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Head to head · Identity verification · October 2026 research run

Middesk vs Stripe Identity

Stripe Identity scores 77.7 (BB) on agent readiness against Middesk's 59 (C), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Middesk leads on reliability. Both do identity verification.

Best identity and business verification APIs for AI agents · All 119 verification comparisons

MiddeskMiddesk, Inc. · HTTP API C59/100#596 of 1076 Stripe IdentityStripe, LLC · HTTP API BB77.7/100#21 of 1076

Which one, for what

Middesk C

Best 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 62

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

Stripe Identity BB

Best for A business already on Stripe that needs document and selfie checks or US SSN validation with published prices.

Ahead on

  • Schema & documentation, 94 against 82
  • Agent ergonomics, 93 against 56
  • Security & auth, 86 against 56
  • Payments & pricing, 40 against 10
  • Maintenance & community, 85 against 64
  • Transparency & trust, 85 against 61

Also in its favour

  • Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better

Watch for

Document, selfie and US SSN checks only. No sanctions or watchlist screening and no business verification

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runMiddeskStripe IdentityEdge
Reliability16%207362Middesk +11
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.28294Stripe Identity +12
Agent ergonomics13%16.25693Stripe Identity +37
Security & auth14%17.55686Stripe Identity +30
Payments & pricing10%12.51040Stripe Identity +30
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.86485Stripe Identity +21
Transparency & trust7%8.86185Stripe Identity +24
Negative events≤1500
TotalC 59/100BB 77.7/100

Facts side by side

FactMiddeskStripe Identity
KindHTTP APIHTTP API
VendorMiddesk, Inc.Stripe, LLC
Hosted endpointhttps://api.middesk.com/v1no (local only)
TransportsHTTPHTTP
AuthOAuth or keyAPI key
PricingPaidPay per use
x402nono
LicenceProprietary service under Middesk's Business Verification Terms and Conditions. The Claude Code and Codex plugins on GitHub are MITProprietary service under the Stripe Services Agreement and Stripe Identity Terms. The OpenAPI spec and official SDKs are MIT
Tools exposed11none
Read-only variant documentednono
llms.txtyesyes
Last release2026-10-052026-10-01
Terms last updatedno date given2026-09-28
Privacy policy last updatedno date given2026-04-28
Customer content may train modelsyesyes
Terms restrict automated accessnot found in the textnot found in the text
Terms restrict benchmarkingyesnot found in the text
Terms or service can change without noticenot found in the textnot found in the text
Arbitration or class-action waiveryesnot found in the text
Popularity2 stars24.2M npm/wk, 11.4M 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.

Stripe Identity

Stripe Identity runs on the Stripe API, with a public OpenAPI spec, idempotency keys, restricted keys for sensitive fields and a redact endpoint. The product page lists £1.25 per document and selfie check, and the first 50 are free. It has no watchlist or business screening, and outside GB, JP and the US it is in public beta.

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

Stripe Identity

  1. Send an Idempotency-Key based on your user reference when creating a VerificationSession, so a retry doesn't make a second session
  2. Send the end user the session URL or client secret. The person completes the check, the agent can't. Links expire after 48 hours
  3. Use a restricted key for verified_outputs.dob and id_number. Without an IP restriction it reads them only for 48 hours
  4. Wait for identity.verification_session.verified or requires_input webhooks instead of polling
  5. Treat redact as irreversible, and don't put personal data in metadata

Questions

Which is better for AI agents, Middesk or Stripe Identity?

Stripe Identity scores 77.7 (BB) on agent readiness against Middesk's 59 (C), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Middesk leads on reliability.

Do Middesk and Stripe Identity need an API key?

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

Can an agent call Middesk and Stripe Identity without installing anything?

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

Other comparisons with Middesk or Stripe Identity

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