# Persona vs Shufti

> Persona scores 69.5 (B) on agent readiness against Shufti's 57.8 (C), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Both do kyc identity. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/persona-vs-shufti
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/persona-vs-shufti.md (~2,200 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/persona-vs-shufti.min.md (~730 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/persona-vs-shufti.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: 2026-10-09

Persona scores 69.5 (B) on agent readiness against Shufti's 57.8 (C), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Both do kyc identity.

- Persona: grade B, 69.5/100, rank #176 of 842. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/persona.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/persona.json
- Shufti: grade C, 57.8/100, rank #538 of 842. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/shufti.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/shufti.json

## Which one, for what

### 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 65
- Schema & documentation, 85 against 58
- Agent ergonomics, 74 against 47
- Security & auth, 73 against 62

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

### Shufti (C)

Good for: A team that wants document, face, address, AML and KYB checks behind one endpoint, a free plan for low volume, and an MCP server that hands the person a hosted verification link.

Also in its favour:
- Free to start without a card

Watch for: No OpenAPI file or other machine-readable contract was found. The reference is prose tables plus Postman collections


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Persona | Shufti | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 70 | 65 | Persona +5 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 85 | 58 | Persona +27 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 74 | 47 | Persona +27 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 73 | 62 | Persona +11 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 35 | 35 | even |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 75 | 72 | Persona +3 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 68 | 71 | Shufti +3 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **69.5 · B** | **57.8 · C** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Persona | Shufti |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Persona Identities, Inc. | Shufti Pro Limited |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://mcp.withpersona.com` | `https://api.shuftipro.com` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP, Streamable HTTP |
| Auth | API key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Paid | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary service under Persona's terms of service. The `persona` JavaScript client on npm is MIT | Proprietary service under Shufti's Terms and Conditions. The licences of the mobile capture SDKs were not checked |
| Tools exposed | 190 | 25 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-09-29 | 2026-10-06 |
| Terms last updated | couldn't be read |  |
| Privacy policy last updated | couldn't be read | 2026-09-01 |
| Customer content may train models | couldn't be read | yes, with an opt-out |
| 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 | 570k npm/wk | 673 npm/wk |

## Verdicts

**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.

**Shufti.** One endpoint covers document, face, address, AML and KYB checks, with a free plan of 10 verifications a month, and a hosted MCP server adds OAuth with three scopes. No OpenAPI file, server SDK or idempotency key was found, and the status page history could not be read.

## Before you call either

### 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`

### Shufti

1. POST every verification to `https://api.shuftipro.com/` with a unique `reference` of 6 to 250 characters and one object per service. Read results from `/status` with that reference
2. Register the callback domain in the back office first. An unregistered `callback_url` is rejected
3. Stay under 60 requests a minute per IP on a production account and 20 on a trial account
4. Check the `Signature` response header. Accounts created after 15 March 2023 hash the Secret Key with SHA-256 before appending it to the raw response
5. Through MCP, identity checks return a `verification_url` for the person to open. No tool accepts an image, so use the REST API for offsite proofs

## Questions

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

Persona scores 69.5 (B) on agent readiness against Shufti's 57.8 (C), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories.

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

Persona needs an API key. Shufti takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in.

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

Yes. Persona has a hosted endpoint at https://mcp.withpersona.com and Shufti at https://api.shuftipro.com.


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Persona or Shufti

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- [ComplyCube vs Shufti](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/complycube-vs-shufti.md)
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- [Shufti vs Veriff](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/shufti-vs-veriff.md)
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