# Entrust Identity Verification (formerly Onfido) vs Plaid Identity Verification

> Plaid Identity Verification scores 67.1 (B) to Entrust Identity Verification's 62.1 (B) for identity verification. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/entrust-identity-verification-vs-plaid-identity-verification
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/entrust-identity-verification-vs-plaid-identity-verification.md (~3,150 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/entrust-identity-verification-vs-plaid-identity-verification.min.md (~780 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/entrust-identity-verification-vs-plaid-identity-verification.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

Plaid Identity Verification scores 67.1 (B) on agent readiness against Entrust Identity Verification (formerly Onfido)'s 62.1 (B), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Entrust Identity Verification (formerly Onfido) leads on payments & pricing. 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
- Plaid Identity Verification: grade B, 67.1/100, rank #278 of 1076. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/plaid-identity-verification.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/plaid-identity-verification.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:
- Payments & pricing, 20 against 15

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

### Plaid Identity Verification (B)

Good for: US, Canadian and UK companies that want KYC with data source checks, documents and selfies, especially those already on Plaid or wanting Monitor screening in the same flow.

Ahead on:
- Schema & documentation, 91 against 84
- Agent ergonomics, 75 against 65
- Maintenance & community, 83 against 58
- Transparency & trust, 77 against 70

Watch for: No public prices. Rates appear only after a Production application


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Entrust Identity Verification (formerly Onfido) | Plaid Identity Verification | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 70 | 68 | Entrust Identity Verification (formerly Onfido) +2 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 84 | 91 | Plaid Identity Verification +7 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 65 | 75 | Plaid Identity Verification +10 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 58 | 61 | Plaid Identity Verification +3 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 20 | 15 | Entrust Identity Verification (formerly Onfido) +5 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 58 | 83 | Plaid Identity Verification +25 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 70 | 77 | Plaid Identity Verification +7 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **62.1 · B** | **67.1 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Entrust Identity Verification (formerly Onfido) | Plaid Identity Verification |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Onfido Ltd (Entrust) | Plaid Inc. |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth or key | API 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 Plaid's developer policy and end-user terms. The OpenAPI file and client libraries are MIT |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-08-31 | 2026-10-13 |
| Terms last updated | couldn't be read | 2025-12-01 |
| Privacy policy last updated |  | 2025-12-01 |
| Customer content may train models | couldn't be read | not found in the text |
| 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 | not found in the text |
| Popularity | 59k npm/wk, 27k PyPI/wk | 1.2M npm/wk, 656k PyPI/wk |

## 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.

**Plaid Identity Verification.** Plaid Identity Verification has four typed endpoints in Plaid's public OpenAPI file, an idempotent create, a backend-only flow for data source checks and frequent changelog entries. Prices appear only after applying for Production, the secret has no scopes, and the rate-limit and error pages are disallowed to crawlers.

## 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

### Plaid Identity Verification

1. Pass `is_idempotent: true` to /identity_verification/create so a retry returns the existing session
2. Use the backend-only flow (data source template, `gave_consent: true`) when you already hold the user's details. Documents and selfies need the person in Link
3. Wait for the STATUS_UPDATED webhook or poll /identity_verification/get. Link's onSuccess doesn't mean the user passed
4. Don't issue retries casually. Each retry is a new session billed again
5. Enable Sandbox for Identity Verification on the Dashboard Products page before the first call

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Entrust Identity Verification (formerly Onfido) or Plaid Identity Verification?

Plaid Identity Verification scores 67.1 (B) on agent readiness against Entrust Identity Verification (formerly Onfido)'s 62.1 (B), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Entrust Identity Verification (formerly Onfido) leads on payments & pricing.

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

Entrust Identity Verification (formerly Onfido) takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in. Plaid Identity Verification needs an API key.

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

No hosted endpoint is listed for Entrust Identity Verification (formerly Onfido). No hosted endpoint is listed for Plaid Identity Verification.


## For agents

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

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

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