A fit comparison, not a winner board
Verifex vs OpenSanctions
Compare an evidence-first managed screening workflow with a broad data platform offering hosted screening, bulk data, and commercial licensing.
Choose from operating model, evidence requirements, and ownership cost. Vendor features and commercial terms change; confirm them directly before procurement.
Third-party details reviewed 13 August 2026. OpenSanctions licensing and delivery options (opens in a new tab)
The decision frame
Start with what your team wants to own.
OpenSanctions aggregates sanctions, PEP, and entity data from public sources. Its current commercial offering includes a hosted screening API as well as bulk data for licensed internal or reseller use; self-hosting remains an option for teams that want infrastructure control.
Verifex is a managed sanctions screening and evidence infrastructure API. You send a name, you get back matches with confidence scores and documented rationale. No infrastructure to provision, no matching engine to build, no data pipelines to maintain. Pricing starts at $49/month with a 50-screen free tier.
The tradeoff is no longer simply hosted versus self-hosted. It is the shape of the product: OpenSanctions offers broad data and multiple delivery models, while Verifex centers a managed decision record with coverage state, reasoning, and evidence. OpenSanctions states that commercial data use requires a license and that data-license pricing is quoted after discussing the use case. Details reviewed against its official licensing pages in August 2026.
For implementation detail, review the Verifex screening workflow, including coverage semantics, evidence, and integration boundaries.
Side by side
Compare the operating model.
This table is a directional evaluation aid, not a substitute for current vendor documentation, a security review, or legal and procurement diligence.
| Decision point | Verifex | OpenSanctions |
|---|---|---|
| Delivery model | Managed evidence API | Hosted API or licensed bulk data |
| Commercial license | Included | Required for commercial bulk-data use; quote-based |
| Infrastructure maintenance | Managed | Managed API or your team for self-hosting |
| Matching engine | 10-penalty pipeline with LLM cascade | Build your own |
| Hosted screening API | Yes | Yes |
| Python SDK | Yes | No |
| PEP data | Configured sources | Broad aggregated coverage |
| Response time | Low-latency (cached) | Depends |
| Uptime target | 99.9% | Your responsibility |
| Free tier | 50/mo | 30-day hosted API trial advertised |
Verifex fits when
You want the operation managed and the decision exposed.
- Zero infrastructure to manage or maintain
- Managed API with 99.9% uptime target
- retrieval → identity evidence → source semantics → coverage → decision (0 severe false positives across 5,000 adversarial negatives and 97.3% exact-name recall (self-administered, deployed-engine benchmark))
- Low-latency responses designed for real-time screening
- Commercial use of the managed service included in plan terms
OpenSanctions may fit when
Its model aligns more closely with what you need to control.
- Broad sanctions, PEP, and entity aggregation
- Full control over matching logic and data
- Transparent bulk data and documented schemas
- Non-commercial bulk-data access under published terms
- Broader entity and relationship data
Inspect the integration
The first useful proof is a real response.
Send one request, inspect the coverage and evidence semantics, then decide whether the workflow belongs in your stack.
curl -X POST https://api.verifex.dev/v1/screen \
-H "Authorization: Bearer vfx_your_api_key" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"name": "Rosneft", "type": "entity"}'Questions to resolve
Make the tradeoffs explicit.
Is OpenSanctions really free for commercial use?
OpenSanctions states that commercial use of its bulk data requires a data license. Its public licensing page describes quote-based internal and reseller licenses, while its hosted screening API uses a separate service model and advertises a trial. Confirm current rights and pricing directly with OpenSanctions for your use case.
Does Verifex use OpenSanctions data?
Verifex sources its sanctions data directly from official government sources (OFAC, UN, UK, etc.) and PEP data from configured feeds including Wikidata where applicable. It does not depend on or redistribute OpenSanctions data.
Why does OpenSanctions have more PEP records than Verifex?
OpenSanctions aggregates PEP data from multiple third-party sources and national datasets. Verifex sources PEP data from configured feeds including Wikidata where applicable. Coverage of family members and known close associates varies by jurisdiction. Customers should validate PEP source suitability for their regulatory program.
Can I use OpenSanctions data with Verifex?
Verifex is a standalone managed API with its own data pipeline. You do not need to supply or manage any external data sources. If you have specific list requirements beyond what Verifex covers, contact the team to discuss custom list integration.
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