# ComplyAdvantage vs Persona

> Persona scores 69.5 (B) on agent readiness against ComplyAdvantage's 52.6 (D), and leads in every scored category. Both do kyc screening. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

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

Persona scores 69.5 (B) on agent readiness against ComplyAdvantage's 52.6 (D), and leads in every scored category. 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
- Persona: grade B, 69.5/100, rank #157 of 722. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/persona.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/persona.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.

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

### Persona (B)

Good for: A company that already runs Persona and wants an agent to create inquiries from templates, read verification and report results, screen against watchlists and work review cases with a permission-limited key.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 70 against 42
- Agent ergonomics, 74 against 67
- Security & auth, 73 against 68
- Payments & pricing, 35 against 10
- Maintenance & community, 75 against 28
- Transparency & trust, 68 against 50

Watch for: Production access needs Persona's approval and a 12-month plan from $250 a month, and API-only integration is limited to Enterprise plans


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | ComplyAdvantage | Persona | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 42 | 70 | Persona +28 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 82 | 85 | Persona +3 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 67 | 74 | Persona +7 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 68 | 73 | Persona +5 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 10 | 35 | Persona +25 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 28 | 75 | Persona +47 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 50 | 68 | Persona +18 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **52.6 · D** | **69.5 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | ComplyAdvantage | Persona |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | IVXS UK Limited (trading as ComplyAdvantage) | Persona Identities, Inc. |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.mesh.complyadvantage.com` | `https://mcp.withpersona.com` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth | API 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 Persona's terms of service. The `persona` JavaScript client on npm is MIT |
| Tools exposed | none | 190 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-09-16 | 2026-09-29 |
| Terms last updated | no document linked | couldn't be read |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-06-12 | couldn't be read |
| Customer content may train models |  | couldn't be read |
| Terms restrict automated access |  | couldn't be read |
| Terms restrict benchmarking |  | couldn't be read |
| Terms or service can change without notice |  | couldn't be read |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver |  | couldn't be read |
| Popularity | none | 570k npm/wk |

## 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.

**Persona.** The REST API has a public OpenAPI 3.1 file, llms.txt, API keys with per-resource permissions, idempotency keys on every POST and a 60-day sandbox trial with no card. Production needs a business review and a 12-month plan from $250 a month. The status page lists 11 incidents since 10 July 2026, including 70 minutes of timeouts across all products.

## 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`

### Persona

1. Ask for a dedicated key limited to the permissions the task needs. A new key has every standard permission until it's limited
2. Send `Persona-Version` on every call and an `Idempotency-Key` on every POST. A replayed key returns the first result, including a 500
3. Treat redact calls as irreversible. They permanently delete personal data and cascade to downstream objects
4. Stay under 300 requests a minute in production, read `RateLimit-Remaining` and `Quota-Remaining`, and back off on 429 because rejected requests still count
5. Use `fields` and `include` to cut response size. Through MCP these parameters aren't exposed, and only 14 tools take `filter`

## Questions

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

Persona scores 69.5 (B) on agent readiness against ComplyAdvantage's 52.6 (D), and leads in every scored category.

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

ComplyAdvantage uses an OAuth sign-in. Persona needs an API key.

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

Yes. ComplyAdvantage has a hosted endpoint at https://api.mesh.complyadvantage.com and Persona at https://mcp.withpersona.com.


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with ComplyAdvantage or Persona

- [ComplyCube vs Persona](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/complycube-vs-persona.md)
- [Didit vs Persona](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/didit-vs-persona.md)
- [Jumio vs Persona](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jumio-vs-persona.md)
- [Persona vs Sumsub](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/persona-vs-sumsub.md)
- [Persona vs Trulioo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/persona-vs-trulioo.md)
- [Persona vs Veriff](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/persona-vs-veriff.md)
- [ComplyAdvantage vs ComplyCube](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/complyadvantage-vs-complycube.md)
- [ComplyAdvantage vs Didit](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/complyadvantage-vs-didit.md)
- [ComplyAdvantage vs Jumio](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/complyadvantage-vs-jumio.md)
- [ComplyAdvantage vs Middesk](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/complyadvantage-vs-middesk.md)
- [ComplyAdvantage vs Sumsub](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/complyadvantage-vs-sumsub.md)
- [ComplyAdvantage vs Trulioo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/complyadvantage-vs-trulioo.md)
- [ComplyAdvantage vs Veriff](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/complyadvantage-vs-veriff.md)
- [Middesk vs Persona](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/middesk-vs-persona.md)