People search service
Social Catfish
Social Catfish is a United States people-search company whose reverse image search uses face matching to look for a photo across social media and the web, alongside searches by name, phone number, email, username and address. It sells short paid trials that convert to monthly subscriptions, publishes a large scam-education blog called Scamfish, and positions the service around verifying online dating matches and spotting catfish.
Updated November 6, 2026 · 3 min read · reviewed November 6, 2026
- 5
- Search types: image, name, phone, email, username
- 3 days
- Paid trial length reported by listings
- 2013
- Founded
socialcatfish.com navigation
Guru99 and Techjury listings, Nov 2026
Company history
What does Social Catfish do?
Social Catfish is a people-search service rather than a face engine. Its reverse image search accepts a photo and, by the company's description, uses face recognition rather than file matching to look for the same person across social media and public pages, which is why it appears in reverse face search comparisons. The other four searches take a name, phone number, email address or username and return a report compiled from public records and online profiles. The company frames all of it around online dating safety, under the banner of spotting a catfish.
What does it cost?
The company sells a short paid trial that converts to a monthly subscription. On November 6, 2026 the pricing page could not be read automatically, so the figures below come from review sites and the company's own blog, which give the trial at about $5.73 (Social Search) or $6.87 (Image Search) for three days and monthly rates of about $27.48 and $28.97. A metadata add-on for image search is reported at about $22 a month extra. The company's pages say prices depend on the plan and current promotions.
| Product | Trial | Monthly after trial |
|---|---|---|
| Social Search (name, phone, email, username) | about $5.73 for 3 days | about $27.48 for up to 100 searches |
| Image Search | about $6.87 for 3 days | about $28.97, unlimited image searches |
| RIS Pro add-on (metadata analysis) | n/a | about $22 extra |
How does the image search differ from a face engine?
| Face matching | Open-web index | Social profiles | Phone and email search | Public records report | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Social Catfish | ✓ | partial | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| PimEyes | ✓ | ✓ | – | – | – |
| FaceCheck.ID | ✓ | ✓ | partial | – | – |
The matrix shows the trade: Social Catfish bundles a face-matching image search with people-search reports that pure face engines such as PimEyes and FaceCheck.ID do not offer, while those engines index the open web more broadly. FaceCheck.ID's own comparison page scores Social Catfish second among face engines in its 16 tests, a vendor-funded result.
How does removal work?
Social Catfish publishes an opt-out for people-search records, the route data brokers are required to offer under laws such as the California Consumer Privacy Act. It does not publish a face-specific opt-out form of the kind PimEyes or FaceCheck.ID run. The opt-out routes directory lists what each service offers.
What is the Scamfish blog?
Scamfish is the company's content arm: several posts a week on reverse image search by platform, romance and catfish scams, and reviews of other tools. It is one of the largest sources of how-to pages in this field and ranks for many platform-specific queries. Posts are marketing content for the paid service and say so.
Questions
Is Social Catfish free?
A search can be started free, but results need a paid trial, reported at about $5.73 to $6.87 for three days on November 6, 2026, which converts to a monthly subscription.
Does Social Catfish use facial recognition?
The company says its reverse image search matches faces rather than image files, unlike Google or TinEye. It does not publish an accuracy test.
Is Social Catfish a face search engine?
Partly. It is a people-search service whose image search uses face matching, bundled with name, phone, email and username lookups.
Can I opt out of Social Catfish?
Yes, for people-search records through its opt-out process. There is no separate face opt-out form.
Sources
- 1.Social Catfish, reverse image search (vendor page) (checked November 5, 2026)
- 2.Guru99, Social Catfish review (pricing) (checked November 6, 2026)
- 3.Techjury, Social Catfish listing (pricing) (checked November 6, 2026)
- 4.FaceCheck.ID comparison page (vendor-funded) (checked November 5, 2026)
Entry reviewed November 6, 2026. Found an error? Tell us.
Related entries
- Engine FaceCheck.ID FaceCheck.ID: what it indexes, its similarity scores and red flags, credit-pack pricing, the free selfie-verified removal, and its children and prohibited-use rules.
- Engine PimEyes PimEyes, the best-known face search engine: what it indexes, what the free search shows, plan prices, how the opt-out works, and the regulator actions against it.
- Term Catfishing Catfishing defined: a false online identity built on borrowed photos, how it differs from a romance scam, the signs, and the photo check that exposes it.
- Term Data broker Data broker defined: companies that compile and sell profiles of people, how people-search sites differ from face search engines, and the opt-out laws.
- Law California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA, as amended by the CPRA) California CCPA/CPRA: biometric data as sensitive personal information, the rights to know, delete and limit, CPPA and Attorney General enforcement, and face search.
Cite this entry
FaceSearch Wiki editors. "Social Catfish". FaceSearch Wiki, updated November 6, 2026. https://facesearch.wiki/engines/social-catfish/