Both SanctScan and sanctions.io are built for developers who want to integrate sanctions screening via API. Neither is a bloated AML suite — both focus on screening names against global sanctions lists and returning structured results.
But the two platforms differ meaningfully in pricing model, monitoring capabilities, and how they fit into a compliance workflow beyond the initial API call. This page breaks down the differences so you can choose the right tool for your use case.
Quick Comparison
| SanctScan | sanctions.io | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Free ($0/month) | Free 30-day trial; paid pricing on calculator |
| Pricing model | Flat monthly tiers | Usage / contract-term based |
| Free tier | Yes (25 ad-hoc screens/month, permanent) | 30-day free trial only |
| Sanctions screening | Yes | Yes |
| PEP screening | No | Yes |
| Adverse media | No | Yes (60k+ news sources) |
| Continuous monitoring | Yes (with alerts) | Self-built via API polling |
| Webhook alerts | Yes (Starter+) | Not advertised as built-in |
| Email alerts | Yes (Solo+) | No |
| REST API | Yes (Starter+) | Yes |
| PDF exports | Yes (Solo+) | No |
| Team dashboard | Yes | Limited |
| OFAC SDN | Yes | Yes |
| EU/UN/UK lists | Yes | Yes |
| Response time | Fast | ~350ms advertised |
| Data update frequency | Within hours | Every 60 minutes |
| Contract required | No | Annual / multi-year discounts; monthly available |
| Best for | Teams needing screening + built-in monitoring | Teams wanting sanctions + PEP + adverse media via single API |
Pricing Comparison
sanctions.io Pricing
sanctions.io publishes a pricing calculator on its website that bases cost on contract term (1 / 2 / 3 years), payment terms (monthly credit card or annual), and feature scope. A 30-day free trial is available — sign up with a business email to receive a trial API key.
SanctScan Pricing
| Plan | Price | Screens/Month | Monitored Entities |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 25 | Ad-hoc only |
| Solo | $19/month | 250 | 25 |
| Starter | $39/month | 1,500 | 150 |
| Growth | $149/month | Unlimited | 1,000 |
| Enterprise | Custom | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Free is ad-hoc only. Solo adds daily continuous monitoring and PDF exports. Starter unlocks API access, webhooks, and team accounts. No annual contract. No implementation fees. Cancel anytime.
Cost Predictability
With usage-based pricing, your monthly bill scales directly with volume. This is flexible but makes budgeting harder — a spike in screenings means a spike in cost. SanctScan's flat tiers give you a fixed monthly cost regardless of usage within your plan. At Growth ($149/month), screens are unlimited.
For a company running 2,000 screens per month, the annual cost with SanctScan Growth is $1,788. With per-check pricing, the equivalent cost depends entirely on sanctions.io's rate card, which is not public.
The Core Difference
Both platforms solve the same initial problem: take a name, check it against sanctions lists, return results via API.
The difference is what happens after that first check.
sanctions.io is a screening API covering sanctions, PEP, and adverse media (60,000+ news sources). It is fast and developer-friendly. Continuous monitoring as a managed product is not advertised on their site — for ongoing rescreening you build your own scheduling, diffing, and alerting layer.
SanctScan is a sanctions screening and monitoring platform. Beyond the initial API call, you can add entities to continuous monitoring. When sanctions lists update, SanctScan automatically re-screens your monitored entities and sends alerts via email (Solo+) and webhooks (Starter+) if anything changes. Resolution tracking, audit logs, and PDF exports (Solo+) are built in.
PEP and adverse media are not part of SanctScan's product (per the project roadmap, PEP is in development but not shipped). If you need those datasets today, sanctions.io's bundled coverage is the relevant differentiator.
This matters because sanctions compliance is not a one-time check. Sanctions lists change constantly — OFAC alone updates the SDN list multiple times per month. If you screen a customer on day one and never check again, you are exposed to risk the moment a new designation is published.
Feature-by-Feature Comparison
Sanctions List Coverage
| List | SanctScan | sanctions.io |
|---|---|---|
| OFAC SDN | Yes | Yes |
| US Consolidated Screening List | Yes | Yes |
| EU Consolidated | Yes | Yes |
| UN Security Council | Yes | Yes |
| UK HMT | Yes | Yes |
| Australian DFAT | Yes | Yes |
| Swiss SECO | Yes | Yes |
| Canada GAC | Yes | Yes |
| Japan MOF | Yes | Yes |
| Additional national lists | 9 lists total (incl. Canada GAC, Japan MOF) | Broader coverage advertised |
Both platforms cover the major multilateral and national lists that most businesses need. sanctions.io advertises broader list coverage, which may matter if you operate in jurisdictions requiring screening against less common national lists.
For OFAC SDN, EU, UN, and UK — the lists that cover the vast majority of compliance obligations — both platforms provide equivalent coverage.
Continuous Monitoring and Alerts
This is where the platforms diverge most significantly.
SanctScan re-screens monitored entities automatically when list data updates. If a previously clean entity appears on a sanctions list, or if a match score changes, you receive an alert via email and/or webhook. You can resolve alerts in the dashboard with notes, creating a documented audit trail.
sanctions.io does not offer a continuous monitoring product. To achieve ongoing screening, you would need to build your own scheduling system that periodically re-calls the API, compares results to previous checks, and triggers your own alerting pipeline. This is engineering work that SanctScan handles out of the box.
API and Developer Experience
Both platforms offer clean REST APIs designed for developers. sanctions.io advertises a ~350ms response time, which is competitive.
SanctScan's API is designed for same-day integration. The average time from signup to first production screen is under 2 hours. API documentation is public, and no sales call is required to get started.
Dashboard and Team Features
SanctScan includes a full team dashboard where multiple users can run screenings, review monitoring alerts, manage monitored entities, and export audit reports. Role-based access supports owners, billing admins, and viewers.
sanctions.io is primarily an API product. While it provides a developer dashboard for managing API keys and viewing usage, it is not designed as a team-facing compliance workspace.
Audit and Compliance
SanctScan logs every screening with timestamp, input data, match results, and risk score. Screening results can be exported as PDF reports for regulatory review. Monitoring alerts include a resolution workflow with notes and timestamps.
For teams that need to demonstrate a documented sanctions compliance program — as OFAC's Framework for Compliance Commitments expects — this audit trail is built in rather than assembled from API logs.
What sanctions.io Does Well
sanctions.io has genuine strengths that are worth acknowledging:
- Fast response time — ~350ms advertised response time is competitive for high-throughput integrations
- Developer-first design — Clean API, good documentation, focused on the developer experience
- Usage-based flexibility — Pay per check means you pay nothing in months with low volume
- Broad list coverage — Advertises coverage beyond the major multilateral lists
- Frequent data updates — 60-minute update cycle keeps data current
If your use case is purely transactional — screen at point of onboarding, no ongoing monitoring needed, developer building a custom pipeline — sanctions.io is a solid choice.
Who Should Use Which?
Choose SanctScan if:
- You need continuous monitoring, not just one-time screening
- You want alerts when sanctions lists change and a monitored entity is affected
- You need a team dashboard where compliance staff can review results
- You want PDF exports for audit documentation
- You prefer predictable flat pricing over usage-based billing
- You want to start with a free tier and upgrade as you grow
- You need webhooks for automated compliance workflows
- You are a SaaS company, marketplace, exporter, or professional services firm
Choose sanctions.io if:
- You are building a custom compliance pipeline and only need a screening API
- You have unpredictable, low-volume screening needs where per-check pricing is cheaper
- You need coverage of niche national sanctions lists beyond the major 7
- You have engineering resources to build your own monitoring, alerting, and audit systems
- You prefer usage-based billing and are comfortable with variable monthly costs
- Your compliance workflow is entirely API-driven with no need for a team dashboard
Migrating from sanctions.io
If you are currently using sanctions.io for screening and want to add continuous monitoring without building it yourself, migrating to SanctScan is straightforward:
- Sign up for a SanctScan account (start with the free tier to test)
- Update your API calls to use SanctScan's screening endpoint
- Add entities that need ongoing monitoring via the dashboard or API
- Configure webhook endpoints for automated alert delivery
- Set up team access for compliance staff who need dashboard access
Most integrations complete in a day. You gain continuous monitoring, webhook alerts, PDF exports, and a team dashboard — capabilities you would otherwise need to build and maintain yourself.
FAQ
Is SanctScan as fast as sanctions.io for API screening?
Both platforms return results quickly. sanctions.io advertises ~350ms response time. SanctScan is optimized for fast screening as well. For most compliance workflows, the difference in response time is not meaningful — the value is in accuracy and what happens after the initial check.
Does sanctions.io offer continuous monitoring?
sanctions.io does not advertise a managed continuous-monitoring product on its website — to achieve ongoing rescreening you build the polling, diffing, and alerting layer yourself on top of their API. SanctScan includes continuous monitoring out of the box with email alerts from the Solo plan ($19/month) and webhook delivery from the Starter plan ($39/month).
Can I use SanctScan's free tier in production?
Yes. The free tier includes 25 ad-hoc screens per month against the full set of global sanctions lists. It is designed for testing before upgrading or for very low-volume occasional use. Continuous monitoring, API access, webhooks, and team accounts unlock from Solo ($19/month) and Starter ($39/month). No credit card required for the free tier and no time limit.
Does SanctScan support usage-based pricing?
SanctScan uses flat monthly tiers. The Growth plan at $149/month includes unlimited screens. For most businesses, this is more cost-effective and predictable than per-check pricing, especially as screening volume grows.
Which platform has better sanctions list coverage?
Both cover OFAC SDN, EU, UN, UK HMT, and Australian DFAT. SanctScan covers 9 major lists including the US Consolidated Screening List, Swiss SECO, Canada GAC, and Japan MOF. sanctions.io advertises broader coverage of additional national lists. For the lists that matter to most businesses — OFAC, EU, UN, UK — coverage is equivalent.
Do I need a sales call to get started with SanctScan?
No. SanctScan is fully self-serve. Sign up, get your API key, and run your first screen in minutes. No demo required, no contract negotiation, no implementation timeline. Enterprise plans with custom volume are available by contacting the team.
Start screening for free today — or compare all plans to find the right tier for your team.