# Reverse image search API — $0.002 per match

> Reverse image search API: Visual matches for a public image URL — where an image appears. $0.002 per delivered match, nothing delivered means nothing charged.

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# Reverse image search API

A reverse image search API, powered by Google Lens: give it a public image URL and get back where that image appears across the web as rows — title, the page it lives on, source site and domain, plus image and thumbnail URLs. Billed per match delivered.

[Get my free API key](https://app.quanticdata.io/register) [See the request](/collectors/reverse-image-search-api/#integration)

$0.002 per delivered match · $2 free every month · Failed runs never billed

POST /v1/scraper/collectors/google_lens/run

```
$ curl $QD/google_lens/run \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer $QD_API_KEY" \
    -d '{"image_url": "https: //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d5/Colosseo_2020.jpg/960px-Colosseo_2020.jpg", "max_results": 20}'
{ "status": "done", "count": 20,
  "results": [
    {
      "title": "…",
      "link": "…",
      "source": "…",
      "domain": "…" } ],
  "cost": 0.04 }
# 20 matchs × $0.002 · nothing delivered, nothing charged
```

**$0.002 / match**1,000 matchs on the free $2 every month

**Semantic input**image_url, exact_matches, country — no URL lists

**Up to 40**matchs per run, pagination handled for you

**No browser**read over HTTP/TLS — cheaper and faster than rendering

On this page: [What it is](/collectors/reverse-image-search-api/#what) [Output fields](/collectors/reverse-image-search-api/#output) [Inputs](/collectors/reverse-image-search-api/#input) [Pricing](/collectors/reverse-image-search-api/#pricing) [Integration](/collectors/reverse-image-search-api/#integration) [Use cases](/collectors/reverse-image-search-api/#use-cases) [Versus the alternatives](/collectors/reverse-image-search-api/#compare) [FAQ](/collectors/reverse-image-search-api/#faq)

## What a reverse image search API does

Point it at a reachable image URL and it returns Google Lens's visual matches: pages showing that image or ones close to it, each with the hosting page and its domain so a match is something you can act on, not just look at. Switch on `exact_matches` and it reads the "pages using this exact image" tab instead, which adds the publish date and pixel size per entry — the view you want for provenance and image-rights work.

There is no official Lens API, and the surface is rendered and defended, so doing this yourself means driving a browser through Google's protections for every image. The collector runs that ladder service-side and returns parsed rows. Note what it is not: it finds where an image appears, it does not OCR the text inside the image or caption it — the output is matches and their sources.

Input is meaning, not a URL *image_url* *exact_matches* *country* *lang* *max_results*

## What one match looks like

Every delivered match carries these fields. Nullable means the source did not publish it — the field stays empty instead of being guessed.

| Field | Type | What it holds |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `rank` | integer | 1-based position. |
| `title` | string · nullable | Match title. |
| `link` | string · nullable | Page the matching image lives on. |
| `source` | string · nullable | Site name shown on the card. |
| `domain` | string · nullable | Registrable host of the source page. |
| `image` | string · nullable | Full-size image URL when exposed. |
| `thumbnail` | string · nullable | Google-hosted thumbnail. |
| `date` | string · nullable | Exact-matches only: publish date shown. |
| `size` | string · nullable | Exact-matches only: pixel size shown ("426x320"). |
| `exact_match` | boolean | Whether the exact-matches tab was read. |

## Inputs

The whole request. Anything you leave out falls back to the default shown in the catalog.

| Input | Type | Required | What it does |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `image_url` | string | yes | Publicly reachable http(s) image URL to reverse-search. |
| `exact_matches` | boolean | no | Return pages using this exact image (adds date + pixel size). |
| `country` | string | no | ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code — proxy exit geo and Google locale (gl). Omit for the default pool. |
| `lang` | string | no | Interface language (hl), e.g. en, it, de. |
| `max_results` | integer | no | How many matches to deliver at most (1–40). You pay only for delivered matches. |

Pricing

## Reverse image search API pricing

$0.002 per delivered match. A run that delivers nothing costs nothing: blocked pages, challenges and retries are on us, and the $2 monthly allowance covers about 1,000 matchs before you spend anything.

**$0.002**per delivered match*$1.6 per 1,000 delivered matchs*

**1,000 matchs**on the free allowance*$2 every month, no card*

**Zero rows**zero charge*blocks, captchas and retries are on us*

**−30%**on volume tiers*the catalog returns your key's price*

### Pay as you go

$0/mo

- $2 free credit / month

- 60 requests / min

- List unit prices

### Starter

$19/mo

- $15 free credit / month

- 300 requests / min

- 10% off unit prices

Most popular

### Growth

$79/mo

- $50 free credit / month

- 600 requests / min

- 20% off unit prices

### Scale

$299/mo

- $250 free credit / month

- 1,200 requests / min

- 30% off unit prices

Same wallet, same key and same $2 monthly allowance as every other [Data API](https://quanticdata.io/web-data-api-for-ai/). Prices are launch pricing read live from the billing config — `GET /v1/scraper/collectors` returns the price your key actually pays.

Integration

## One POST, typed rows

Base URL `https://api.quanticdata.io/v1`, Bearer auth, the same key as every other Data API. Endpoint: `POST /v1/scraper/collectors/google_lens/run`.

```
curl -X POST https://api.quanticdata.io/v1/scraper/collectors/google_lens/run \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $QD_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"image_url":"https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d5/Colosseo_2020.jpg/960px-Colosseo_2020.jpg","max_results":20}'
```

```
import requests

r = requests.post(
    "https://api.quanticdata.io/v1/scraper/collectors/google_lens/run",
    headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {QD_API_KEY}"},
    json={
        "image_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d5/Colosseo_2020.jpg/960px-Colosseo_2020.jpg",
        "max_results": 20
    },
    timeout=120,
)
for row in r.json()["payload"]["results"]:
    print(row)
```

```
const res = await fetch(
  "https://api.quanticdata.io/v1/scraper/collectors/google_lens/run",
  {
    method: "POST",
    headers: {
      Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.QD_API_KEY}`,
      "Content-Type": "application/json",
    },
    body: JSON.stringify({"image_url":"https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d5/Colosseo_2020.jpg/960px-Colosseo_2020.jpg","max_results":20}),
  },
);
const { payload } = await res.json();
console.table(payload.results);
```

```
claude mcp add quantumproxies \
  -e QUANTUMPROXIES_API_KEY=qd_live_your_key_here \
  -- npx -y quantumproxies-mcp

# then, in the chat:
> run the google_lens collector with image_url="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d5/Colosseo_2020.jpg/960px-Colosseo_2020.jpg" and max_results=20
```

## What people build with the reverse image search API

Three shapes of work this endpoint was designed around.

### Brand and asset protection

Run your product shots through exact-matches to find every page reusing them, with the date and size to prioritise.

### Counterfeit and leak detection

Track where a hero image surfaces across marketplaces and domains you never licensed.

### Image provenance

Given a photo, list the pages carrying it and their sources before you trust or attribute it.

## Reverse image search API versus rolling your own

The differences that actually cost time when you build this in-house.

|  | DIY scraper | This collector |
| --- | --- | --- |
| What you send | An image and a browser to fight Google Lens with | A public image URL |
| Modes | Visual matches only | Visual matches, or exact-use pages with date and size |
| Each match | A thumbnail with no context | The hosting page, its domain and the source |

## FAQ

Questions we get about the reverse image search API.

[Something else? Ask us →](mailto:hello@quanticdata.io)

### Does it use Google Lens or another engine?

Google Lens. The image URL you send is reverse-searched through Lens, and the collector returns its visual-matches tab by default or the exact-image tab when you set `exact_matches`.

### Can it read text from the image (OCR)?

No. This returns where the image appears — matching pages and their sources — not the text inside it. Pulling the words out of a picture is OCR, a different task from reverse image search.

### Does the image have to be public?

Yes. You pass a URL Google can fetch, so the image must be reachable over http(s). A file behind a login or sitting on your laptop will not work until it is hosted somewhere public.

### What extra fields do exact matches add?

The exact-image tab returns, per page, the publish date shown and the pixel size ("426x320") on top of the usual title, link, source and domain — which is why it is the mode used for rights and provenance checks.

### Is there a free reverse image search API?

Every account gets $2 of credit every month with no card, which is about 1,000 delivered matchs on this endpoint at $0.002 each. It renews monthly, and a run that delivers nothing is never billed — so a failed or blocked attempt does not eat the allowance.

### How much does one run cost?

Multiply the rows you actually receive by $0.002. A run capped at 40 matchs — the maximum for this collector — costs $0.08 if every row comes back, and less when the source has fewer. Volume tiers take up to 30% off, and `GET /v1/scraper/collectors` returns the price your key actually pays.

## Run the reverse image search API now

$2 of free credit every month, no card. Your key returns its own prices from `GET /v1/scraper/collectors`.

[Get my free API key](https://app.quanticdata.io/register)

Related: [All 65 collectors](https://quanticdata.io/collectors/) [Image scraper API](https://quanticdata.io/collectors/image-scraper-api/) [Google Shopping API](https://quanticdata.io/collectors/google-shopping-api/) [Google search results API](https://quanticdata.io/collectors/google-search-results-api/) [Google Trends API](https://quanticdata.io/collectors/google-trends-api/) [Google Autocomplete API](https://quanticdata.io/collectors/google-autocomplete-api/) [Documentation](https://quanticdata.io/docs/)

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Source: https://quanticdata.io/collectors/reverse-image-search-api/ · Site index for AI: https://quanticdata.io/llms.txt