- Sumsub/Onfido win on document verification (ID scans, liveness checks), biometric matching, and automated B2C onboarding at high volume
- HubSecure wins on ongoing AML monitoring, flat-rate pricing, CRM integration, encrypted communications, and all-in-one compliance stack for regulated B2B firms
- Best fit: Sumsub/Onfido for neobanks, crypto exchanges, and consumer fintechs onboarding 1,000+ users/month. HubSecure for law firms, financial advisors, accountants, and B2B-focused regulated businesses
Related HubSecure buying path
AML/KYC & Onboarding guideclient onboarding softwareAML/KYC moduleSumsub comparisonAML/KYC compliance software guideGuide Librarybook a workflow demo
Best fit and not best fit
| Best for | Not best for |
|---|---|
| Regulated teams that need client records, secure files, workflow ownership, RBAC and audit history together. | Teams that only need a single-purpose tool and do not need governed client operations or compliance evidence. |
Related AML/KYC and compliance monitoring resources
Continue with AML/KYC monitoring module, compliance workflows, HubSecure for legal teams, HubSecure for finance teams, security and trust center.
Related use case
This guide belongs to the AML and KYC Guides cluster. Continue with the product hub for aml and kyc.
What Sumsub and Onfido Actually Are
Sumsub and Onfido are identity verification and KYC orchestration platforms. Their primary function is document verification at onboarding: scanning a government-issued ID, running it through OCR and liveness checks, cross-referencing against PEP and sanctions lists, and returning a pass/fail result via API.
This is a genuinely valuable capability — particularly for consumer-facing applications where onboarding happens at scale without a human in the loop. A neobank onboarding 5,000 new retail customers per month, a crypto exchange onboarding users in 30 countries, or a BNPL provider verifying applicants in real time all have legitimate use cases for a tool like Sumsub or Onfido.
What they are not is an ongoing compliance workflow tool. After the initial identity check, neither platform provides:
- Ongoing monitoring of client risk profiles over time
- CRM records that evolve through the client lifecycle
- Enhanced Due Diligence workflow management
- Encrypted communications with clients
- Document vault for client files
- GDPR compliance tooling (DSAR management, consent logging, RoPA)
- Audit trail that satisfies a regulatory inspection across the full client relationship
The Per-Check Billing Problem
Sumsub and Onfido both use consumption-based pricing. Sumsub charges per verification transaction; public pricing examples show $0.50–$2.00 per ID check, $0.30–$1.00 per document scan, and additional fees for liveness checks, database lookups, and ongoing monitoring. Onfido is similar: their SmartScan and Expert check products are billed per check.
For a law firm or financial advisory practice onboarding 50–100 new clients per month, this model can work out reasonably. But for firms with ongoing monitoring obligations — where AML regulations require periodic re-screening of existing clients against updated sanctions lists — the per-check model becomes expensive quickly.
Example: 10-person financial advisory firm, 500 active clients
vs. HubSecure Compliance plan (10 seats): $1,544/mo for 10 seats — AML workflows, CRM, mail, helpdesk and vault included; top-up packs cover higher screening volume.
Feature Comparison
| Feature | Sumsub / Onfido | HubSecure AML |
|---|---|---|
| Document identity verification (ID scan + OCR) | ✓ Best-in-class | ~ Workflow + manual review supported |
| Biometric liveness check | ✓ Full facial liveness | ✗ Not included (integrate via API) |
| PEP screening | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes, 27 registries |
| Sanctions screening (EU, UN, OFAC, UK) | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes, all major lists |
| Adverse media monitoring | ✓ Yes (add-on) | ✓ Yes, included |
| UBO identification workflow | ~ Basic corporate hierarchy | ✓ Full UBO workflow, 27 UBO registries |
| Ongoing monitoring of existing clients | ~ Per-check billing applies | ✓ Included in monthly seat quota |
| Enhanced Due Diligence workflows | ✗ Not included | ✓ Full EDD workflow with documentation |
| Pricing model | Per-check + platform fee | ✓ Flat per-seat, no per-check fees |
| CRM integration | ~ API export, no native CRM | ✓ Same identity layer as CRM |
| Encrypted communications | ✗ Not a feature | ✓ ML-KEM-768 E2EE mail + ShieldChat |
| GDPR compliance tooling | ~ Basic data handling | ✓ DSAR, RoPA, consent, retention policies |
| High-volume consumer onboarding (1,000+/mo) | ✓ Built for this | ~ B2B focus; quota model applies |
| API-first / developer integration | ✓ Comprehensive REST API | ✓ Full REST API available |
Where Sumsub and Onfido Are the Right Choice
For some businesses, Sumsub or Onfido is clearly the right tool:
- Consumer fintech at scale: If you are onboarding hundreds or thousands of retail users per month through a mobile app, the automated liveness check and document OCR pipeline of Sumsub/Onfido is far more appropriate than HubSecure's B2B-oriented compliance workflow.
- Crypto exchanges and CASPs: Where MiCA and AMLD require instant, API-driven KYC verification at account creation, purpose-built verification platforms have a natural edge.
- Biometric verification as a core product feature: Where facial recognition and liveness detection is a product differentiator (e.g., age verification, secure login), Sumsub/Onfido's depth in this specific area is hard to match.
- High-volume B2C document verification: Passport OCR, driving licence checks, utility bill extraction — at volume these platforms have tuned accuracy and processing speed that a generalist platform cannot match.
Where HubSecure Is the Right Choice
HubSecure's AML/KYC module is built for a different use case: ongoing compliance management for B2B-focused regulated businesses with a defined book of clients.
- Law firms and accountancies with AML obligations who onboard dozens — not thousands — of new clients per month
- Financial advisory and wealth management firms with 100–5,000 active clients requiring periodic re-screening
- Corporate service providers, TCSPs, and fiduciaries managing complex beneficial ownership structures
- Any regulated business that also needs CRM, client communications, and document management — where having AML in the same system as client records, emails, and files removes integration pain and creates a unified audit trail
- Businesses sensitive to per-check cost unpredictability — HubSecure's flat-rate model means AML cost is fully predictable regardless of how frequently you re-screen clients
The hidden cost of disconnected tools: A law firm using Sumsub for KYC checks and a separate CRM still has a fundamental problem — the compliance record and the client record live in different systems. When a regulator asks "show me the full file for this client — CDD, communications, transactions, and documents", you have to reconstruct it from three or four systems. That reconstruction risk is a compliance gap, not just an inconvenience.
Can You Use Both?
Yes — some high-volume fintechs use Sumsub for initial ID verification at customer onboarding (biometric liveness, document OCR) and then sync the verified identity data to HubSecure via API for ongoing relationship management, AML monitoring, and GDPR compliance workflows. This hybrid approach captures the best of both: automated identity verification at scale + a unified compliance and client management record.
If this architecture is relevant for your business, the HubSecure API supports incoming identity verification data via webhook, allowing you to trigger AML screening workflows automatically when a Sumsub/Onfido check completes.
Frequently Asked Questions
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PEP and sanctions screening, UBO identification, adverse media monitoring — integrated with your CRM, vault, and client communications. No per-check billing.
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