyes won’t be the best option.
2. FaceCheck.ID
FaceCheck.ID is also a paid search engine that lets you search people by photos and discover their social media profiles and appearances on other websites. Similar to PimEyes, you can run 10 free searches with this tool, but the links would be incomplete if you’re on the free account.
During our tests, it provided results with less accuracy and spotted fewer photos of our subjects than PimEyes. We did find a few social media profiles successfully, so we would definitely recommend this tool if you’re trying to locate someone’s social media account.
3. Social Catfish
Social Catfish is an online investigation service designed specifically to search for people-related information. It sources public records in the US and social media accounts, websites, and blogs.
You can search for an image with Social Catfish Reverse Image Search. Social Catfish will comb through its database and compile all information associated with the person into one place.
The report you get might include the person’s contact details, background information (e.g. education history, work history, criminal records, properties, etc.), and social network accounts in one place.
Reverse Image Search Tools for Identifying Locations
1. Picarta
Picarta is an AI-powered image search tool that is designed to find out where a photo has been taken in the world even if the GPS EXIF data is absent. Its AI system can analyze each image, extract patterns and provide GPS estimation.
During our tests, it could easily identify the country where a photo was taken with high accuracy, but it’s not as accurate in locating the specific city.
2. Pic2Map
If the picture was taken on a GPS-enabled device like a smartphone or a GPS-enabled camera, you can use Pic2Map to perform a reverse image search and determine where it was taken.
Pic2Map analyzes the embedded EXIF data in the image to find the GPS coordinates. To get accurate results, you need to upload the unaltered photo file. Note that if the image was obtained from social media platforms like Instagram, it typically won’t have EXIF data available.
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