Identity Verification Pricing: How Much Does KYC Really Cost in 2026?
Per-check rates are only the start. Annual minimums, failed-attempt charges, setup fees, and add-on module costs inflate the real price of KYC. Here's how to compute your true total cost — and how Didit prices differently.
Identity verification costs what you actually pay per successful check — not the sticker rate in a vendor deck. The real number is assembled from five separate line items that many providers leave out of the headline price.
This guide breaks down each cost driver, shows how to build a true total cost of ownership (TCO) calculation, and explains how Didit's public per-module pricing changes the math.
Key takeaways
- Most KYC (Know Your Customer) vendors quote a per-check rate but charge separately for failed attempts, annual minimums, setup fees, and add-on modules.
- The five cost drivers are: per-check rate, minimum spend or seat licenses, failed-attempt charges, setup and implementation fees, and add-on module fees.
- Didit publishes a public price on every module — no contracts, no minimums, no seat licenses. 500 free verifications per month, then pay-per-success.
- A full KYC core flow with Didit — ID Verification + Passive Liveness + Face Match 1:1 + IP Analysis — costs $0.33 total. Add or remove modules to match your risk model exactly.
- 3–5× cheaper than most enterprise IDV (identity verification) pricing once minimums and add-ons are factored in.
What drives KYC pricing
Most identity verification vendors quote a single per-check number. That number rarely reflects what you end up paying. The real cost model has five components:
1. Per-check rate. The headline number — what the vendor charges when a session completes. This alone ranges from a few cents for document-only checks to $2–$4+ for bundled flows at many enterprise providers.
2. Annual minimums or seat licenses. Many vendors lock you into a minimum annual spend — often $20,000–$100,000 — or charge per seat regardless of usage. If you're early-stage or have seasonal volume, you pay for capacity you don't consume.
3. Failed-attempt charges. Some vendors bill for every session started, not every session completed — including the ones where the user abandoned, the document was illegible, or the liveness step failed. At volume, the gap between started sessions and successful sessions adds meaningful cost.
4. Setup and implementation fees. Enterprise contracts often include a one-time integration charge, professional services hours, or a mandatory onboarding package that runs thousands of dollars before you run a single real check.
5. Add-on module fees. Base packages frequently exclude AML (Anti-Money-Laundering) screening, ongoing monitoring, NFC reading, biometric re-authentication, and proof of address. Each becomes a separate line item negotiated and renewed independently.
Why transparency matters
When pricing is opaque — quote-only, minimum-term, or buried in a contract — the cost is unpredictable. Engineering teams can't model infrastructure costs. Compliance teams can't forecast the impact of adding an AML step to the onboarding flow. Growth teams can't estimate the cost of a seasonal volume spike.
Transparent, published pricing lets you run the numbers yourself before talking to anyone. You know what each module costs, what happens if you add a step, and what your bill looks like across different volume bands.
How to compute your true KYC total cost of ownership
Build your own TCO model in four steps:
Step 1 — identify the modules you actually need. A document + liveness + face match check has a different cost than a full KYC + AML + ongoing monitoring workflow. List every check your flow requires.
Step 2 — find the per-module price. If the vendor publishes it, use it. If not, you're negotiating blind — and that's a signal about how the relationship will go.
Step 3 — add the fixed-cost overhead. Divide any annual minimum or setup fee by your expected annual session volume to get the per-check overhead. At 1,000 verifications per year with a $20,000 minimum, the minimum alone adds $20 per check on top of the stated rate.
Step 4 — factor in failed attempts. If the vendor charges on session start rather than session success, estimate your abandonment and failure rate (industry range is 10–30%) and apply it to the per-check rate.
Compare the final number across vendors on an apples-to-apples basis.
The Didit pricing model
Didit publishes a public price on every module. There are no minimums, no annual commitments, and no seat licenses. You are billed per successful check — not per session started.
Selected module prices:
| Module | Price |
|---|---|
| ID Verification | $0.15 |
| Passive Liveness | $0.10 |
| Active Liveness | $0.15 |
| Face Match 1:1 | $0.05 |
| Face Search 1:N | Free |
| Age Estimation | $0.10 |
| Biometric Auth | $0.10 |
| NFC Reading | $0.15 |
| Proof of Address | $0.20 |
| Custom Questionnaires | $0.10 |
| AML Screening | $0.20 (1,300+ watchlists) |
| Ongoing AML Monitoring | $0.07 / user / year |
| IP Analysis | $0.03 |
| Email Verification | $0.03 |
| KYB | From $2.00 / company |
| Transaction Monitoring | $0.02 / transaction |
| Wallet Screening | From $0.15 managed / $0.02 BYOK |
| White Label | $0.20 |
| Reusable KYC | Free |
| Workflow Orchestrator | Free |
| MCP Server | Free |
| SDKs | Free |
The core KYC flow — ID Verification + Passive Liveness + Face Match 1:1 + IP Analysis — totals $0.33 per successful check. Add AML Screening at $0.20 to bring a complete onboarding check to $0.53. The Visual Workflow Builder, MCP (Model Context Protocol) server, and SDKs for Web, iOS, Android, React Native, and Flutter are all free.
500 free verifications per month, then pay only for what you use. No contract required to start.
Use cases
Neobank and payments onboarding. High-volume, cost-sensitive flows where a $0.33 core check competes directly against $1–3 enterprise bundles. At 100,000 verifications per year, a $20,000 annual minimum at a competitor adds $0.20 per check before the stated rate; Didit's overhead is zero.
iGaming and age-gated platforms. Age Estimation + ID Verification + Passive Liveness for age-gating costs $0.35 with Didit. Adding AML Screening brings it to $0.55. Predictable, public pricing makes compliance budgeting straightforward.
Marketplace seller onboarding. KYB (Know Your Business) from $2.00 per company, with linked KYC sessions for UBOs (ultimate beneficial owners). A clear per-company price makes onboarding cost a knowable line item in your unit economics.
Crypto exchanges and VASPs. AML screening, wallet screening, ongoing monitoring, and transaction monitoring in one workflow. BYOK (bring-your-own-key) wallet screening at $0.02 per check is roughly 10× cheaper than most direct blockchain-analytics contracts.
How Didit helps
Every module in Didit's catalog is available at a published price, composable in the no-code Visual Workflow Builder, and callable via the unified /v3/ API. 1,500+ companies across 220+ countries use Didit for KYC, KYB (Know Your Business), AML, Transaction Monitoring, and Wallet Screening.
Certifications: SOC 2 Type 1, ISO/IEC 27001:2022, iBeta Level 1 PAD (0% IAPAR / 360 attempts). Only provider formally attested by an EU member-state government (Spain's Tesoro / BdE / SEPBLAC / CNMV) as safer than in-person verification.
Start with 500 free verifications per month, add modules as you need them, and scale without renegotiating a contract. Full pricing is at didit.me/pricing.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a full KYC check cost with Didit?
The core flow — ID Verification + Passive Liveness + Face Match 1:1 + IP Analysis — is $0.33 per successful check. AML Screening adds $0.20. See the full breakdown at didit.me/pricing.
Does Didit charge for failed verification attempts?
No. Didit charges per successful check, not per session started. If a user abandons or a document is unreadable, you are not billed for that attempt.
Is there a minimum spend or annual commitment?
No. There are no minimums, no annual contracts, and no seat licenses. 500 free verifications per month, then pay per check at published per-module rates.
How does Didit compare to enterprise IDV pricing?
3–5× cheaper once minimums, add-on module fees, and failed-attempt charges are included. Because Didit publishes prices, you can verify the comparison yourself before making any decision.
Can I get a free trial?
Yes. Every account starts with 500 free verifications per month — no contract, no credit card required to start at business.didit.me.
Ready to get started?
- See full pricing → didit.me/pricing — public per-module prices, no quote required
- Learn the platform → didit.me/products/id-verification
- Start free → business.didit.me — 500 free verifications / month, no commitment