Sanctions screening APIs you can pay per call

What a sanctions screening API does

A sanctions screening API compares a name or an identifier with the lists governments publish of people, companies, vessels and crypto addresses that are subject to sanctions. An agent calls it before onboarding a customer, paying a supplier, accepting a counterparty or sending funds to an address. The answer is a set of candidate matches, each with the list it comes from, the listed name, the program and the identifiers that help confirm or reject it.

Lists differ by authority. The US Treasury publishes the OFAC Specially Designated Nationals list and other OFAC lists; the European Union, the United Kingdom, the United Nations, Switzerland and other governments publish their own. Which lists apply depends on where the business operates, the currency it uses and the parties involved. A screen against one list says nothing about the others.

Matching is the hard part. Names are transliterated, abbreviated, reordered and misspelled, and listed parties use aliases. A fuzzy match returns more candidates, including false positives that a reviewer must clear; an exact match returns fewer and misses variants. A candidate is a reason to look closer, using the date of birth, the nationality, the address or the registration number on the list, not a finding that the person is listed.

A crypto address screen is narrower. It checks whether an address appears among the addresses a list publishes. It does not say who controls an address that is not listed, and it does not trace funds that passed through a listed one. Payment verdicts that combine a sanctions signal with scam lists or contract flags answer a broader question, and they report the sanctions part as one reason among others.

Compare the lists, the matching and the input

The comparison classifies each endpoint by what it screens. A name screen and a crypto address screen are the sanctions screening products; a service enters the comparison with at least one of them. PEP and adverse media checks, company and onboarding checks with a sanctions step, payment verdicts with a sanctions signal, list change feeds and record lookups are adjacent types: they keep their own prices in the table below but cannot qualify a service or supply its row price.

Sanctions words alone do not make a screen. A method sold as a SKILL.md text describes how to screen, without screening. A regional vessel monitor that marks listed ships answers a maritime question. A route that screens the bank behind an IBAN reads the bank, not the payee. A gateway that lists a screen next to unrelated tools is priced on the screen, never on its cheapest utility.

A matched endpoint description names the lists or the data source in these cases:

• US OFAC lists: LION — Verified Company & Compliance Data, nsgoods Agent Trust & Screening Oracle, API Acre, Strale, POKT Agent — Korea data & checks for AI agents, Busker, Polyform, x402 OFAC SDN API, Limitguard, nsgoods Sanctions Screening Oracle, Zinin M2M Hub, Fin Codes API, agosint and Proyecto Ayuda Data API.
• The EU consolidated list: Strale, POKT Agent — Korea data & checks for AI agents, Limitguard, Zinin M2M Hub, Fin Codes API, agosint and AstraNL Verify.
• UN lists: Strale, POKT Agent — Korea data & checks for AI agents, Limitguard and Fin Codes API.
• UK lists: Strale, POKT Agent — Korea data & checks for AI agents, Fin Codes API and agosint.
• OpenSanctions as a source: Limitguard.
• The Chainalysis sanctions oracle: nsgoods Agent Trust & Screening Oracle.

A named list is the provider's statement. It does not say how often a copy is refreshed or which aliases and identifiers it keeps.

Each price is the cheapest endpoint of that service for that kind of data: the same number wherever this page quotes it.

Compare 15 sanctions screening services

Each row keeps the endpoint it is priced on: the cheapest name or address screen of the service, never a cheaper utility or a wider check. The ordering follows observed paying wallets for the whole service; it does not rank the completeness of the lists or the quality of the matching.

$/CALL is the price of the endpoint named under it: the cheapest name screening: people, companies and vessels against sanctions lists and crypto address screening against sanctioned addresses endpoint of the service or, for a service without one, its cheapest sanctions screening endpoint. Never the cheapest tool of a gateway. Other kinds of data have their own price in the tables below. SANCTIONS SCREENING ENDPOINTS counts the sanctions screening endpoints out of all the endpoints the service lists. BUYERS 30D counts distinct wallets that paid the whole service on-chain in 30 days, not only its sanctions screening endpoints. "Generalist" marks a gateway that sells more than three unrelated kinds of tools: it is never called the cheapest.

How to choose a sanctions screening endpoint

Start from the lists your policy requires

Write down the lists that apply before choosing a route: OFAC for US persons and dollar payments, the EU list for EU operations, the UK list for UK business, UN lists, and national lists where the business operates. Then check that the endpoint description names each of them. A route that searches the OFAC SDN list alone answers one part of a multi-list policy.

Check how names are matched

Ask whether the route reads aliases, how it normalizes names and whether it returns fuzzy candidates with a score. An exact match is precise and misses variants; a fuzzy match needs a threshold and a reviewer. Transliterated names, from Korean, Arabic or Cyrillic scripts, need variants or phonetic matching.

Keep the list version with every result

Lists change, sometimes daily. Store the list date or snapshot the route returns, the input, the candidates and the decision. A clean result from last month does not cover a designation made this week.

Treat a candidate as a question

A candidate match needs the identifiers on the list entry: date of birth, nationality, registration number, address or vessel number. Compare them with what you know about the party before blocking or clearing it, and record who decided.

Test the operating limits

The monitored median uptime is 100% and the median selected quote is $0.01. Monitoring latency describes our checks, not the time a batch screen takes. Check batch sizes, what an empty result costs and what the route returns when a list cannot be read.

Choose by the job

Each job below lists the services that offer its kind of output today, priced on the endpoint of that kind. A job without a candidate is left out of this list.

Screen a person, company or vessel name

Check which lists the route searches, whether it reads aliases and how it matches: an exact or normalized match misses a spelling variant that a fuzzy match would return as a candidate. Keep the list date with the result, and send every candidate to a reviewer with the identifiers the list provides.

Candidates today, most buyers first: API Acre ($0.02/call, generalist, 20 buyers) · Strale ($0.054/call, generalist, 17 buyers) · POKT Agent — Korea data & checks for AI agents ($0.02/call, generalist, 13 buyers) · Busker ($0.02/call, generalist, 13 buyers) · Polyform ($0.1/call, generalist, 11 buyers) · x402 OFAC SDN API ($0.02/call, 7 buyers) · Limitguard ($0.005/call, generalist, 5 buyers) · Zinin M2M Hub ($0.01/call, generalist, 3 buyers) · Fin Codes API ($0.01/call, 3 buyers) · Proyecto Ayuda Data API ($0.005/call) · AstraNL Verify ($0.01/call) · agosint ($0.015/call, generalist)

Screen a crypto address before paying it

An address screen compares the address with addresses published on a list. Record the chain, the list version and whether the route covers that chain; a clean answer says the address is not on the list read, not that its owner is unrelated to a listed party.

Candidates today, most buyers first: LION — Verified Company & Compliance Data ($0.001/call, 40 buyers) · nsgoods Agent Trust & Screening Oracle ($0.005/call, 22 buyers) · Limitguard ($0.005/call, generalist, 5 buyers) · nsgoods Sanctions Screening Oracle ($0.005/call, 4 buyers) · agosint ($0.015/call, generalist)

Check politically exposed persons and adverse media

A PEP match or a negative article is a reason for enhanced review, not a prohibition. Keep the source of each hit and the date of the check.

Candidates today, most buyers first: Strale ($0.054/call, generalist, 17 buyers) · Limitguard ($0.88/call, generalist, 5 buyers)

Run a company or onboarding check that includes a sanctions screen

A combined check is convenient when the decision needs the register, the tax number and the screen together. Read which lists its sanctions step searches; it can differ from the provider's standalone screen.

Candidates today, most buyers first: LION — Verified Company & Compliance Data ($0.05/call, 40 buyers) · API Acre ($0.1/call, generalist, 20 buyers) · Polyform ($0.2/call, generalist, 11 buyers) · Limitguard ($0.1/call, generalist, 5 buyers) · AstraNL Verify ($0.03/call) · agosint ($0.1/call, generalist)

Get a payment verdict that includes a sanctions signal

A pay or hold verdict mixes sanctions with scam lists, contract flags or reputation. Read the reasons: a hold for a scam flag and a hold for a list match lead to different actions.

Candidates today, most buyers first: nsgoods Agent Trust & Screening Oracle ($0.005/call, 22 buyers)

Follow changes to the sanctions lists

Lists change after a screen. A change feed tells a monitoring job when to screen a known counterparty again.

Candidates today, most buyers first: Limitguard ($0.11/call, generalist, 5 buyers)

What the providers describe

These paragraphs attribute lists, matching methods and limits to the provider that describes them. Prices follow the endpoint of the matching type, never an amount written in a description, and a statement about refresh frequency or list coverage remains the provider's.

Fin Codes API

Fin Codes API lists POST /sanctions-screening at $0.01. The endpoint description names the EU, UK, UN, OFAC (SDN and Consolidated), Swiss, Australian and Canadian lists, refreshed daily, and accepts a person, entity, vessel or aircraft name. It returns the matching parties with match scores, programs, birth dates and list references, best match first, and says that matches are name similarity to be reviewed. The same service sells IBAN and BIC lookups; those are banking reference data, not part of the screen.

1 sanctions screening endpoint of 4 · $0.01/call (POST /sanctions-screening) · Base · uptime 30d 98.6% · 342 ms · 3 buyers in 30 days

Strale

Strale sells GET /x402/sanctions-check at $0.054 and says it uses the Dilisense consolidated database: EU, US OFAC, UN, UK OFSI, Swiss SECO, BIS, World Bank, EBRD and ADB lists plus national lists, with named source attribution for each match. A PEP check and an adverse media check are separate routes, from $0.054. The three answer different questions, and an onboarding policy usually decides which of them a customer needs.

3 sanctions screening endpoints of 10 · $0.054/call (GET /x402/pep-check) · Base · uptime 30d 100% · 199 ms · 17 buyers in 30 days

Limitguard

Limitguard screens a company or person name against the OFAC SDN, EU and UN lists at $0.005. According to the description the lists are held locally and refreshed daily, and the match is exact after normalization or insensitive to word order only. Variants beyond normalization or word reordering can be missed; test the spellings and transliterations your workflow needs. The service also checks an EVM wallet against the OFAC digital-currency address list, from $0.005, and sells daily list changes with alerts for entities a key has checked.

8 sanctions screening endpoints of 11 · $0.005/call (POST /v1/sanctions/screen) · Base/SOL · uptime 30d 99.8% · 177 ms · 5 buyers in 30 days

Polyform

Polyform screens a name against the US Consolidated Screening List at $0.1. The description names the OFAC SDN and Consolidated lists, the BIS Entity, Denied and Unverified lists and the State Department debarred list, with aliases, and returns match or no match, the list, the programs and a clear, review or hit verdict. The BIS lists are export-control lists, so a hit can bear on a trade as well as on onboarding. Its onboarding, vetting and trade routes include a screen inside a wider verdict and are priced as adjacent types.

6 sanctions screening endpoints of 50 · $0.1/call (GET /v1/legal/sanctions-screen) · Base · uptime 30d 100% · 134 ms · 11 buyers in 30 days

POKT Agent — Korea data & checks for AI agents

POKT Agent Korea sells POST /kr-names/screen at $0.02. It expands a Korean or North Korean name through romanization variants, such as Lee, Yi, Rhee and Ri or Choi and Choe, and matches the variants against OFAC, UN, EU and UK lists refreshed daily. It returns ranked candidates for human review. Transliteration is a common reason for a missed match, and a route that generates the variants addresses it for one language.

1 sanctions screening endpoint of 27 · $0.02/call (POST /kr-names/screen) · Base · uptime 30d 100% · 176 ms · 13 buyers in 30 days

nsgoods Sanctions Screening Oracle

The nsgoods Sanctions Screening Oracle screens a crypto address at $0.005. The service describes exact-address screening against the addresses the US Treasury publishes in the SDN list, across several chains including Solana, with every response signed and stamped with the date of the list snapshot. An exact address screen is fast and unambiguous about what it compares; it does not follow funds to or from a listed address.

1 sanctions screening endpoint of 1 · $0.005/call (GET /screen) · Base/SOL · uptime 30d 99.9% · 1183 ms · 4 buyers in 30 days

agosint

agosint lists GET /x402/sanctions at $0.015. The description promises fuzzy matching against the OFAC SDN, EU consolidated and UK lists, a score per hit, the program and the publication date of each list, for a company or person name, optionally with a country or a birth date, or for a crypto wallet address. It calls the result a screening aid, not a compliance determination. Its company due diligence route runs a screen of the company and its officers inside a wider check, from $0.1.

2 sanctions screening endpoints of 7 · $0.015/call (GET /x402/sanctions) · Base/POL/SOL · uptime 30d 100% · 143 ms · 0 buyers in 30 days

Cost per call and for a larger workload

The median selected route costs $0.01 per call. At the same request shape, 100,000 calls total $1,000.00. Use the generated table as a reference calculation, then count how many calls one finished check needs.

Each service at the price of its main sanctions screening endpoint, the one named in the table above.

Screening workloads have two shapes. Onboarding screens each new party once, often with a name screen and a PEP check. Monitoring screens the whole customer base again when the lists change, which multiplies the calls. Batch routes and change feeds change the arithmetic more than a small difference in the price per call. Keep the endpoint, the input, the quote, the list date and the decision for each screen, so that a cheap screen is not mistaken for a cheap compliance process.

Inspect a request and its payment evidence

For a multi-list name screen, Fin Codes API documents POST /sanctions-screening, with a reference quote of $0.01. The endpoint description asks for the name field alone: a request without it, or with any other field, is rejected with HTTP 400 before payment. Keep the list references and match scores it returns with the decision you take.

The listed method and description establish the advertised contract. This explanation does not reproduce an HTTP 402 challenge or certify a paid response. Open the service page for its payment evidence and obtain the challenge for the exact request before authorizing payment. Compare resource, method, network, asset and amount together, and do not reuse a challenge for the neighboring IBAN routes.

How this comparison is built

The comparison starts with services that are online and payment-ready, have a known price, a description of at least 80 characters and measured 30-day uptime of at least 90%. Task selection then reads the documented endpoints: a service enters when it lists a priced endpoint that screens a name or a crypto address against sanctions lists. Sanctions words in a service description are not enough, and adjacent products cannot qualify a service on their own. Pages below the index threshold can still be read directly.

Provider claims were reviewed against the public service and endpoint descriptions captured on October 22, 2026. They remain provider claims. Monitoring supplies operating figures and reference prices; it does not establish that a list copy is current, that matching finds every variant or that a screen meets a legal obligation. Buyer counts describe observed paying wallets for the whole service, with the coverage limits explained on its linked page.

Questions

How to pay

Each service answers an unpaid call with HTTP 402 and its price; your agent signs a USDC payment on the listed network and retries. No API key, no account, no subscription. See what x402 is.