Awesome Identity Verification

A curated list of identity verification, KYC, AML, and biometric authentication resources — APIs, open-source tools, standards, datasets, and regulations.

Identity verification (IDV) is how online businesses confirm that a user is a real person and who they claim to be. It underpins KYC (Know Your Customer) in fintech, age verification in restricted commerce, KYB (Know Your Business) in B2B onboarding, and AML (Anti-Money Laundering) compliance everywhere money moves.

Contributions welcome — see CONTRIBUTING.md.

Contents

• Identity Verification Platforms
• Open-Source Tools
• Sanctions & AML Data
• Standards & Testing
• Regulations & Guidance
• Learning Resources

Identity Verification Platforms

Hosted APIs and SDKs for document verification, biometrics, and compliance screening.

• FinAuth — Developer-first KYC API with a free tier: ID document verification, passive liveness + selfie-to-ID face match, age estimation, AML/PEP/sanctions screening, KYB with UBO checks, transaction (KYT) and crypto wallet screening, hosted verification sessions (shareable link or QR code), and signed webhooks. Docs.
• Sumsub — Full-cycle verification platform covering KYC, KYB, transaction monitoring, and travel-rule support.
• Veriff — Video-first identity verification with broad document coverage.
• Onfido — Document and biometric verification, now part of Entrust.
• Persona — Configurable identity workflows and case review tooling.
• Jumio — Long-established IDV vendor for regulated enterprises.
• Ondato — KYC/KYB suite popular with European financial institutions.
• Stripe Identity — Lightweight IDV for businesses already on Stripe.

Open-Source Tools

• Open Source Face Recognition (InsightFace) — Widely used face analysis toolkit (research/self-hosted use).
• Tesseract OCR — General-purpose OCR engine often used as a baseline for document text extraction.
• OpenSanctions yente — Self-hostable sanctions & PEP screening API over the OpenSanctions dataset.
• MRZ parsers — Libraries for reading the machine-readable zone on passports and ID cards.

Sanctions & AML Data

• OpenSanctions — Consolidated open database of sanctions targets, PEPs, and persons of interest.
• OFAC Sanctions Lists — U.S. Treasury designated-persons lists (SDN and consolidated).
• EU Sanctions Map — Official overview of EU restrictive measures.
• UN Security Council Consolidated List — UN sanctions designations.
• FATF — Intergovernmental standard-setter for AML/CFT; publishes the 40 Recommendations and high-risk jurisdiction lists.

Standards & Testing

• ISO/IEC 30107-3 — Presentation attack detection (liveness) testing methodology.
• iBeta PAD Testing — Accredited lab conducting ISO 30107-3 liveness evaluations.
• NIST FRTE / FRVT — Independent benchmark of face recognition algorithm accuracy.
• NIST SP 800-63 — U.S. digital identity guidelines (identity proofing and authentication assurance levels).
• eIDAS — EU regulation on electronic identification and trust services.
• ICAO Doc 9303 — The specification behind machine-readable travel documents and passport NFC chips.

Regulations & Guidance

• EU AML Directives (AMLD) — The EU's AML framework.
• FinCEN — U.S. financial crimes enforcement; CDD Rule and BSA guidance.
• GDPR — EU data protection law; governs biometric and identity data handling.
• FATF Travel Rule Guidance — Requirements for virtual asset service providers.

Learning Resources

• KYC Compliance Handbook — Practical guide to KYC, KYB, AML screening, and transaction monitoring.
• Identity Verification API Guide — Developer patterns: hosted sessions, webhooks, QR hand-off, key security.
• FinAuth Use Cases — Real-world IDV scenarios from fintech onboarding to crypto compliance.
• Digital Onboarding Best Practices — Designing verification flows that convert.

Maintained by FinAuth — the developer-first identity verification API. Start free at finauth.io · Documentation