This is a list of publicly available

Content-based image retrieval Content-based image retrieval, also known as query by image content ( QBIC) and content-based visual information retrieval (CBVIR), is the application of computer vision techniques to the image retrieval problem, that is, the problem of searching ...

(CBIR) engines. These image search engines look at the content (pixels) of images in order to return results that match a particular query.

Commercial CBIR search engines

CBIR research projects/demos/open source projects

{, class="wikitable sortable" , - ! Name ! Description ! External Image Query ! Metadata Query ! Index Size (Estimate, Millions of Images) ! Organization Type ! License (Open/Closed) , -
akiwi
, akiwi is a semi-automatic image keywording tool using CBIR techniques. It was developed by HTW Berlin / pixolution GmbH , Yes , Yes , 15M , University , Closed , -
ALIPR
, Developed by Penn State University researchers , Yes , Yes , , University , Closed , -
Anaktisi
, This Web-Solution implements a new family of CBIR descriptors. These descriptors combine in one histogram color and texture information and are suitable for accurately retrieving images. , Yes , No , 0.225M , University , Open , -
BRISC
, BRISC is a recursive acronym for BRISC Really IS Cool, and is (conveniently enough) also an anagram of Content-Based Image Retrieval System. , Yes , No , , University , GPL , - , digiKam , Extensive photo management application build on top of

KDE KDE is an international Free software movement, free software community that develops free and open-source software. As a central development hub, it provides tools and resources that allow collaborative work on this kind of software. Well-know ...

libraries. It provides, besides many other features, reverse searches for images in the local collection, detection of duplicates and a fuzzy search by drawings. , Yes , Yes , Desktop-based , KDE ,

GPL The GNU General Public License (GNU GPL or simply GPL) is a series of widely used free software licenses that guarantee end users the four freedoms to run, study, share, and modify the software. The license was the first copyleft for general u ...

, -
Caliph & Emir
, Creation and Retrieval of images based on MPEG-7. , Yes , No , Desktop-based , University ,

, -
FIRE
, Open source query by visual example CBIR system. Developed at RWTH Aachen University
FIRE
is a research system developed with extensibility in mind and can easily be combined with textual information retrieval systems. , No , No , , University , Open , -
GNU Image Finding Tool
, Query by example image search system. , Yes , No , Desktop-based , GNU ,

, -
ISSBP
, Similar Image Search by Imense plugin for Adobe Bridge, free beta. , Yes , Yes , free-beta limited to 4k images , Private Company , Closed , -
img(Rummager)
, Image retrieval Engine (Freeware Application). , Yes , No , Desktop-based , Individual , Closed , -
imgSeek
, photo collection manager and viewer with content-based search and many other features. , Yes , No , , Individual ,

, -
IKONA
, Generic CBIR system - INRIA - IMEDIA , Yes , Yes , , University , Closed , -
IOSB
, Image retrieval demonstration software of Fraunhofer IOSB (Germany) , Yes , No , Desktop-based , Research Institute , Closed , -
LIRE
, Java GPL library for content based image retrieval based on Lucene including multiple low level global and local features and different indexing strategies including bag of visual words and hashing. , Yes , Yes , , University , GPL , -
Lucignolo
, Image similarity search engine using only the native full-text search engine Lucene. , Yes , Yes , 106M , Research Institute , Closed , -
Luigi
, Large Histopathological Image Retrieval System developed at University of Tokyo , Yes , No , 0.3M , University , Closed , -
MIFile
, Image similarity search engine based on MI File (Metric Inverted File) developed at ISTI-CNR
Source code
of the MI File. , No , No , 100M , Research Institute , Open , -
MUVIS
, CBIR System at TUT- Tampere University of Technology. , Yes , No , Desktop-based , University , Closed , -
Pastec
, C++ LGPL index and search engine for near-duplicate image retrieval that uses bag of visual words with ORB features. , Yes , Yes , , Private company , LGPL , -
PIBE
, An adaptive image browsing system that provides users with an intuitive, easy-to-use, structured view of an image collection and complements it with ideas from the field of adaptable content-based similarity search. A hierarchical view of images (the Browsing Tree) that can be customized according to user preferences is provided. , Yes , No , , University , Closed , -
PicsLikeThat
, Image search using visual similarity search and sorting combined with a recommender system. (Cooperation of pixolution GmbH, fotolia and HTW Berlin) , No , No , 12M , University , Closed , -

, CBIR tool developed at CEA-LIST, LVIC (Vision and Content Engineering Laboratory). , Yes , Yes , 1000 M , University , Closed , -
Pixcavator
, Similar image search based on topological image analysis , Yes , No , Desktop-based , Private company , Closed , -
QuickLook
, Visual information retrieval system with relevance feedback , No , Yes , , University , Closed , -
RETIN
, Interactive images retrieval system - CNRS - ETIS Lab., MIDI Team , No , No , , University , Closed , -
Retrievr
, Search and explore in a selection of Flickr images by drawing a rough sketch or uploading an image. , No , No , , University , Closed , -
SHIATSU
, A novel system for automatic video tagging which is based on shot boundaries detection and hierarchical annotation processes. The tagging phase assigns semantic concepts to both shot sequences and whole videos, by exploiting visual features extracted from key frames. , Yes , Yes , , University , Closed , -
SIMBA
, demo of system by the Albert-Ludwigs-Universitet Freiburg (Germany) Inst. for Pattern Recognition and Image Processing , Yes , No , 0.002M , University , Closed , -
TagProp
, The demonstration of image annotation tool TagProp in ICCV2009 for image set: Corel 5k ESP Game IAPR TC-12 and MIR Flickr. , No , Yes , , Institute , Closed , -
VIRaL
, Visual Image Retrieval and Localization: A visual search engine that, given a query image, retrieves photos depicting the same object or scene under varying viewpoint or lighting conditions. Using Flickr photos of urban scenes, it automatically estimates where a picture is taken, suggests tags, identifies known landmarks or points of interest, and links to relevant Wikipedia articles. It currently supports 39 cities around the world. , Yes , Yes , 2.221M , University , Closed , -
Windsurf
, A general framework for efficiently processing content-based image queries with particular emphasis to the region-based paradigm; it provides an environment where different alternatives of the paradigm can be implemented, allowing such implementations to be compared on a fair basis, from the points of view of both effectiveness and efficiency. , Yes , No , , University , Open but not free Image search CBIR engines