Deep search: your questions answered

A search that reaches further across the public web than a normal one. Where a normal search covers social media, news and the indexed web, a deep search adds forums, archives and video pages that general search engines tend to skip. It is the same face comparison on a larger set of publicly accessible pages, so it can surface matches a normal search misses.

Three ways. It covers more public sources, so the result list is usually longer and reaches older or more obscure pages. It takes longer, often more than two minutes. And it uses a deep search credit rather than a normal credit, which is why it is only available to signed-in users on a paid plan. The result format is the same: matched images with their source pages.

Routinely more than two minutes, sometimes considerably longer when a face appears on many pages. You do not need to wait on the page: the scan keeps running and lands in your History with its matches when it finishes. The search page keeps watching for up to fifteen minutes and lets you know if a scan is taking longer than usual.

Starter includes three a week, Daily Pro fifteen a month and Business fifty a month; the Free plan has none. Deep credits are separate from normal credits: running a deep search never uses a normal credit, and running out of one kind does not stop you using the other. Unused credits do not carry over when the plan renews.

Yes, on a paid plan. Guest searches and the Free plan are limited to normal searches. If you start a search as a guest and want a deep search, create a free account first, then choose a plan; the deep search option on the search page unlocks as soon as the plan is active.

When a normal search found little and you have reason to believe there is more: an old photo that has been reposted for years, a face used in a scam that circulates on forums, or a takedown job where you need every copy. For a quick first look at a dating photo or a new profile, a normal search is usually enough, and you can run the deep search afterwards from the same results page.

On Daily Pro and Business, yes: top-up packs of deep credits are sold on the Billing page in a few sizes, and the credits are added to your account as soon as the payment is confirmed. Starter and Free cannot buy packs. Normal credits cannot be topped up; they renew with the plan.

No. Deeper does not mean private. A deep search covers more publicly accessible pages, including ones general search engines do not index, but nothing behind a login, no private profiles, stories or messages. The same rule applies to both search modes and to every plan.