SightRadar — Face Recognition API for Python

A high-accuracy face recognition API and a drop-in AWS Rekognition alternative.
Official Python client for the SightRadar facial recognition API — face detection, 1:1 verification, and 1:N face search with zero runtime dependencies.

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What is SightRadar?

SightRadar is a fast, accurate, and affordable face recognition API for developers. This is the official Python SDK — a thin, fully-typed wrapper over the SightRadar facial recognition API that lets you add face detection, face matching, 1:1 face verification, and 1:N face search to any application in minutes.

If you are looking for an AWS Rekognition alternative with high-accuracy face recognition, simpler pricing, and a cleaner API, SightRadar is built for you. The SDK has zero runtime dependencies (built entirely on the Python standard library), supports Python 3.8+, and ships typed responses for every endpoint.

• 🎯 High-accuracy facial recognition — state-of-the-art embeddings with quality gating for reliable matches
• ⚡ Fast face search — index millions of faces and search a collection with a single selfie
• 🔁 Drop-in AWS Rekognition alternative — familiar index / search / detect / compare operations
• 💸 Transparent, usage-based pricing — pay per call, no minimums (see pricing)
• 🪶 Zero dependencies — pure standard-library client, easy to audit and vendor

Get a free API key at sightradar.com and start building.

SightRadar vs. AWS Rekognition

Already wrote code against AWS Rekognition? SightRadar mirrors the operations you know — IndexFaces, SearchFacesByImage, DetectFaces, CompareFaces — so migrating is mostly a find-and-replace, not a rewrite. See the migration guide.

	SightRadar	AWS Rekognition
Face detection API	✅	✅
1:1 face verification (compare)	✅	✅
1:N face search (collections)	✅	✅
Selfie / liveness-style registration	✅	⚠️ limited
Zero-dependency SDK	✅	❌ (boto3)
Transparent per-call pricing	✅	⚠️ complex tiers
Free API key to start	✅	⚠️ AWS account required

Install

pip install sightradar

Authenticate

Create an API key in the console, then pass it directly or via the SIGHTRADAR_API_KEY environment variable.

from sightradar import SightRadar

sr = SightRadar(api_key="frs_...")   # or: SightRadar() with SIGHTRADAR_API_KEY set

Core workflow — index and search faces

# 1. Create a collection to hold faces.
sr.create_collection("event-2026")

# 2. Index faces from photos (URL, GCS key, or a local file).
sr.index("event-2026", url="https://example.com/group.jpg")
sr.index("event-2026", file="/path/to/photo.jpg", photo_id="img-42")

# 3. Search the collection with one selfie.
result = sr.search("event-2026", url="https://example.com/selfie.jpg")
if result.found:
    for m in result.matches:
        print(m.photo_id, round(m.score, 3))
else:
    print("no match:", result.reason)

Stateless operations (nothing stored)

# Detect + quality-gate faces in an image.
det = sr.detect(url="https://example.com/photo.jpg")
print(det.detected_face_count, det.gated_face_count)

# 1:1 face verification between two faces.
cmp = sr.compare(
    source_url="https://example.com/a.jpg",
    target_url="https://example.com/b.jpg",
)
print(cmp.match, cmp.similarity)

Selfies and search by id

Register one selfie per person, then search with the returned point_id instead of re-uploading an image (cheaper: the search-by-id tier).

reg = sr.register_selfie("event-2026", "user-42", url="https://example.com/selfie.jpg")
hits = sr.search_by_id("event-2026", reg.point_id, limit=20)

Deleting (soft by default, restorable)

# Soft delete: stops serving now, erased after the grace window. Undo with restore.
receipt = sr.delete_collection("event-2026")     # receipt.restorable is True
sr.restore_collection("event-2026")

# Immediate / compliance (GDPR / BIPA) erasure — NOT restorable.
sr.delete_collection("event-2026", compliance=True)
status = sr.deletion_status("event-2026")        # status.erased -> phase completed + verified_zero

# One photo's faces only.
sr.delete_photo("event-2026", "img-42")
sr.restore_photo("event-2026", "img-42")

Batches and webhooks

wh = sr.register_webhook("https://your.app/sightradar")
# wh.secret is returned ONCE — store it.

batch = sr.submit_batch(
    "event-2026", "index",                       # or "match"
    [{"url": "https://example.com/1.jpg", "external_id": "img-1"}],
    webhook_endpoint_id=wh.webhook_endpoint_id,
)
status = sr.get_batch(batch.batch_id)            # .succeeded / .failed / .pending / .done
page = sr.get_batch_photos(batch.batch_id)       # per-photo results, paginated

# In your webhook handler (raw body, not parsed JSON):
from sightradar import verify_webhook_signature
ok = verify_webhook_signature(
    stored_secret,
    request.headers["X-SightRadar-Timestamp"],
    request.get_data(),                          # raw bytes
    request.headers["X-SightRadar-Signature"],
)

Retries and idempotency

Retries are off by default. Pass max_retries to retry 429/502/503 with backoff. Only GETs and calls that carry an idempotency_key are retried, so a retry can never double-charge you.

sr = SightRadar(api_key="frs_...", max_retries=3)
sr.index("event-2026", url="https://example.com/a.jpg", idempotency_key="photo-a-v1")

Account

print(sr.wallet().balance_credits)
print(sr.usage(days=30))

Errors

Every non-2xx response raises a typed exception:

from sightradar import (
    SightRadarError,            # base
    AuthenticationError,        # 401
    InsufficientCreditsError,   # 402
    NotFoundError,              # 404
    RateLimitError,             # 429
)

try:
    sr.describe_collection("missing")
except NotFoundError as e:
    print(e.status_code, e.message)

Image inputs

Index / search / detect / register_selfie accept exactly one image source (register_selfie also needs user_id):

• url= — a public image URL
• gcs_key= — a Google Cloud Storage object key
• file= — a local path, bytes, or a file-like object (uploaded as multipart)

search additionally accepts embedding= (a 512-d vector).

Resources

• 🌐 Website: sightradar.com
• 📚 API documentation: sightradar.com/docs
• 🔑 Get an API key: sightradar.com/login
• 💸 Pricing: sightradar.com/pricing
• 🔄 Migrate from AWS Rekognition: sightradar.com/migrate
• 📦 Node.js / TypeScript SDK: npmjs.com/package/sightradar

License

MIT © SightRadar

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_{SightRadar — high-accuracy face recognition API and AWS Rekognition alternative. Face detection, facial recognition, 1:1 verification, and 1:N face search for developers.}