KYC API benchmark 2026: Stripe Identity, Persona, Plaid, Sumsub and more

Stripe Identity has the highest score of the eight identity verification APIs in the APIbenchmarks Index, 92.8 out of 100 and grade A+. Persona is second at 85.5 and Plaid Identity Verification third at 85.0. Sumsub scores 82.9, Veriff 79.9, Onfido 75.0, Jumio 73.2 and Socure 69.8. The biggest spread is in access. Stripe Identity scores 95 for accessibility and Jumio scores 45.

Identity verification, often called KYC, checks that a person is who they say they are, usually with a government ID and a selfie. This post uses the index, which scores each API on documentation, reliability, ecosystem and accessibility. It is not a test of how many fake or real IDs each provider catches, and no such accuracy numbers are in this post.

The short version:

• Stripe Identity leads at 92.8, 7.3 points ahead of Persona. Persona and Plaid are only 0.5 points apart.
• Reliability is close across the field, from 92 down to 84. Accessibility is not, from 95 down to 45.
• Four APIs have no free tier: Veriff, Onfido, Jumio and Socure. Stripe Identity, Persona and Plaid each give free checks to start.

Which identity verification API scores highest?

Stripe Identity, at 92.8. It is the only API in this category with an A+ grade. Persona and Plaid are both grade A, Sumsub, Veriff and Onfido are grade B, and Jumio and Socure are grade C.

The gap between first and second is 7.3 points, the largest at the top of the table. Persona and Plaid are 0.5 points apart, so the order of those two is close to a tie. From Stripe Identity down to Socure the range is 23.0 points. You can read the full scores on the identity verification category page and the verdict page.

Which KYC API is easiest to start with?

Stripe Identity, with an accessibility score of 95. Persona follows at 88, Sumsub at 82, Plaid at 80 and Veriff at 74. The last three are far lower. Onfido scores 50, Socure 48 and Jumio 45.

The pattern is simple. The four APIs with the lowest accessibility scores are the four with no free tier, and the three highest let you run real checks before you talk to anyone. That says nothing about the quality of the checks themselves. It says how fast a developer can get a key and send a first request.

How was this benchmark measured?

This is an index category, so every number comes from the APIbenchmarks Index and not from a hands-on test.

• Four scores. Each API is scored out of 100 on documentation, reliability, ecosystem and accessibility. The index score combines them.
• Same scale for all. All eight APIs are scored on the same four dimensions.
• Verified date. The data for these eight APIs was last verified on 2026-06-27. The index was updated on 2026-10-19.
• Eight APIs. Stripe Identity, Persona, Plaid Identity Verification, Sumsub, Veriff, Onfido (Entrust), Jumio and Socure.

The limits are plain. The index does not run a fixed panel of known IDs through each API and grade the answers, which is how the site's hands-on benchmarks work. So a high score here does not mean a higher approval rate, a lower fraud rate or better coverage of the countries and document types you care about. Free tier terms and prices change, so check each provider before you rely on a figure here. The methodology page explains the scoring.

Do the scores differ more on documentation or reliability?

Documentation and accessibility spread the most. Reliability is the tightest dimension of the four.

Stripe Identity is first on all four. Its reliability lead is small, 92 against 86 for the next best, which is Persona, Plaid and Onfido at the same score. Socure, Veriff and Sumsub all score 84, so on reliability the bottom of the table is a three-way tie.

Onfido and Jumio show the pattern most clearly. Onfido scores 86 on reliability, level with Persona and Plaid, and Jumio scores 85. Both score under 51 on accessibility, so their total sits lower in the table even though their reliability scores are close to the leaders. Socure has the weakest ecosystem score at 68 and the weakest documentation score at 74.

Which APIs are close enough to compare directly?

Three pairs are worth a direct look, because their scores are within a few points.

• Persona and Plaid Identity Verification. 85.5 against 85.0. Plaid scores higher on documentation (90 against 88) and ecosystem (82 against 80). Persona scores higher on accessibility (88 against 80). See Persona vs Plaid.
• Stripe Identity and Persona. 92.8 against 85.5. Stripe Identity is ahead on all four dimensions. See Persona vs Stripe Identity.
• Sumsub and Veriff. 82.9 against 79.9, a gap of 3.0. Sumsub is ahead on documentation, ecosystem and accessibility, and the two tie on reliability at 84. See Sumsub vs Veriff.

The bottom line on each provider

• Stripe Identity. First at 92.8, grade A+. Highest in all four dimensions. 50 free verifications to start.
• Persona. Second at 85.5. Accessibility of 88 and 500 free government ID verifications a month on the Starter plan.
• Plaid Identity Verification. Third at 85.0. Documentation score of 90, second only to Stripe Identity.
• Sumsub. 82.9. 14-day trial and a starting price of about $1.35 per verification.
• Veriff. 79.9. No free tier, plans from $49 a month.
• Onfido (Entrust). 75.0. Reliability of 86 but accessibility of 50, with a custom quote.
• Jumio. 73.2. The lowest accessibility score at 45, custom quote only.
• Socure. Last at 69.8. Lowest documentation (74) and ecosystem (68) scores, and a commitment based contract.

How to benchmark identity verification providers yourself

An index score tells you how easy an API is to adopt. It cannot tell you how it handles your users. To test accuracy, build a set of verification attempts where you already know the right outcome, such as real IDs from your own staff, in the countries you serve, plus known bad samples your fraud team already holds. Send the same set through each provider's sandbox or free tier and record the approvals, rejections and time to a decision. Count a result as correct only when it matches the outcome you already know. For a worked example of grading providers against a known answer, see the technographics benchmark and the translation API benchmark, which uses the same index for another category.

FAQ

What is the best identity verification API? In the APIbenchmarks Index it is Stripe Identity, with a score of 92.8 and grade A+. Persona is second at 85.5 and Plaid Identity Verification third at 85.0. The index scores documentation, reliability, ecosystem and accessibility, and does not measure fraud detection accuracy.

Which KYC API has a free tier? Stripe Identity gives the first 50 verifications free. Persona gives 500 free government ID verifications a month on the Starter plan. Plaid gives the first 200 API calls free in Limited Production. Sumsub has a 14-day free trial but no permanent free tier. Veriff, Onfido, Jumio and Socure have no free tier.

Is Persona or Stripe Identity better? Stripe Identity scores higher, 92.8 against 85.5, and is ahead on documentation, reliability, ecosystem and accessibility. The two are closest on accessibility, 95 against 88. The full comparison has the detail.

Why is Jumio ranked low if its reliability score is high? Jumio scores 85 on reliability, close to the leaders, but 45 on accessibility, the lowest of the eight, because there is no free tier and pricing is by custom quote. Its documentation score is 78 and its ecosystem score is 78, giving a total of 73.2.

Is this a test of how accurate each KYC provider is? No. These are index scores, last verified on 2026-06-27. No panel of known IDs was sent through the APIs for this post, so it does not show approval rates or fraud catch rates.