OpenSanctions
Open data and screening infrastructure
OpenSanctions aggregates entity and watchlist data and exposes matching through a hosted API or the self-hosted yente service. It is a data and matching foundation, not a complete compliance department workflow. Commercial use requires the appropriate data license even when the software is self-hosted.
Our assessment
A transparent screening foundation. Budget for the operating system around it.
Best fit and limitations
A strong infrastructure candidate for teams able to build or already operating screening review, case management, and audit controls. Transparency and deployment control are the main evaluation advantages.
- Open-source software does not make commercial data use free.
- No complete native case management, report filing, or AML transaction monitoring is established here.
- Do not assume broad commercial adverse-media coverage from the presence of crime-related public records.
Tools 5
OpenSanctions datasetsRisk data+
- Select individual sources or combined collections
- Inspect entities and source-linked properties
/match APIEntity screening+
- Query by example with names and additional identifiers
- Return ranked candidate matches for review
yenteSelf-hosted matching+
- Run the matching API on your own infrastructure
- Use selected OpenSanctions and internal data
Matching configurationPrecision and recall control+
- Choose algorithms and feature weights
- Separate candidate retrieval from match scoring
/search APIAnalyst search+
- Full-text exploration of entities
- The provider explicitly recommends /match for screening
AI capabilities
Transparent matching, not an AI investigator
The recommended logic-v2 matcher uses deterministic rules, culturally aware name matching, and identifier checks. It returns candidates and similarity scores; it is not an AML investigator or a predictive fraud model.
What to validate
Version datasets and algorithm settings. Validate thresholds and keep analyst decisions independent from raw similarity scores.
Implementation
Integration checklist
- Use /match for screening and /search for human exploration.
- Implement rescreening, evidence snapshots, decisions, audit logs, and update monitoring.
- For self-hosting, operate data refresh, indexing, backup, monitoring, and capacity.
Commercial scope
Commercial data license required. Hosted API and self-hosted operation have different costs; verify current pricing and data rights directly.
Estimate total costQuestions for the demo
- Which datasets and refresh schedules satisfy our specific screening scope?
- What commercial rights cover hosted, self-hosted, and derived use?
- How will we prove a past decision against the exact data and matching version?
Sources 5
Reviewed September 17, 2026. Product claims come from public sources. Fit, limits, and evaluation questions are our analysis. This is not a hands-on performance test. Methodology