Best KYC & Identity Verification APIs

Best overall: Melissa

██████░░░░ 63 / 100 data score

Melissa provides global data quality APIs to verify, clean, match, and enrich people data, including address, email, phone, and identity verification across 240+ countries and territories. Pricing is published and self-serve, and three SDKs are available. The platform carries SOC 2 Type 2, HIPAA, and GDPR compliance with a published SLA.

free tier available.

How it stacks up

• ✓ Melissa offers a free tier while Jumio does not, so Melissa is easier to trial before committing.

Best for: Prototypes and side projects - free to start, no sales call; Regulated or enterprise workloads - compliance attestations and an enterprise plan; Teams needing broad API coverage out of the box.

Melissa profile → · Melissa vs Jumio →

At a glance

Quick pick by use case

If you only have thirty seconds, find your situation:

• If you want the strongest all-round pick, pick Melissa - our default pick: strongest across pricing, trust and breadth.
• If you want to start free, pick Melissa - the only genuinely free option here. GAV Free: $0 for 250 Records / Month (Global Address Verification free plan).
• If you're buying for a regulated or large team, pick Melissa - for regulated or large teams: SOC 2 Type II, HIPAA, published SLA.
• If you want the broadest documented surface, pick Melissa - 26 documented actions; breadth isn't quality, but it's the most to build on.

The picks in depth

• #1 Melissa

  ██████░░░░ 63 / 100
  • Best overall
  • Only free option
  • Best for enterprise
  • Broadest surface

  Melissa provides global data quality APIs to verify, clean, match, and enrich people data, including address, email, phone, and identity verification across 240+ countries and territories. Pricing is published and self-serve, and three SDKs are available. The platform carries SOC 2 Type 2, HIPAA, and GDPR compliance with a published SLA.

  PricingHybrid · free tier ✓

  TrustSOC 2 Type II · HIPAA · GDPR

  Strengthstransparent public pricing · a free tier · self-serve signup

  ScoresAgent 20 · Pricing 75 · Setup 75 · Docs 45 · Procurement 90 · Trust 75

  Melissa profile →

• #2 Jumio

  ██░░░░░░░░ 23 / 100

  Jumio is an identity verification platform for KYC and AML compliance, fraud prevention, user onboarding, and age verification across 200+ countries. It supports document and selfie capture, workflow orchestration, and webhooks, with five SDKs. Pricing is not public and requires contacting sales. The platform holds SOC 2 Type 2, GDPR, ISO 27001, and PCI DSS compliance.

  PricingSales-led · free tier ✗

  TrustSOC 2 Type II · GDPR · ISO 27001 · PCI DSS

  StrengthsSOC 2 Type II · GDPR · PCI DSS

  Avoid ifYou need to start building today without contacting sales

  ScoresAgent 20 · Pricing 0 · Setup 30 · Docs 25 · Procurement 0 · Trust 65

  Jumio profile →

How we rank

The headline score is the average of six 0-100 axes computed only from each API’s published, sourced fields: agent-friendliness, pricing transparency, setup speed, docs quality, procurement ease, and trust readiness. An unknown signal scores 0 for its axis - we credit what’s confirmed, never guess. The score is one input, not the verdict: we lead with each pick’s trade-off, and where a job has only one real option we say so rather than crown it. Full method on the methodology page.

Why trust apio

• ✓ Every field cited. Each profile links the source for every claim - check us.
• ✓ Public audit log. Every change to this data is recorded per field, with who changed it and why.
• ✓ Published, deterministic methodology. The score is a formula over the same fields you can see - recompute it yourself.
• ✓ Zero affiliate links, zero ads, zero paid placement. Money never moves rank.
• ✓ No reviews yet - and we say so rather than synthesizing them.

Frequently asked questions