The image inspection method includes: a step of acquiring data of an inspection image obtained by capturing an image of a recorded matter recorded by an image recording system that performs a compensation process of compensating for a defect caused by a failure in an image formation element, using an imaging apparatus; a step of acquiring data of a reference image; and a step of comparing the data of the inspection image with the data of the reference image to determine whether there is a defect at each position of the inspection image. The defect detection step includes a process that makes a defect detection performance different in a compensation application region and a compensation non-application region other than the compensation application region, on the basis of compensation position information of the failure in the image formation element to which the compensation process has been applied.