# ComplyAdvantage vs Middesk

> Middesk scores 59 (C) on agent readiness against ComplyAdvantage's 52.6 (D), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. ComplyAdvantage leads on agent ergonomics and security & auth. Both do kyc screening. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/complyadvantage-vs-middesk
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/complyadvantage-vs-middesk.md (~2,200 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/complyadvantage-vs-middesk.min.md (~730 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/complyadvantage-vs-middesk.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: 2026-10-08

Middesk scores 59 (C) on agent readiness against ComplyAdvantage's 52.6 (D), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. ComplyAdvantage leads on agent ergonomics and security & auth. Both do kyc screening.

- ComplyAdvantage: grade D, 52.6/100, rank #564 of 722. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/complyadvantage.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/complyadvantage.json
- Middesk: grade C, 59/100, rank #440 of 722. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/middesk.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/middesk.json

## Which one, for what

### ComplyAdvantage (D)

Good for: An agent that screens customers and companies against sanctions, politically exposed person and adverse media data, keeps them under monitoring and works the resulting alerts and cases.

Ahead on:
- Agent ergonomics, 67 against 56
- Security & auth, 68 against 56

Watch for: No public status page or incident history was found. `status.complyadvantage.com` does not resolve

### Middesk (C)

Good for: An agent onboarding or re-checking US businesses for a bank, lender or marketplace that already holds a Middesk contract, with registry, TIN, sanctions and lien data in one object.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 73 against 42
- Maintenance & community, 64 against 28
- Transparency & trust, 61 against 50

Watch for: No public price. Fees are set in an order form, and every docs page ends with a prompt to contact sales


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | ComplyAdvantage | Middesk | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 42 | 73 | Middesk +31 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 82 | 82 | even |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 67 | 56 | ComplyAdvantage +11 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 68 | 56 | ComplyAdvantage +12 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 10 | 10 | even |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 28 | 64 | Middesk +36 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 50 | 61 | Middesk +11 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **52.6 · D** | **59 · C** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | ComplyAdvantage | Middesk |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | IVXS UK Limited (trading as ComplyAdvantage) | Middesk, Inc. |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.mesh.complyadvantage.com` | `https://api.middesk.com/v1` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Paid | Paid |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary service. No service agreement is published, and the terms page on complyadvantage.com covers the website only | Proprietary service under Middesk's Business Verification Terms and Conditions. The Claude Code and Codex plugins on GitHub are MIT |
| Tools exposed | none | 11 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-09-16 | 2026-10-05 |
| Terms last updated | no document linked | no date given |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-06-12 | no date given |
| Customer content may train models |  | yes |
| Terms restrict automated access |  | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking |  | yes |
| Terms or service can change without notice |  | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver |  | yes |
| Popularity | none | 2 stars |

## Verdicts

**ComplyAdvantage.** The Mesh API has a public OpenAPI 3.0.3 spec with 165 described operations, per-credential permissions and audit log endpoints, which suits an agent screening customers and working alerts. No status page, changelog, SDK, service agreement or subprocessor list was found in public, and access starts with a paid plan bought by a person.

**Middesk.** A public OpenAPI 3.1 contract for 87 operations, llms.txt, Markdown docs and a dated weekly changelog make the REST API readable to an agent, and OAuth has a read-only scope. Access is sales-led. No price, self-serve signup or official SDK was found, and the hosted MCP server rejects sandbox keys.

## Before you call either

### ComplyAdvantage

1. Exchange the access key and secret at `POST /v3/token` for a bearer token. It lasts 24 hours and can't be refreshed, so request a new one before expiry
2. Ask for a credential with only the permissions the task needs. Permissions can't be edited later, and each reference page names the ones a call requires
3. Create a screening configuration first and keep its `configuration_identifier`. Creating and screening a customer needs it
4. Give each customer a unique external identifier. A concurrent request for the same identifier returns 409 with a pointer to the first workflow
5. Read `Ratelimit-Remaining` and `Ratelimit-Reset` on every response. A 429 body is only `API rate limit exceeded`

### Middesk

1. Match the key to the host. `mk_test` keys work only at https://api-sandbox.middesk.com/v1 and `mk_live` keys only at https://api.middesk.com/v1
2. Name the `orders` on `POST /v1/businesses`. Omitting them places a verification order plus every package the account runs automatically, all billed
3. Send `address_line1` and `address_line2`. The API ignores `address_line_1` without an error
4. A 201 means the business was created, not verified. Wait for the `business.updated` webhook or poll until `status` leaves `pending`
5. Stay under 20 requests a second per account, and in sandbox wait the seconds in `Retry-After` after a 429 on business creation

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, ComplyAdvantage or Middesk?

Middesk scores 59 (C) on agent readiness against ComplyAdvantage's 52.6 (D), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. ComplyAdvantage leads on agent ergonomics and security & auth.

### Do ComplyAdvantage and Middesk need an API key?

ComplyAdvantage uses an OAuth sign-in. Middesk takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in.

### Can an agent call ComplyAdvantage and Middesk without installing anything?

Yes. ComplyAdvantage has a hosted endpoint at https://api.mesh.complyadvantage.com and Middesk at https://api.middesk.com/v1.


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with ComplyAdvantage or Middesk

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