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FaceSearch vs FaceCheck.ID
FaceCheck.ID is the most-cited alternative to PimEyes and the engine people reach for to check dating photos. It sells credits that expire, shows source links on free searches and frames results around scammers and criminals. FaceSearch sells a $5 week or a monthly plan, offers deep search, and makes no claims about who anyone is. Here is the full comparison.
First search free. No account needed. Updated November 5, 2026 by The FaceSearch Team. Prices checked on November 5, 2026.
Pick FaceCheck.ID if you want source links on a free search and its red-flag warnings, and you are happy buying a credit pack that expires in two weeks. Pick FaceSearch if you want a subscription you can cancel, deep search, apps, and an engine that does not present face matches as a criminal background check.
At a glance
| FaceSearch | FaceCheck.ID | |
|---|---|---|
| Price for ten searches | Two Starter weeks at $5 each, or part of Daily Pro at $20 a month | 30 credits at 3 per search; the smallest pack reported in 2026 reviews is $19 for 150 credits valid 14 days, so ten searches cost the whole pack |
| Free tier | First search free with no account; Free plan adds 2 credits, top results shown, source links locked | Free searches show a limited set of results with source links and an upsell to see more |
| Account needed | No for the first search; yes for deep search and history | No for a free search; yes to buy credits |
| Deep search | On every paid plan | No equivalent; credits buy more results per search |
| Source links on the free tier | Locked; open on any paid plan | Shown |
| Apps | iOS and Android | Web and a Chrome extension; no first-party store apps found |
| API | None | A Face Search API page exists |
| Removal flow | Free, by email with a photo of your face | Free, by selfie verification (usually instant) or anonymised ID (1 to 5 business days); DMCA route also offered |
| Region availability | Every region we serve | Worldwide, 14 interface languages |
| Index note | Public web pages only | Public web pages; emphasises social media, mugshot and news pages and attaches red-flag warnings from a scammer database |
| Billing terms | Weekly or monthly subscription, cancel any time | Prepaid credit packs that expire; checkout methods have varied over time |
Where FaceCheck.ID wins
- Source links on a free search. You can see where a face appears without paying. On FaceSearch the free tier shows the matched images but locks the links.
- Low-quality photos. Several 2026 reviews report usable matches from blurry, cropped and side-profile photos where other engines returned nothing. We have not tested this; see the methodology.
- Red-flag warnings. Faces that match its scammer database are flagged, which is useful for the dating-check use case. FaceSearch has no such database and does not label anyone.
- Languages. The interface is available in 14 languages. FaceSearch is in English.
- A browser extension. Right-click any image to search it. FaceSearch has no extension.
- A published comparison of its own, with 16 scenarios. It is vendor-funded and dated May 2024, but it exists; ours has not been run yet.
Where FaceSearch wins
- Billing you can stop. A $5 Starter week or a monthly plan, cancelled in Billing, running to the end of the paid period. FaceCheck.ID sells credit packs that expire, reportedly after 14 days, whether or not you used them.
- Deep search. A wider pass over the public web on every paid plan. FaceCheck.ID sells more results per search instead.
- Apps on both stores sharing one account with the web.
- No criminal framing. FaceCheck.ID's home page leads with mugshots, sex offenders and dangerous criminals. FaceSearch returns public pages and makes no claim about who a person is or what they have done; a match is a lead, nothing more. See find someone by photo.
- Removal without a selfie or ID by default. Email a photo of your face and the matching results are hidden; ID is requested only for disputed claims.
- Uploads never used to build an index. Metadata is stripped and the photo is used for your search only.
Pricing in detail
FaceSearch: first search free without an account; Free plan with two credits and locked links; Starter $5 a week for five normal and three deep searches with every link unlocked; Daily Pro $20 a month for 25 normal searches a day, 15 deep searches and top-ups; Business $50 a month for 2,500 normal and 50 deep searches with take-down request help. See the pricing page.
FaceCheck.ID: every search costs three credits, and credits come in prepaid packs. 2026 reviews put the smallest pack at $19 for 150 credits valid for 14 days, which works out at about $0.38 per search if you use all 50 searches in two weeks and far more if you do not. Larger packs lower the per-credit price. The purchase page returned a service-unavailable error when we checked it on November 5, 2026, so confirm current packs on facecheck.id.
What the two engines claim to be
The biggest difference is not price but framing. FaceCheck.ID's home page offers to help you "avoid dangerous criminals" and lists sex offenders, fraudsters and abusers among the people it indexes, with confidence tiers from "certain" down to "weak" and red flags from a scammer database. It also carries a long disclaimer that it is for educational purposes and must not be used for credit, employment, insurance or tenant screening.
FaceSearch's position is narrower on purpose: a face search finds public pages where a similar face appears, and that is all it finds. There are no confidence labels that read as certainty, no criminal categories and no database of flagged people. The reasons are on acceptable use and results explained. If you want a scam database, FaceCheck.ID has one and we do not; if you want a search that does not imply a stranger is dangerous because a computer found a similar face, that is the FaceSearch approach.
Removal compared
FaceCheck.ID's removal is well built: find your face, pick the results, verify with a selfie for an instant decision, or upload an anonymised ID for a review of one to five business days, with a tracking link. Our FaceCheck.ID opt-out guide walks through it. FaceSearch's removal is simpler and slower to automate: email contact@facesearch.cc with a photo of your face and the matching results are hidden; see remove my photos. Both are free. Neither removes a photo from the site that published it.
Switching from FaceCheck.ID to FaceSearch
- Use up any credits you have paid for; they expire, so do not let them lapse unused.
- Run the same photo on FaceSearch. The first search is free and needs no account, so you can compare results side by side.
- If the results are useful, start a $5 Starter week to open every source link, or Daily Pro if you check often.
- If you want your face out of FaceCheck.ID's results, submit its removal request; the guide covers the selfie and ID routes.
Questions
01Is FaceCheck.ID better than FaceSearch?
For a free look at source links and for its scammer red flags, FaceCheck.ID has features FaceSearch does not. For billing you can cancel, deep search, apps and an engine that does not frame results as a criminal check, FaceSearch is the better fit. Neither has published scores from our method yet.
02Is FaceCheck.ID free?
A free search shows a limited set of results with source links and an upsell to see more. Full results need credits, sold in prepaid packs that expire; 2026 reviews report the smallest at $19 for 150 credits valid 14 days, with three credits per search. FaceSearch's first search is free without an account, and paid plans start at $5 a week.
03Is FaceCheck.ID legal or safe to use?
Searching your own face is lawful. FaceCheck.ID says it indexes only public pages, excludes children's faces and must not be used for credit, employment, insurance or tenant screening. Searching other people is subject to local biometric and privacy law on any engine; see our legal guide and acceptable use page.
04Can I use both FaceCheck.ID and FaceSearch?
Yes. Each engine has crawled pages the other has not, and both offer a free first look, so running both on a stolen-photo or dating-check problem costs nothing. Removal requests are separate: ask each engine to hide your face individually.
05Which is cheaper?
For an occasional check, FaceSearch: $5 buys a week with five normal and three deep searches and every link unlocked. FaceCheck.ID's smallest reported pack is $19 and expires in 14 days. For 40 to 50 searches inside two weeks, FaceCheck.ID's per-search price is lower, if you use every credit.
06Does FaceSearch have red-flag warnings like FaceCheck.ID?
No. FaceSearch has no scammer database and does not label any face. A result is a public page where a similar face appears; whether the person on that page is who your match claims to be is for you to judge from the page. Our catfish check guide shows how.
07Does FaceCheck.ID only accept cryptocurrency?
Payment methods at FaceCheck.ID have varied; at least one 2026 review reported a crypto-only checkout at the time, and the purchase page was unavailable when we checked on November 5, 2026. Confirm on its buy page. FaceSearch takes card payments on the web and store billing in the apps.
Sources
Related pages
- FaceCheck.ID alternativesFor people who want a subscription instead of expiring credits, a broader index or a different tone.
- Remove yourself from FaceCheck.IDSearch yourself, select the matches, verify with a selfie or redacted ID, and what happens next.
- FaceSearch vs PimEyesCheaper entry and no-account first search versus the incumbent's alerts and takedown service.
- Catfish checkSee whether a dating photo appears elsewhere under another name before you invest time, trust or money.
- Our test methodTwelve scenarios, 0 to 5 points each, the same photos for every engine, dated and signed.
- Reading your resultsWhy order matters more than count, why a stranger can appear, what no matches means and how to confirm a match.
Your face is out there. Find it first.
Search with a photoPublic pages only. Your photo is never sold and never used to build a face database.