# Middesk vs Plaid Identity Verification

> Plaid Identity Verification scores 67.1 (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/middesk-vs-plaid-identity-verification
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/middesk-vs-plaid-identity-verification.md (~2,800 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/middesk-vs-plaid-identity-verification.min.md (~730 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/middesk-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 Middesk's 59 (C), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Middesk leads on reliability. Both do identity verification.

- 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
- 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

### 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 68

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

### 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 82
- Agent ergonomics, 75 against 56
- Security & auth, 61 against 56
- Payments & pricing, 15 against 10
- Maintenance & community, 83 against 64
- Transparency & trust, 77 against 61

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


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Middesk | Plaid Identity Verification | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 73 | 68 | Middesk +5 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 82 | 91 | Plaid Identity Verification +9 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 56 | 75 | Plaid Identity Verification +19 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 56 | 61 | Plaid Identity Verification +5 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 10 | 15 | Plaid Identity Verification +5 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 64 | 83 | Plaid Identity Verification +19 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 61 | 77 | Plaid Identity Verification +16 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **59 · C** | **67.1 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Middesk | Plaid Identity Verification |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Middesk, Inc. | Plaid Inc. |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.middesk.com/v1` | no (local only) |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth or key | API key |
| Pricing | Paid | Paid |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary service under Middesk's Business Verification Terms and Conditions. The Claude Code and Codex plugins on GitHub are MIT | Proprietary service under Plaid's developer policy and end-user terms. The OpenAPI file and client libraries are MIT |
| Tools exposed | 11 | none |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-05 | 2026-10-13 |
| Terms last updated | no date given | 2025-12-01 |
| Privacy policy last updated | no date given | 2025-12-01 |
| Customer content may train models | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | yes |
| 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 | 2 stars | 1.2M npm/wk, 656k PyPI/wk |

## Verdicts

**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.

**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

### 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

### 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, Middesk or Plaid Identity Verification?

Plaid Identity Verification scores 67.1 (B) on agent readiness against Middesk's 59 (C), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Middesk leads on reliability.

### Do Middesk and Plaid Identity Verification need an API key?

Middesk takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in. Plaid Identity Verification needs an API key.

### Can an agent call Middesk and Plaid Identity Verification without installing anything?

Middesk has a hosted endpoint at https://api.middesk.com/v1. No hosted endpoint is listed for Plaid Identity Verification.


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Middesk or Plaid Identity Verification

- [Alloy vs Middesk](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/alloy-vs-middesk.md)
- [Alloy vs Plaid Identity Verification](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/alloy-vs-plaid-identity-verification.md)
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- [Entrust Identity Verification (formerly Onfido) vs Middesk](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/entrust-identity-verification-vs-middesk.md)
- [Entrust Identity Verification (formerly Onfido) vs Plaid Identity Verification](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/entrust-identity-verification-vs-plaid-identity-verification.md)
- [Jumio vs Middesk](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jumio-vs-middesk.md)
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- [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)
- [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)
- [ComplyAdvantage vs Middesk](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/complyadvantage-vs-middesk.md)
- [ComplyAdvantage vs Plaid Identity Verification](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/complyadvantage-vs-plaid-identity-verification.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)