There is no single best app to identify antiques. As of October 2026, Google Lens is the best no-cost first step for naming an object, WorthPoint ($29.99 a month) is the best for sold prices, Kovels ($59.99 a year) is strong on marks and price guides, and Mearto ($25 per item) gets you a human appraiser's opinion. Forums are slower but often know the odd things best.
Antiques are harder for apps than coins or cards because there is no fixed list of them. A Roseville vase has a mark and a shape number; a 19th-century side table may have nothing but its construction. So the real test of any tool is not whether it finds a picture that looks similar, but whether it can tell you age, maker and what similar pieces actually sold for.
Quick answer
- Google Lens: no charge, quick, good at finding look-alikes and maker names. Prices it shows are shop listings, and it cannot tell old from reproduction.
- WorthPoint: All Access $29.99 a month on the web (app plans are priced separately); sold prices from auctions and eBay, a marks directory and photo search in its app.
- Kovels: All Access Online $59.99 a year; a price guide of more than 1 million items, marks and identification guides. Not a photo scanner.
- Mearto: $25 for one item, $70 for three; a qualified appraiser reviews your photos, typically within 48 hours.
- Forums (Reddit's r/Antiques and r/whatisthisthing, Collectors Weekly) cost nothing and are good for odd items, with answers of mixed quality.
Which app is best for identifying antiques?
The best results come from using two or three tools in order: one to name the object, one to find what similar pieces sold for, and a person for anything that might be valuable. This comparison uses each company's own pricing pages as of October 2026.
| Tool | Cost | Photo identification | Prices shown | Strength | Limit | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Google Lens | No charge | Yes | Shopping listings (asking prices) | Finds look-alikes fast, reads text and marks | Cannot judge age; mixes reproductions with originals | Naming an object in seconds |
| WorthPoint | All Access $29.99 a month on the web | In its app | Sold prices from auctions and online sales | Sold-price archive, marks directory | Costs money; search skill matters | Pricing once you know what it is |
| Kovels | All Access Online $59.99 a year | No | Price guide entries | Marks, identification guides, price guide of over 1 million items | You need to know what to search for | Reading marks and dating pieces |
| Mearto | $25 per item; $70 for 3; $90 for 5 | You upload photos | Appraiser's fair market value opinion | A human specialist reviews it | Opinion from photos only; not for insurance | One item that might be worth real money |
| Forums | No charge | You post photos | Members' opinions | Specialists for odd categories | Slow, mixed quality, no accountability | Unusual or unmarked items |
| WorthPic | Daily scan allowance, works in the browser | Yes | A value range with a most likely figure | Explains what drives the price and which photo settles it | Cannot authenticate, test or appraise | A first identification and value range |
Google's own figure gives a sense of how much Lens is used: the company said in October 2024 that Lens handles nearly 20 billion visual searches a month. It is the default tool for good reason. The weakness is what it returns for antiques: mostly current listings, including decorator reproductions, at asking prices.
What does each tool do well, and where does it fall short?
Google Lens is best at reading. Point it at a backstamp, a label or a signature and it will often name the maker in seconds. It is also good at shape: a Hall teapot, a Stickley chair, a Tiffany-style lamp. It falls short on age and authenticity. A 1990s reproduction and a 1920s original look alike in a photo, and Lens will show you both side by side with no comment. It does not distinguish sold prices from hopeful listings.
WorthPoint is a sold-price archive, gathered from auction houses and online sales. Its All Access plan at $29.99 a month includes the price guide, a marks directory, a digital library and photo search in the app. Its value depends on how well you search: the right maker, pattern and form bring up real comparable sales; a vague search brings up noise.
Kovels has published antiques price guides for decades. The All Access Online plan, $59.99 a year as of October 2026, includes the Kovels Price Guide with more than 1 million items, marks guides and identification articles. It is the better tool when you have a mark and need to know who used it and when.
Mearto puts a person in the loop. According to its site, a qualified appraiser researches the item from your photos and description and sends a fair market value opinion, typically within 48 hours, for $25 per item. That is good value for one piece you think might matter. It is not an insurance appraisal and it is limited by your photos.
Forums such as Reddit's r/Antiques and r/whatisthisthing, and the Show and Tell section of Collectors Weekly, are where unmarked oddities get named. Specialists do answer, but so does everyone else. Treat a forum answer as a lead to check, not a verdict.
How to identify an antique with an app, step by step
- Photograph the whole piece in daylight on a plain background, then every mark, label and signature close up and in focus.
- Run Google Lens on the mark first, not the whole object. A maker's name or backstamp narrows everything that follows.
- Then run Lens on the whole piece to find the pattern, form or style name.
- Check the mark against a reference. Kovels' marks guides, WorthPoint's marks directory, or our guide on how to read pottery marks. Ask whether the mark fits the pattern and the age.
- Look for signs of age that photos rarely show: wear where hands touch, tool marks, hand-cut dovetails on furniture, crazing patterns on glaze. Our antique furniture identification guide covers the construction tells.
- Search sold prices, on WorthPoint or eBay filtered to sold items, for the exact maker, pattern, form, size and color.
- Adjust for condition. Chips, cracks, repairs and replaced parts cut value sharply.
- Get a person's opinion for anything that might be worth several hundred dollars or more.
A worked example: a green vase with a raised mark
Say you find a green vase with molded flowers. On the bottom, in raised script, it reads "Roseville U.S.A." with a number like 108-8. Google Lens names it as Roseville within seconds and shows listings at $150-400. That is the identification done and the price question still open.
The raised mark with a shape number and height in inches is normal for Roseville from about 1937 to 1954. Lens matches the flowers to a later floral line such as Freesia or Snowberry. Those lines were made in large numbers, and sold prices for common pieces sit around $40-250, as our Roseville pottery value guide sets out, well below many of the listings Lens showed. A WorthPoint search for the pattern, shape number and color confirms it.
Now the warning sign. If the same raised mark appeared on a Sunflower, Blackberry or Futura piece, that would point to a reproduction, because those lines were sold with paper labels. No app flags that; a reference does. And any chip or hairline cuts value by half or more.
What decides an antique's value after it is identified?
| Factor | What to check | Effect on price |
|---|---|---|
| Maker and mark | Backstamp, label, signature, and whether it fits the age | Named makers sell for more; a wrong mark suggests a copy |
| Pattern, form and size | Pattern name, shape number, height | Scarce forms and large sizes bring more |
| Age and originality | Wear, construction, finish, replaced parts | Reproductions and later marriages sell for decor prices |
| Condition | Chips, cracks, repairs, refinishing | Damage often halves value or worse |
| Color or material | Colorway, wood, metal content | Some colors bring two to three times others |
| Market demand | Recent sold results | Brown furniture and fine china have softened; mid-century and art pottery hold |
Common mistakes
- Pricing from Google Lens results. Those are listings, often for better examples, and many never sell.
- Trusting a mark without checking it fits. Reproductions copy marks, often onto the wrong patterns.
- Photographing only the front. The mark, construction and wear are on the back, the bottom and the inside.
- Taking a forum answer as final. Check it against a reference or sold results.
- Paying for a formal appraisal of ordinary pieces. A written appraisal can cost more than the object.
- Cleaning or refinishing first. Original finish and patina are part of the value; see how to clean silver before polishing anything.
How WorthPic reads antique photos
WorthPic runs on the newest and most capable AI model available, tuned for exactly this kind of identification. It is a web app that works in the phone browser with nothing to install: you pick a category, upload one to four photos and sign in with Google. It reads marks, labels, signatures, patterns, construction details and visible wear, and gives an honest US dollar range with a most likely figure, explains what drives the price, and says which extra photo would settle it, such as the underside, the mark close up or a drawer joint. There is a daily scan allowance and a PDF report. What it cannot know is what a photo does not carry: weight, material tests, hidden repairs, or whether a well-made reproduction is old, and it says so when the price depends on that. It identifies and estimates. It does not authenticate, grade or appraise, and it is not a marketplace.
What to photograph
- The whole piece from the front in daylight on a plain background.
- Every mark close up, in focus, including faint impressed marks under side light.
- The back, bottom and inside, where construction, wear and labels are.
- Joints and fittings on furniture: dovetails, screws, hinges and backboards.
- Damage, plainly, including chips, cracks and repairs.
- A ruler for scale, since size often decides the form and the price.
When to get it looked at in person
For anything that might be worth more than a few hundred dollars, a specialist at a regional auction house will usually give a pre-sale opinion at no charge if they could sell it. For insurance, estates or donations you need a written appraisal from a member of the American Society of Appraisers or the International Society of Appraisers; see our guide to antique appraisal. For the general method, read how to find the value of antiques, for paintings see is this painting worth anything, for signatures how to identify an artist signature, and when you are ready, where to sell antiques.
Sources
- WorthPoint plans: All Access at $29.99 a month or $305.90 a year as of October 2026, with the price guide and marks directory. Photo search (Visual Search) is described in the WorthPoint iPhone app listing.
- Kovels membership offers: All Access Online at $59.99 a year and a price guide of more than 1 million items.
- Mearto pricing and how Mearto works: $25 per item and a typical 48-hour turnaround by a qualified appraiser.
- The Register: Google expands visual and audio search: Google's figure of nearly 20 billion Lens searches a month.