PimEyes

PimEyes is a web service for finding publicly accessible images that contain a visually similar face or match a whole image. It suits people monitoring their own public image, investigating image reuse, or researching visual appearances. Its strongest case is broad public-web discovery with source-page links; its boundaries around social networks and removals matter just as much.

Overview

PimEyes searches public web images for visually similar faces and links to the pages where they appear. Whole-image search can find exact matches, modified copies, and visually similar images, extending the service beyond face-focused searches. PimEyes says it does not identify or verify individuals, so results are leads to pages rather than confirmation of a person’s identity.

Coverage excludes social media and professional networks. If an image exists only on those services, PimEyes will not return it. Uploaded search images are temporarily stored and automatically deleted within a maximum of 48 hours. Users can request an opt-out that excludes their face from future PimEyes searches, with verification required.

Key features

Face and whole-image search

Face recognition and visually similar matching make the service useful for locating public appearances of a face, while whole-image matching covers copied, edited, and related images. This combination fits creators, public figures, journalists, researchers, legal professionals, and security teams looking for leads across the open web. It is a poor fit when the decisive evidence is held inside social or professional networks.

Alerts and takedowns

Paid plans can monitor new appearances, with alert allowances from 10 on Open Plus to 20 on PROtect and 500 on Advanced. Takedown allowances are also included on paid tiers, but PimEyes cannot remove files from external sites automatically: removal depends on each site owner. That makes the feature useful for organizing requests, not a guarantee that unwanted material will disappear.

Privacy and responsible use

PimEyes says image processing is encrypted, the service is GDPR compliant, and payment information is handled by Stripe. It says it does not share data with third parties. Its rules prohibit tracking people without their knowledge, harassment, discriminatory profiling, and unauthorized background checks. Those controls support legitimate monitoring, but they do not expand the service’s web coverage.

Pricing

The free tier is suitable for occasional checks but has no takedown allowance and caps searches at 10 per day. Open Plus raises the daily quota and adds monitoring, yet still provides no takedowns. PROtect is the practical middle choice for teams needing organized results, reports, and a defined removal allowance. Advanced is aimed at intensive monitoring where unlimited daily searches, the largest alert quota, and full Deep Search justify custom pricing. Paid-plan support is described as dedicated, without a stated tier allocation.

Platforms

PimEyes is delivered as a cloud-based web service, so use does not depend on a desktop or mobile installation.

Who it's for

Individuals can use it to locate public appearances of their face or images. Creators and public figures can monitor reuse, while PR teams, journalists, researchers, legal professionals, and security teams can use source links as investigation leads. Anyone requiring social-media coverage, identity verification, or guaranteed external takedowns should choose another approach.

Pros and cons

• Pro: Combines face search with exact, modified, and visually similar whole-image matching.
• Pro: Source-page links make results actionable for checking where an image appears.
• Pro: Paid monitoring scales from 10 to 500 alerts, with an Advanced unlimited-search tier.
• Con: Social media and professional networks are excluded, leaving major public-facing sources outside results.
• Con: Takedown allowances do not ensure removal because external site owners control deletion.
• Con: The free plan is limited to 10 searches daily and includes no takedowns.

Alternatives

LocalLens is a free, open-source option spanning Linux, macOS, Windows, web, and self-hosting, with no stated usage limits or paid plans. Choose it when deployment flexibility and local control matter more than PimEyes’ public-web face-search focus.

ImageRights Discovery offers a free pilot covering the first 100 images across API, macOS, web, and Windows. It fits a bounded initial image-rights workflow.

Imagga Visual Search provides API access on Linux, web, and self-hosted deployments; its Indie plan is $79 a month billed monthly for 70,000 API requests and several image-recognition APIs. Pick it for an integration-oriented workflow rather than person-focused public-web searching.

RIMG offers free reverse-image searches on Android, iOS, and web with no stated usage limit. It is the simpler choice for general reverse searches.

SearchReverseImage is free, requires no signup, and supports unlimited searches for JPG, JPEG, PNG, WEBP, or GIF files up to 4 MB on Android, iOS, and web.

Berify combines free basic searches with paid image-count plans, including 1,000 Images at $5.95 a month and 6,000 Images at 24.9 USD per month billed monthly. Choose it when a usage-based monitoring service suits your volume.

Pixsy offers a free tier monitoring 500 images, with limited import sources, regular-priority scanning, no takedown notices, and free unlimited case submission. It is the better fit for image-rights case management.

Reverse Image Search Anywhere is a free Android, extension, and web project whose source is public under the MIT license.

Verdict

Choose PimEyes if you need face or whole-image matches across publicly accessible websites, with links for follow-up and optional appearance monitoring. Look elsewhere when social and professional networks are essential, when you need identity verification, or when removal must be automatic rather than dependent on site owners.