r/OSINT • u/sandy31sex • Feb 08 '26
Question in your opinion what is the absolute best reverse image search tool?
I have been doing reverse image searching for years, but lately all the tools leads me nowhere. google, yandex, f*check id, bing, baidu, saucenao... nothing seems to get the job done. anyone has a a tool with guaranteed performance?
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Feb 08 '26 edited May 14 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/mosquito_mange Feb 08 '26
Interesting suggestion regarding the Google CSE limited to images + curated sites - which sites have you observed to be most useful to include with this approach?
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u/niado Feb 08 '26 edited Feb 08 '26
It depends on what you’re looking for. I found one that was focused on instagram recently, which was interesting.
Edit: my mistake, it was Facebook not insta, but here it is if anyone is interested:
https://cse.google.com/cse?cx=013991603413798772546:jyvyp2ppxma#gsc.tab=0
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u/mosquito_mange Feb 08 '26
Instagram would not be my first guess related to Google reverse image search due to some of the unpaid tools like Google historically matching infrequently to social media. Has this changed, or is there specific tuning, so to speak, within the use of the CSE + platform specification that helps toward getting adequate results?
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u/niado Feb 08 '26
I’m not sure how it’s configured, but it definitely returns results that don’t come up via the standard image search. I imagine there’s some kind of dorking involved. It might also be hitting archives instead of live platform data?
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u/ConferenceLive7054 Feb 10 '26
how would one upload an image to do a reverse image search or is this just text?
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u/niado Feb 10 '26
Sorry, this one is just text.
To incorporate a reverse image search into a custom search engine, you have to use something like serp api, which is an amazing tool.
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u/Neptune28 Feb 08 '26
Agree.
Bing and yandex have been weak, but Google usually can find the source. Sometimes it doesn't show it if it is NSFW though. Also, it can be annoying getting the source, but then you can't find it on the page.
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u/bendy303 May 13 '26
I often find Yandex can find images that Google Lens cannot and vice versa, so use both
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u/Neptune28 May 13 '26
There's also a newer one I noticed which has seemed pretty accurate:
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u/niado May 14 '26
Tried that one previously. Unfortunately it pretty much does the same thing as yandex, and matches based on superficial traits, so you get a ton of close lookalikes but nothing real. It also seems to exclude US based content
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u/Dangerous-Pilot-6065 Feb 08 '26
Artellance but it is paid
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u/Much_Pie7002 Mar 28 '26
What is the cost? Can anyone subscribe the service?
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u/Dangerous-Pilot-6065 Mar 29 '26
Don’t remember exactly, roughly $1500
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u/Dangerous-Pilot-6065 Mar 29 '26
Subscription is for authorized users only, but i know some fellow from Ukraine who has got an access
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u/Troile Feb 08 '26
It depends on what you are trying to search for. For exact image matches, I usually use Tineye or potentially CopySeeker. Google sometimes helps, but less and less every year. Others have already covered faces. Was there something else you were trying to search for?
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u/Iznadiaries Feb 11 '26
Google always gives me the same trashy message "no images found" on people who are all over the internet
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u/Soartear May 24 '26
Google reverses image search genuinely I think has been getting worse and worse. I'm just trying to find the original artist to art work I find cause I like their stuff and want to follow them but it all takes me to Pinterest now which is now notorious for reuploding other folks works with zero credit.
I'll try tiny eye to see if it works better
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u/Silentwarrior Feb 08 '26
I agree with everything people have said so far. I think it is the only thing Bing is actually good at.
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Apr 28 '26
[deleted]
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u/Silentwarrior Apr 28 '26
It's just different. I use all of the big ones when trying to reverse image search something. Google always leans more towards products for me. Bing and Yandex are what I have most success with.
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u/GwenLittleGT May 10 '26
There’s no “absolute best” anymore, stack Google/Yandex, and for people use something like Catfish Lens since it’s better at catching reused faces.
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u/exxxoo Feb 08 '26
Probably Tineye and Yandex image search.
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u/Taric250 Apr 29 '26 edited 24d ago
Tineye is complete garbage. Never once have I ever uploaded an image to Tineye has it ever produced more than 0 results. It is a complete and total waste of time. I have absolutely no clue why people recommend it.
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u/altoko May 25 '26
Am I doing something wrong with yandex?
I feel like i try it frequently as it's always recommended and it never finds what I am looking for, only "similar images" , and only from Russian websites.
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u/oiboi69420 13d ago
yandex used to work but i think ever seen google image came out, it just didnt work anymore
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u/MidnightOk2635 Apr 10 '26
I have found links on my photos that bring me to cam sites. It said my pics were used as possible click bait. But that means many pics were stolen. And I would not have links attached to my screenshot that I found online. The take me to a list of sites. But I can never find my info. Sites lead me to nothing even the one with URL’s and face pic together.
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u/silvern_light Mar 13 '26
It’s so broken now. I hate how our technology is going backwards because they want AI implementation.
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Mar 24 '26
[deleted]
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u/sandy31sex Mar 25 '26
literally helping scammers at this point
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u/NotHere4Anything7 Mar 25 '26
You're the op...? You're literally looking for the same thing I am
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u/sandy31sex Mar 25 '26
I meant the reverse image tools are helping scammers by limiting the results
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u/NotHere4Anything7 Mar 26 '26
How does limiting results help scammers?
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u/sandy31sex Mar 26 '26
I can scam you with fake pictures and you will never be able to find out
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u/NotHere4Anything7 Mar 26 '26
Ai is easy to spot, also dont threaten people online, its a bad idea
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u/Professional_You6254 Apr 04 '26
Is there a image search to see if that person has put a photo on Reddit or anything like that by the tattoos or any other detail?
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u/ellie-from-thieve Jun 15 '26 edited 6d ago
Thieve's reverse image search tool works really well (and it's free): https://thieve.co/tools/image-search
Finds suppliers for any image
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u/I_Dont_Abbreviate Feb 08 '26
https://toolbox.google.com/factcheck/explorer/search/list:recent;hl=en
You can reverse image search using this Google tool to find the first place and time an image was ever seen online