# Alloy vs Stripe Identity

> Stripe Identity scores 77.7 (BB) to Alloy's 52.4 (D) for identity verification. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/alloy-vs-stripe-identity
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/alloy-vs-stripe-identity.md (~2,500 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/alloy-vs-stripe-identity.min.md (~630 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/alloy-vs-stripe-identity.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- Updated: 2026-10-14

Stripe Identity scores 77.7 (BB) on agent readiness against Alloy's 52.4 (D), and leads in every scored category. Both do identity verification.

- Alloy: grade D, 52.4/100, rank #782 of 1076. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/alloy.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/alloy.json
- Stripe Identity: grade BB, 77.7/100, rank #21 of 1076. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/stripe-identity.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/stripe-identity.json
- Best identity and business verification APIs for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/identity-verification/index.md
- All 119 verification comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/identity-verification/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Alloy (D)

Good for: Banks and fintechs that already run onboarding through Alloy and want an agent to submit journey applications, read decisions and work investigations.

Watch for: No public prices, trial or self-serve sign-up. Access starts with a demo request

### Stripe Identity (BB)

Good for: A business already on Stripe that needs document and selfie checks or US SSN validation with published prices.

Ahead on:
- Schema & documentation, 94 against 73
- Agent ergonomics, 93 against 52
- Security & auth, 86 against 49
- Payments & pricing, 40 against 0
- Maintenance & community, 85 against 72
- Transparency & trust, 85 against 62

Also in its favour:
- Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better

Watch for: Document, selfie and US SSN checks only. No sanctions or watchlist screening and no business verification


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Alloy | Stripe Identity | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 59 | 62 | Stripe Identity +3 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 73 | 94 | Stripe Identity +21 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 52 | 93 | Stripe Identity +41 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 49 | 86 | Stripe Identity +37 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 0 | 40 | Stripe Identity +40 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 72 | 85 | Stripe Identity +13 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 62 | 85 | Stripe Identity +23 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **52.4 · D** | **77.7 · BB** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Alloy | Stripe Identity |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | First Mile Group, Inc. (Alloy) | Stripe, LLC |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth or key | API key |
| Pricing | Paid | Pay per use |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary service under Alloy's terms of service. The @alloyidentity/web-sdk capture package is MIT | Proprietary service under the Stripe Services Agreement and Stripe Identity Terms. The OpenAPI spec and official SDKs are MIT |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-05 | 2026-10-01 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-03-12 | 2026-09-28 |
| Privacy policy last updated | no date given | 2026-04-28 |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | yes |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | not found in the text |
| Popularity | 21k npm/wk | 24.2M npm/wk, 11.4M PyPI/wk |

## Verdicts

**Alloy.** Alloy's public docs cover journeys, evaluations, entities, documents, cases and investigations, with llms.txt, Markdown pages, OpenAPI fragments and rate-limit headers with retry-after. Access is sales-led with no public price or trial, credentials have no scopes, there is no idempotency key or server SDK, and inputs vary by each customer's workflow.

**Stripe Identity.** Stripe Identity runs on the Stripe API, with a public OpenAPI spec, idempotency keys, restricted keys for sensitive fields and a redact endpoint. The product page lists £1.25 per document and selfie check, and the first 50 are free. It has no watchlist or business screening, and outside GB, JP and the US it is in public beta.

## Before you call either

### Alloy

1. Get the account's base URL from the customer. Defaults are api.alloy.co and sandbox.alloy.co, and some accounts have their own hosts
2. Use unique, prefixed external IDs in sandbox. Sandbox and Production share one data store
3. Read `alloy-ratelimit-remaining`, and on 429 or 5xx wait for `retry-after` with exponential backoff and jitter
4. Expect `running` after about 25 seconds on journey applications and wait for the webhook instead of resubmitting
5. Send the workflow header with account-level keys, since inputs depend on the workflow configured

### Stripe Identity

1. Send an Idempotency-Key based on your user reference when creating a VerificationSession, so a retry doesn't make a second session
2. Send the end user the session URL or client secret. The person completes the check, the agent can't. Links expire after 48 hours
3. Use a restricted key for `verified_outputs.dob` and `id_number`. Without an IP restriction it reads them only for 48 hours
4. Wait for `identity.verification_session.verified` or `requires_input` webhooks instead of polling
5. Treat `redact` as irreversible, and don't put personal data in metadata

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Alloy or Stripe Identity?

Stripe Identity scores 77.7 (BB) on agent readiness against Alloy's 52.4 (D), and leads in every scored category.

### Do Alloy and Stripe Identity need an API key?

Alloy takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in. Stripe Identity needs an API key.

### Can an agent call Alloy and Stripe Identity without installing anything?

No hosted endpoint is listed for Alloy. No hosted endpoint is listed for Stripe Identity.


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/alloy-vs-stripe-identity.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/alloy-vs-stripe-identity.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "alloy", "b": "stripe-identity"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare alloy stripe-identity`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/alloy.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/stripe-identity.json

## Other comparisons with Alloy or Stripe Identity

- [Alloy vs ComplyCube](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/alloy-vs-complycube.md)
- [Alloy vs Didit](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/alloy-vs-didit.md)
- [Alloy vs Entrust Identity Verification (formerly Onfido)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/alloy-vs-entrust-identity-verification.md)
- [Alloy vs Jumio](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/alloy-vs-jumio.md)
- [Alloy vs Middesk](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/alloy-vs-middesk.md)
- [Alloy vs Persona](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/alloy-vs-persona.md)
- [Alloy vs Plaid Identity Verification](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/alloy-vs-plaid-identity-verification.md)
- [Alloy vs Shufti](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/alloy-vs-shufti.md)
- [Alloy vs Socure RiskOS](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/alloy-vs-socure-riskos.md)
- [Alloy vs Sumsub](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/alloy-vs-sumsub.md)
- [Alloy vs Trulioo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/alloy-vs-trulioo.md)
- [Alloy vs Veriff](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/alloy-vs-veriff.md)
- [Alloy vs Vouched](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/alloy-vs-vouched.md)
- [ComplyCube vs Stripe Identity](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/complycube-vs-stripe-identity.md)
- [Didit vs Stripe Identity](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/didit-vs-stripe-identity.md)
- [Entrust Identity Verification (formerly Onfido) vs Stripe Identity](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/entrust-identity-verification-vs-stripe-identity.md)
- [Jumio vs Stripe Identity](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jumio-vs-stripe-identity.md)
- [Middesk vs Stripe Identity](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/middesk-vs-stripe-identity.md)
- [Persona vs Stripe Identity](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/persona-vs-stripe-identity.md)
- [Plaid Identity Verification vs Stripe Identity](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/plaid-identity-verification-vs-stripe-identity.md)
- [Shufti vs Stripe Identity](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/shufti-vs-stripe-identity.md)
- [Socure RiskOS vs Stripe Identity](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/socure-riskos-vs-stripe-identity.md)
- [Stripe Identity vs Sumsub](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/stripe-identity-vs-sumsub.md)
- [Stripe Identity vs Trulioo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/stripe-identity-vs-trulioo.md)
- [Stripe Identity vs Veriff](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/stripe-identity-vs-veriff.md)
- [Stripe Identity vs Vouched](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/stripe-identity-vs-vouched.md)
- [Alloy vs ComplyAdvantage](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/alloy-vs-complyadvantage.md)