# Entrust Identity Verification (formerly Onfido) vs Middesk

> Entrust Identity Verification scores 62.1 (B) to Middesk's 59 (C) for identity verification. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/entrust-identity-verification-vs-middesk
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/entrust-identity-verification-vs-middesk.md (~2,950 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/entrust-identity-verification-vs-middesk.min.md (~780 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/entrust-identity-verification-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: 2026-10-14

Entrust Identity Verification (formerly Onfido) scores 62.1 (B) on agent readiness against Middesk's 59 (C), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Middesk leads on maintenance & community. Both do identity verification.

- Entrust Identity Verification (formerly Onfido): grade B, 62.1/100, rank #472 of 1076. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/entrust-identity-verification.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/entrust-identity-verification.json
- Middesk: grade C, 59/100, rank #596 of 1076. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/middesk.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/middesk.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

### Entrust Identity Verification (formerly Onfido) (B)

Good for: A company already contracted with Entrust that wants an agent to create applicants, start workflow runs and read reports through typed libraries and a public spec.

Ahead on:
- Agent ergonomics, 65 against 56
- Payments & pricing, 20 against 10
- Transparency & trust, 70 against 61

Watch for: entrust.com answered 403 to every request, so the terms, privacy notice, pricing page and security.txt weren't read

### 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:
- Maintenance & community, 64 against 58

Also in its favour:
- A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install

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 | Entrust Identity Verification (formerly Onfido) | Middesk | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 70 | 73 | Middesk +3 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 84 | 82 | Entrust Identity Verification (formerly Onfido) +2 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 65 | 56 | Entrust Identity Verification (formerly Onfido) +9 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 58 | 56 | Entrust Identity Verification (formerly Onfido) +2 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 20 | 10 | Entrust Identity Verification (formerly Onfido) +10 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 58 | 64 | Middesk +6 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 70 | 61 | Entrust Identity Verification (formerly Onfido) +9 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **62.1 · B** | **59 · C** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Entrust Identity Verification (formerly Onfido) | Middesk |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Onfido Ltd (Entrust) | Middesk, Inc. |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | `https://api.middesk.com/v1` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Paid | Paid |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary service under Entrust's terms. The OpenAPI spec and the server libraries (onfido-java, onfido-node, onfido-php, onfido-python, onfido-ruby) are MIT | 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 | 2026-08-31 | 2026-10-05 |
| Terms last updated | couldn't be read | no date given |
| Privacy policy last updated |  | no date given |
| Customer content may train models | couldn't be read | yes |
| Terms restrict automated access | couldn't be read | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | couldn't be read | yes |
| Terms or service can change without notice | couldn't be read | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | couldn't be read | yes |
| Popularity | 59k npm/wk, 27k PyPI/wk | 2 stars |

## Verdicts

**Entrust Identity Verification (formerly Onfido).** The v3.6 API has a public MIT OpenAPI file, server libraries in five languages, OAuth client credentials with scopes and an 18-month deprecation notice. Entrust's own site answered 403, so terms, privacy notice, pricing and security.txt weren't read. There is no idempotency key, and live tokens need a Dashboard account with billing details.

**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

### Entrust Identity Verification (formerly Onfido)

1. Use the regional host for the account (api.eu, api.us or api.ca.onfido.com/v3.6). v3.6 has no default region
2. Prefer an OAuth client with only the scopes the task needs over a live API token, and refresh the 60-minute access token
3. Stay under 400 requests a minute live and 120 in sandbox, and back off on a 429 `rate_limit` error
4. Check before retrying a POST. There is no idempotency key, so a retry can create a second applicant or check
5. Treat webhook events as duplicates or out of order, and verify `X-SHA2-Signature` over the raw body

### 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, Entrust Identity Verification (formerly Onfido) or Middesk?

Entrust Identity Verification (formerly Onfido) scores 62.1 (B) on agent readiness against Middesk's 59 (C), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Middesk leads on maintenance & community.

### Do Entrust Identity Verification (formerly Onfido) and Middesk need an API key?

Both take an API key or an OAuth sign-in.

### Can an agent call Entrust Identity Verification (formerly Onfido) and Middesk without installing anything?

No hosted endpoint is listed for Entrust Identity Verification (formerly Onfido). Middesk has a hosted endpoint at https://api.middesk.com/v1.


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Entrust Identity Verification (formerly Onfido) or Middesk

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