List of the Best Identity Verification Software
- SEON: Identity Verification via Digital Footprint Analysis
- Ondato: Live Document Verification
- ID.me: Verify Customers for Promotions and Discounts
- iDenfy: End-to-End Verification with Risk Scoring
- Trulioo: Verify 5 Billion Customers in 195 Countries
- Token of Trust: Multiple ID Verification Types
- Actico: Identity Verification for Compliance
- Onfido: Combining AI and Identity Experts
- Jumio: Pioneer in the ID and Selfie Approach
- MemberCheck: Compliance and ID Verification
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What Is Identity Verification Software?
Identity verification software is designed to help companies understand who their users are in real life. As it’s easy to create fake identities online, it’s important to confirm that a person is who they say they are. It can also be a legal requirement to meet compliance, privacy, and anti-fraud regulations.
Top Identity Verification Software Features
Still confused about what makes good identity verification software? This list of the best features might help:
- Digital footprint analysis: Every user who lands on your site comes with a certain amount of unique data. By enriching that data, you can profile them to an astounding degree.
- ID selfie video verification: It’s slow and adds friction, but front-facing selfie cameras are increasingly popular for verifying IDs.
- Biometric identification: Looking at users’ unique physical features is a good way to ensure you aren’t dealing with a fraudster. While the technology can still be hit and miss, it is increasingly popular.
- Blockchain KYC: The latest technique for verifying IDs. It’s still in the experimental phase, but using blockchain technology to store IDs is proving effective and reliable.
The 10 Best Identity Verification Software
Some of the software solutions below are excellent at verifying documents. Others offer complementary insights to boost the IDV process. Several will help you comply with regulations. All of the tools we’ve selected are worth considering as standalone or in combination.
SEON
Identity Verification via Digital Footprint Analysis
SEON delivers end-to-end anti-fraud prevention and passive identity verification with unique social and digital signal intel. Boasting highly granular data and customizable rules, it primarily relies on:
- IP fraud scoring
- Email and phone analysis
- Device fingerprinting
- Reverse social and digital platform lookup
- Machine learning for risk scoring
- Politically Exposed Person (PEP), blacklist, sanctions list, and crime watchlist screening
All the data points are fed through risk rules, which are completely customizable by risk managers. However, it is not only used in fraud prevention. Many companies rely on SEON as a way to credit-check their users with alternative data, identify high-value customers, or filter out junk users before official Know Your Customer (KYC) checks.
Pros
- Reverse social media lookup
- Flag fake and synthetic IDs
- Dynamic friction
- Spot connections between accounts
Cons
- No IDV for compliance
- No biometrics
SEON Pricing
- Starts at $599. Free version available with limited API calls.
Choose SEON If
- You need a complete fraud prevention solution with excellent low-friction customer intel.
The key is that SEON’s tools allow you to verify user identities via highly reliable digital footprinting while also gaining a better understanding of who your users are – all via frictionless checks that do not slow down a customer’s journey. There is also an anti-money laundering (AML) module that checks dozens of sources for suspicious individuals and PEPs.
SEON Pros
- Reverse social media lookup: SEON checks 90+ social networks for user information, the largest number out of all fraud prevention and user identification tools.
- Flag fake and synthetic IDs: You can run the risk rules on your historical data and existing user base to weed out fake and synthetic IDs with the help of machine learning finding patterns.
- Dynamic friction: Invisible screening means a frictionless customer journey, which can lead to higher onboarding rates.
- Spot connections between accounts: While some ID verification tools only confirm an identity, you’ll need a fraud detection solution like SEON’s to spot patterns between similar accounts. This can help take out entire fraud rings as well as botnets (for instance).
SEON Cons
- No IDV for compliance: Keep in mind that SEON can streamline many of these processes and add useful data but it does not verify documents for your KYC compliance needs.
- No biometrics: You’ll need to go through another vendor for these features.
Ondato
Live Document Verification
Ondato offers photo and live video identity verification with easy integration via a software-as-a-service (SaaS) business model. On top of that, you can choose its facial biometrics modules, as well as e-signature and compliance management tools.
The company provides ID verification for companies in a variety of industries, including General Financing, Swedbank, and NFT Venture. Best of all, Ondato meets compliance requirements for financial institutions, so you can use it for KYC and AML in finance, for example.
Pros
- Full suite of verification tools
- White label solution
Cons
- No data enrichment or risk scoring
- Costly
- Not bulletproof
Ondato Pricing
- Available upon request.
Choose Ondato If
- You want fast video verification and biometrics.
Ondato Pros
- Full suite of verification tools: Biometrics, person or business video verification, e-signature, NFC verification…. It’s all there in Ondato.
- White label solution: There is the option to deploy Ondato under your own company name.
Ondato Cons
- No data enrichment or risk scoring: Ondato’s key feature is to verify documents, not give you an idea of who you’re dealing with.
- Costly: Live video verification doesn’t come cheap.
- Not bulletproof: Deepfake technology is used more and more to bypass live video checks.
ID.me
Verify Customers for Promotions and Discounts
ID.me is a US-based identity proofing and group affiliation verification vendor that also meets the federal standards for consumer authentication.
What this company does differently involves reaching out to consumers to promote the simplicity of proving their identity online, as well as helping businesses provide marketing promotions and bonuses to verified eligible users. Under the hood, it checks to see whether the customer belongs to an eligible group and triggers an invitation to the promotion.
In fact, the ID.me mission statement stresses “No Identity Left Behind,” promising to enable this functionality to everyone, regardless of background or banked status.
Pros
- Approved status
- Solid experience
- Variety of solutions
Cons
- Reporting could be more granular
- US-focused
ID.me Pricing
- No pricing information is available without speaking to the ID.me team.
Choose ID.me If
- You’re looking to verify US-based customers and check whether they are eligible for various schemes.
ID.me Pros
- Approved status: NIST 800-63-3 IAL2 and AAL2 conformant and meets EPCS standards, among others.
- Solid experience: This identity verification vendor boasts experience with federal and local government contracts, as well as healthcare contracts, which is a strong sign of trust.
- Variety of solutions: ID.me can provide multi-factor authentication, KYC, document verification, vaccine passport verification, electronic prescription services, etc.
ID.me Cons
- Reporting could be more granular: According to otherwise satisfied users, ID.me’s reporting could be improved in terms of customizability as well as granularity.
- US-focused: Some of the functionality is said to be limited to, or perhaps focused on, the United States, so companies with international customers may not find it as useful.
iDenfy
End-to-End Verification with Risk Scoring
This IDV company started its journey in 2016 when two friends, Domantas Ciulde and Gediminas Ratkevicius, joined forces on a mission to make the online world safer.
Lithuania-based iDenfy is still a budding startup, numbering about 40 employees at the time of writing. However, it has gathered very positive reviews from customers and offers an impressive range of verification products to companies around the world.
These include advanced identity verification that can handle over 2,500 ID documents from 190+ countries, facial recognition, liveness detection, Know Your Business (KYB), AML screening, Near Field Communication (NFC) verification, as well as address and phone verification. Additionally, iDenfy offers proxy detection and fraud scoring capabilities that make use of the data points gathered in the above ways.
Pros
- Customizable
- Risk scoring
- Set-and-forget
- Great support
Cons
- No device fingerprinting
- Customer friction
iDenfy Pricing
- You pay per onboarded user only, which is convenient – but you’ll have to contact iDenfy for more details.
Choose iDenfy If
- You’re looking for an end-to-end identity verification solution.
iDenfy Pros
- Customizable: You can easily build custom onboarding and verification flows with the intuitive tool, and you can pick and choose the features to use, too.
- Risk scoring: This vendor provides risk scoring per verified individual, which, though it is rudimentary compared to some of the fraud prevention heavyweights, is still helpful.
- Set-and-forget: Manual reviews are handled by iDenfy’s team, which makes it a good option for businesses that do not have a dedicated fraud department.
- Great support: Customers rave about iDenfy’s customer support team, including its response times.
iDenfy Cons
- No device fingerprinting: Though the vendor provides risk scoring in order to combat fraud, this is based on traditional verification data specifically and doesn’t query hardware or software – or perform more advanced checks.
- Customer friction: According to product reviews, some of the end users being verified experienced a high degree of friction compared to other IDV solutions, which can backfire for the company onboarding them.
Trulioo
Verify 5 Billion Customers in 195 Countries
Vancouver-based Trulioo is a well-known solution for verifying identities as part of a KYC process. The company also supports business verification for all your due diligence needs.
Their core solutions include identity verification, ID document verification, business verification, and AML watchlist screening. The ID verification system can accept a whopping 11,800 types of official documents across 195 countries, and the GlobalGateway portal can verify 5 billion identities.
This is all available via low-code, custom, or API integration and available via two monthly subscription plans.
Pros
- Huge global database
- Flexible pricing and free trial
Cons
- No data enrichment
- No risk scoring
Trulioo Pricing
- There is a free trial available, and the Enterprise plan, which is full-featured. Actual dollar figures are available upon request.
Choose Trulioo If
- You want a complete ID verification solution for KYC or AML.
Trulioo Pros
- Huge global database: 5 billion identities, 195 countries, and 11,800 types of documents are not numbers to be sneered at.
- Flexible pricing and free trial: You can try Trulioo for free via portal access or a batch test, and paid plans are intuitively segmented based on the tools you might need.
Trulioo Cons
- No data enrichment or risk scoring: As an ID verification solution, it’s great. To get an understanding of user behavior, you’ll need another tool.
Token of Trust
Multiple ID Verification Types
Token of Trust was founded in 2015 after its co-founder almost fell victim to an online scam. Compelled to create a better way to protect his identity from fraudsters, he set out on a mission to improve how sensitive consumer information is handled online.
Today, the company offers government ID verification, electronic ID verification, document scanning, biometrics, and even age, address, or social verification.
Its tools are used to onboard, verify, and future-proof businesses, with a special focus on reducing ID fraud and improving compliance – all available via API and even a WordPress plugin.
Pros
- Wide range of tools
- Age verification option
Cons
- Not fully plug-and-play
Token of Trust Pricing
- Not available online.
Choose Token of Trust If
- You want to select one or multiple ID verification methods, including age verification. The WordPress integration is great for SMBs who use the CMS as their main website platform.
Token of Trust Pros
- Wide range of tools: Token of Trust lets you verify identities in multiple ways, so you can integrate the method that makes the most sense for your business.
- Age verification option: Not all ID verification software offers age-checking tools for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), but Token of Trust does.
Token of Trust Cons
- Not fully plug-and-play: While Token of Trust claims that it’s pretty much plug-and-play, you have to work to integrate its tools in your business, according to existing customers.
Actico
Identity Verification for Compliance
ACTICO offers identity verification tools with a focus on compliance, as well as underwriting risk and fraud prevention. It serves a number of renowned financial institutions such as Santander, ING, and Volkswagen Financial Services.
Its functions for KYC include risk classification, sanctions, and PEP screening for AML, and KYC profiling, including information on the business relationship and beneficial owner. The company also offers full digital transformation services and credit risk management.
Pros
- End-to-end compliance suite
- Credit risk management
- Full digital transformation toolset
Cons
- Dated UI
- Opaque pricing
ACTICO Pricing
- Available upon request.
Choose ACTICO If
- You are an established financial institution with heavy KYC and AML requirements.
ACTICO Pros
- End-to-end compliance suite: ACTICO offers all the checks you need for KYC and AML.
- Credit risk management: If you’re looking to combine identity verification and credit scoring, ACTICO may be your best choice.
- Full digital transformation toolset: You can do much more than identity verification with ACTICO, so it’s worth looking at its business digital automation if you’re starting a new venture from scratch.
ACTICO Cons
- Dated UI: ACTICO’s tools tend to look dated, and they’re not the most user-friendly.
- Opaque pricing: You won’t know how much ACTICO costs until you jump on numerous sales calls.
Onfido
Combining AI and Identity Experts
Trusted by companies such as Revolut, Remitly, and Bitstamp, Onfido offers ID verification for digitization, customer acquisition, fraud, and compliance. It uses a combination of biometrics and document verification that covers 2,500 kinds of forms of IDs from 195 countries.
The biometrics analysis combines liveness verification (video selfie verification), and all the data points are processed via machine learning, with possible manual review by human agents.
Pros
- Check 2,500 document types
- Biometrics ID proofing and authentication
- Suitable for fraud and compliance
Cons
- Added friction
Onfido Pricing
- Available upon request.
Choose Onfido If
- You are a challenger bank that needs to onboard new users fast as well as protect user accounts.
Onfido also offers customer authentication, so you can rely on its system to ensure the right users are logging into their accounts – which is why it’s a favorite of neobanks and challenger banks as well as crypto exchanges.
Onfido Pros
- Check 2,500 document types: From passports to driver’s licenses in 195 countries.
- Biometrics ID proofing and authentication: You can ensure users onboard safely and that they maintain control of their accounts too.
- Suitable for fraud and compliance: Onfido is suitable for KYC and AML checks too.
Onfido Cons
- Added friction: Most negative online reviews come from users whose identification failed – adding frustration to the onboarding process.
Jumio
Pioneer in the ID and Selfie Approach
Leveraging 10 years of real-world production data and hundreds of domain-specific data points, Jumio prides itself on automating identity verification for companies such as Monzo, HSBC, and United, among others.
Their Jumio KYX platform is designed to offer the best customer experience when onboarding a new service. It can analyze 5,000 document types from more than 200 countries and offers bank-grade security and compliance features.
You can use it to verify identities but also to check addresses, calculate fraud risk, and even ping government watchlists for KYC and AML – making it an ideal tool for heavily regulated industries.
Pros
- Check 5,000 document types
- Good user experience
- Check custom watchlists and database
Cons
- Pricey
Jumio Pricing
- Available upon request.
Choose Jumio If
- You are a financial institution with heavy regulatory needs and customers who demand a frictionless experience when onboarding.
Jumio Pros
- Check 5,000 document types: In more than 200 countries, beating other competitors for the number of markets you can target – especially in the APAC region.
- Good user experience: Jumio prides itself on its end-user experience, which could help you reduce churn.
- Check custom watchlists and databases: This means you can use Jumio for your KYC and AML needs.
Jumio Cons
- Pricey: You’ll need to contact the sales team for a quote, but it’s widely agreed that Jumio isn’t the most affordable solution for SMBs.
MemberCheck
Compliance and ID Verification
MemberCheck, founded in 2008, has always strived to help organizations meet their compliance obligations. A key selling point of their solution is to offer online ID verification.
The verification process includes biometric screening using facial recognition and liveness detection, as well as two-factor authentication (2FA) verification via SMS. The process is easy to integrate via RESTful APIs, and you can of course perform all the standard AML checks you might need, such as PEP and sanctions checks.
Pros
- Large database
- Biometrics screening
Cons
- User experience
- No data enrichment
MemberCheck Pricing
- Available on request only.
Choose MemberCheck If
- You want biometrics screening as part of your AML identity verification.
MemberCheck Pros
- Large database: MemberCheck will scan identities against the proprietary database of 14 years of adverse media.
- Biometrics screening: The company relies on a technology called FaceMatch to verify customers.
MemberCheck Cons
- User experience: The interface you see in MemberCheck’s marketing material is reported to be quite different from the actual, basic backend.
- No data enrichment: You can check documents, but you won’t get user profiling.
Why Use Identity Verification Software?
While it is possible to manually verify user information against open source databases, the process is lengthy and resource-heavy. Building a solution on-site is also possible, but expensive and a drain on your development team.
By integrating identity verification from a third-party vendor, you can:
- automate the process to scale your operations
- let the vendor take care of the updates
- instantly benefit from the vendor’s technology
This is why an increasing number of companies purchase identity verification from SaaS companies and either pay monthly, annually, or per verification fees.
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Use Cases for Identity Verification
Identity verification is now performed in one way or another by a growing number of companies. The reasons include:
- Know Your Customer: This is a legal requirement for financial institutions and other verticals such as iGaming. Not all companies need to perform KYC checks, but it’s your responsibility to check. According to LexisNexis, US financial services alone pay $25.3B in compliance fines.
- Digital credit scoring: Understanding if you’re dealing with the right person is a key part of credit scoring. You don’t want to lend money to a fraudster or someone who cannot repay it.
- Online transactions: Linking someone’s identity to their credit card details is the surest way to reduce transaction fraud and stop accepting payments made with stolen cards. This helps lower chargeback rates. It can also be a compliance issue. For instance, under the EU’s Strong Customer Authentication (SCA), requirement.
- Anti-money laundering: AML is heavily regulated and may be an important part of your identity verification process. It requires special kinds of checks, such as the ability to scan PEP, Special Interest Person (SIP) and Special Interested Entity) lists, among others. You can explore the best AML software in our writeup too.
IDV and KYC
Identity verification is an important part of the KYC process. It’s the method of establishing that the user is indeed who they say they are and takes place when they first join the service or platform. From there, they will be authenticated the next time they are seen.
Understanding Identity and Credential Verification Methods
While many vendors offer identity verification software, not all of them rely on the same tools to do it. Here are some common features to consider when choosing your identity verification provider:
Document and Video Verification
Some vendors will allow customers to submit photos of official documents, such as passports, ID cards, residency permits, or driving licenses. They also require a selfie ID, usually with a piece of paper showing the application date. This technology is also referred to as liveness detection.
The files are then authenticated through a network of third-party verification services. The process is often referred to as electronic Know Your Customer (eKYC) checks.
There are a few issues with this method: it is high-friction, which means it may frustrate users if the process doesn’t work perfectly. Moreover, some customers may be reticent about submitting their personal documents to a company.
Finally, fraudsters can easily pass the process using stolen ID documents and photoshopped files. It’s also worth noting that deepfakes are increasingly affordable and easy to create, and are often used to fool liveness verification checks.
Biometrics
Biometrics are physical measurements that should be unique to each individual. This may include a fingerprint, face ID, or voice recognition, among others.
It is an increasingly popular method, which is seen as less intrusive than document verification. According to Statista, the biometric technologies market will reach $55.42B by 2027.
Unfortunately, biometrics identification can add friction to the user journey and lead to high rates of false positives.
Behavioral Biometrics
Behavioral biometrics are metrics related to user behavior patterns such as browsing habits, cursor movement, scrolling speed, and even the copy and pasting of values.
A good example would be a system that detects whether a credit card’s CVV or CVC has been pasted into the field rather than typed. This is considered a red flag.
In 2020, for instance, a data leak exposed one of the biggest poker botnet rings ever identified after it played 60,000 sessions on 50 sites and earned up to $3M.
MFA and OTP
Multi factor authentication (MFA) and one-time passwords (OTPs) create short-term passwords that a user receives on a device previously linked to their profile. It is most commonly a smartphone but may also work with personal computers, smartwatches, or tablets. They are sometimes referred to as soft tokens.
The advantage of MFA and OTP is that it’s inexpensive, easy to use, and relatively low-friction for users.
However, a rise in fraudsters taking control of people’s phones means that if the device falls into the wrong hands, the security of MFA and OTP is compromised.
Digital Footprint Analysis
Digital footprint analysis is an invisible identity verification method that attempts to confirm user identities behind the scenes.
It works by gathering bits of information, such as a phone number or email address, and adding more knowledge from open-source databases, a process known as data enrichment. Some examples of digital footprint analysis tools and the kinds of questions they can help you answer include:
- Reverse social media lookup: Does the person have a social media profile? If so, what information can we glean from it?
- Phone number analysis: Did they submit a legitimate phone number or one from a virtual SIM? Does it point to a country far from their IP address?
- IP analysis: Speaking of IPs, is it from a personal connection? A proxy or VPN? Or maybe a Tor connection?
- Device fingerprinting: Is the user connecting with a mobile phone or PC? Are they using emulator software? Have their browser settings been seen before?
While answering only one of these questions may not fully help with identification, it is entirely possible to create a risk profile of each individual. This is called verification with alternative data, and it is fast, low-friction, and increasingly effective for:
- filtering out fraudsters
- identifying non-existent people
- blocking bots
- giving additional data for a manual verification
Finding the Best Identity Verification Tool
Identity verification can be complex and overwhelming, especially if you need to meet regulatory requirements. The good news is that there’s a growing number of fantastic SaaS fintech companies that let you integrate ID verification easily and seamlessly.
Of course, not all ID verification software vendors will work for your business needs, which is why it’s important to understand exactly what kind of tools are adapted to you. Hopefully, this guide is a great introduction to the topic.
FAQ
Identity verification software is useful for compliance reasons, as well as KYC verification and anti-fraud. It helps you learn who you are dealing with to ensure your business can grow safely.
Identity verification can be performed manually or with specific software. The methods include biometrics, multi-factor authentication, and behavior analytics or alternative data profiling.
The software you choose depends on your use case. If it’s for AML and KYC, you should be able to check identities against specific watchlists, for example. To reduce fraud, it’s important to leverage alternative data profiling techniques.
Most identity verification software is purchased via monthly subscriptions. You can also pay per API call.
Sources
- LexisNexis Risk Solutions: US financial services firms pay $25.3 billion per year in AML compliance costs
- Statista: Global biometric system market revenue in 2020 and 2025
