Google Lens vs trace.moe
Google Lens
lens.googletrace.moe
trace.moeSide by side
| Figure | Google Lens | trace.moe |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | $1/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | — |
| macOS | Yes | — |
| iOS | Yes | — |
| Android | Yes | — |
| API | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 7 |
| Spec score · AI Reverse Image Search Tools | 8.0 (#12) | 7.6 (#21) |
Plans
trace.moe
- FreeFree
- GitHub Sponsors — $1/month$1 a month
- GitHub Sponsors — $5/month$5 a month
- GitHub Sponsors — $10/month$10 a month
- GitHub Sponsors — $20/month$20 a month
- GitHub Sponsors — $50/month$50 a month
- GitHub Sponsors — $100/month$100 a month
In their own words
Google Lens
Google Lens is a visual search tool that works from a camera, image or screenshot. It can identify plants and animals, and provide information about artwork, murals and landmarks. For shopping, Lens can find a pictured item's maker, price and sellers, with refinements for patterns, colors and sizes. It can translate text in over 100 languages and copy text to a phone or computer. In the Google app, users can ask questions about what they see and find homework explainers, videos and web results across subjects including math, history, chemistry, biology and physics. Lens in desktop Chrome lets users select web content, search it and ask questions without leaving the tab. That page-search feature requires Google as the default search engine; Google says it sends a screenshot and page data when used. Lens is available on Android, iOS, macOS, web and Windows, and is listed as free.
trace.moe
trace.moe searches anime scenes from screenshots and can identify a title, episode, and timestamp, then show a short preview to help confirm a match. It is for finding a scene rather than watching anime; access to the original video is limited to a few seconds. The search compares image colors and patterns using content-based retrieval, so it is designed for close matches rather than heavily altered screenshots. Crops, flips, rotations, strong filters, dark scenes, large text, and low-detail images can cause searches to fail; the FAQ recommends images at least 320×180 pixels. Its index covers officially published TV, web, DVD, and Blu-ray anime, with most Japanese anime since 2000 represented, though coverage is incomplete for some series. The service is available on the web, through an API, and as official screenshot-search extensions for Chrome, Firefox, Microsoft Edge, and Opera. Other official tools include a Telegram bot and an MCP server. Uploaded search images are deleted immediately according to the terms. The free service has no ads and is funded by donations; GitHub Sponsors plans offer daily API quotas and varying search priority.