Reverse Face Search APIs Compared (2026): Trace vs FaceCheck.ID vs Lenso vs PimEyes

Disclosure: I build Trace, which is first on this list. I've included where the others win — at high volume, some of them clearly do. Pricing was checked in September 2026 on each provider's own pages or recent reviews; confirm before you commit.\n\nIf you need reverse face search in your own code — one photo in, public pages with the same face out — the list of options is shorter than it looks. Most \"face APIs\" are verification APIs that compare two faces you already have. Only a few actually search the web. Here's how they compare on the things that matter when you integrate one.\n\n## At a glance\n\n| | Trace | FaceCheck.ID | Lenso.ai | PimEyes |\n|---|---|---|---|---|\n| Self-serve API | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ (Developer plan) | ❌ (institutional product only) |\n| Pricing model | Credits, pay as you go | Credits | Monthly subscription | — |\n| Entry price | $4 / 5 searches | $19 / 150 credits (50 searches) | Developer plan, 5,000 calls/mo | — |\n| Credits expire | Never | Yes (14 days on the $19 pack) | Monthly allowance | — |\n| Payment | Card, Telegram Stars, crypto | Crypto only | Card | — |\n| Monthly minimum | None | None | Subscription | — |\n| Result score | 50–100 + tier | Score | Similarity | — |\n| Returns social handles as fields | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | — |\n\n## 1. Trace — pay-per-search, no minimum\n\n- Auth: one header, Authorization: Bearer trk_live_…. No OAuth, no SDK.\n- Model: async. POST /v1/scans → 202 → poll GET /v1/scans/{id} (about a minute).\n- Idempotency: Idempotency-Key header, 24-hour window, so retries never double-charge.\n- Explicit spend: a scan with no credits comes back locked; unlocking is a separate POST /reveal, so a buggy loop can't drain the balance.\n- Output: each match has score, tier, platform, handle and url — the handle is a field, so you don't parse URLs.\n- Accounts, not only pages: after the face search, a second round checks platforms directly for names/usernames found in the first, which surfaces social profiles that were never in an image index.\n- Errors: application/problem+json with stable codes.\n- Limits: no per-minute rate limit by default; credits are the brake.\n- Spec: OpenAPI, also on RapidAPI.\n- Price: one credit per search. $4 for 5, $22 for 40, $50 for 100 ($0.50/search). Plus VAT where applicable. Credits never expire.\n\n*Weak spots:* it's the newest index of the four, and at thousands of searches a month FaceCheck.ID's big packs are cheaper per search.\n\n## 2. FaceCheck.ID — cheapest at volume, crypto only\n\nFaceCheck.ID has a REST API with credit-based pricing: each search costs 3 credits at about $0.10 per credit, so roughly $0.30 a search, and less on its largest packs (up to 10,000 credits for $597). Its index is strong on scam-report sites, mugshots and news archives.\n\nTwo things to plan around: payment is cryptocurrency-only (since late 2024), which some finance teams can't do, and credits expire — 14 days on the $19 entry pack. Great if your volume is steady and high; painful if it's bursty.\n\n## 3. Lenso.ai — subscription with image search included\n\nLenso's Developer plan includes 5,000 API calls a month across its Image Search and Face Search APIs, plus result unlocks and alerts. It's a monthly subscription, so it suits steady volume; for occasional calls you pay for capacity you don't use. Face search is only available in selected regions — check yours before you build on it.\n\n## 4. PimEyes — no self-serve API\n\nPimEyes is the best-known consumer face search engine, but its public pricing is for its web plans (Open Plus from $29.99/month for up to 75 searches a day). There's no self-serve API on the pricing page; its OSINT product is sold to institutions. If you need to call face search from code today, it's not an option.\n\n## What about Rekognition, Azure Face, Face++?\n\nThose are face verification / recognition APIs: they compare faces in images you provide (\"is this the same person as that?\") or search a collection you indexed. They don't search the public web. Useful for liveness and 1:1 checks, not for \"where else does this face appear?\"\n\n## Which one?\n\n- Bursty or low volume, want a card and no expiry → Trace\n- High, steady volume and crypto is fine → FaceCheck.ID\n- Want image search + face search on one subscription → Lenso.ai\n- Comparing two faces you already have → Rekognition / Azure Face\n\nIf you want to try Trace, there's a Python walkthrough — about 50 lines from photo to flagged profile.\n\n## A note on responsible use\n\nWhatever provider you pick, reverse face search on real people carries legal and ethical weight. Use it for trust & safety on your own platform, for verifying who a user is talking to, or for finding where someone's own photos are reused — not to identify or track strangers. Delete query images when you're done; Trace does this after 30 days, or immediately via DELETE /v1/scans/{id}.\n\n*FaceCheck.ID, Lenso.ai, PimEyes and the other names above are trademarks of their respective owners, named only for comparison. Trace isn't affiliated with any of them.*\n