As of November 2026, Sumsub and complead answer different parts of the same customer file. Sumsub verifies the person or the business at sign up with document, liveness and biometric checks, and screens them on data from ComplyAdvantage's Mesh. complead, formerly Sanction Scanner, runs the AML program after sign up on its own data and the customer's licensed providers, with KYB, monitoring and fraud on one risk score. Many firms can use both.
Three dates explain the split:
- 2015: Sumsub is founded and, by its own account, starts as a tool for spotting manipulated graphics before it grows into identity verification (about Sumsub).
- 2019: complead is founded in Istanbul as Sanction Scanner, a sanctions and PEP screening product, and becomes a UK company in 2020.
- 26 March 2026: Sumsub and ComplyAdvantage announce that Mesh "will now serve as the foundational intelligence layer powering Sumsub's AML screening platform" (Sumsub newsroom).
Unlike a review site, this vendor comparison takes what it says about Sumsub from Sumsub's own website, read on 10 November 2026, with a link at each fact. complead publishes this comparison and lists itself first.
Who does what across the customer lifecycle?
Table 1. Who covers each stage (Sumsub pages read 10 November 2026)
| Stage | complead | Sumsub |
|---|---|---|
| Identity verification at sign up (documents, liveness, biometrics) | Through your IDV provider; the verified identity is an input to complead's risk model | Yes: ID verification, liveness, non doc and video identification |
| Business verification (KYB and UBO) | Yes | Yes |
| Sanctions, PEP and watchlist screening | Yes, on its own data and the customer's licensed providers | Yes, on Mesh data or a provider you choose |
| Ongoing monitoring and rescreening | Yes, started and stopped per name by API | Yes |
| Transaction monitoring | Yes | Yes |
| Customer risk scoring | Yes (customer risk assessment) | Yes (Risk Scoring) |
| Fraud prevention | Yes | Yes |
| Case work and regulator reports | Agents close routine cases; SAR and other regulatory filings submitted directly, FinCEN included, after a second reviewer signs | Case management; FIU reports in goAML format |
Everything else on the page follows from the first row. Sumsub sells the identity check; on complead, it comes from the IDV provider the firm already uses. complead's customer risk assessment and KYC product takes the verified identity as an input and scores the customer on the factors, weights and thresholds of your own policy, then rescores whenever something changes.
What each company is built around
Sumsub
Sumsub describes itself as a verification and compliance platform "verifying 2M+ people a day", trusted by 4,000+ companies, with identity verification in 220+ countries and 14,000+ document types in 50+ languages (about Sumsub). Its menu runs from verification (ID, liveness and deepfake detection, address, video identification, reusable KYC) through screening and monitoring to infrastructure such as case management, workflow orchestration, risk scoring and the Summy AI copilot. It sells to fintech, iGaming, trading, crypto, mobility and marketplace businesses.
On the AML side, Sumsub screens against "global and national sanctions lists, including OFAC, UN, HMT, EU, and DFAT", rescreens continuously, and lets a client choose screening data providers in its Integrations Marketplace or bring its own key (Sumsub AML screening). Its transaction monitoring ships with more than 600 ready rules, custom rules without code and a dry run mode for testing (Sumsub transaction monitoring).
complead
As an AI native platform for AML, KYC and fraud, complead picks up where sign up ends, on its engine, complead Fusion. Screening, monitoring, fraud and investigation all write to the same customer record, which carries a single risk score. The analyst sees why an alert fired, rule and signals included. Routine cases are closed by agents that attach the evidence, the narrative and the work log, and a reviewer makes the call.
complead screens on its own data and on providers a customer already licenses; its own data covers 3,500+ sanctions, PEP and watchlists from 220+ jurisdictions, refreshed every 15 minutes. 800+ companies in 80+ countries use it. It is hosted on Azure, and an on-premise deployment is available.
complead vs Sumsub: the 12 points
Table 2. complead vs Sumsub on 12 points (Sumsub pages read 10 November 2026; sources under the table)
| Point | complead | Sumsub |
|---|---|---|
| Built around | The AML program after sign up: one engine (complead Fusion), one risk score per customer | Identity verification and compliance across users, businesses and transactions |
| Identity verification | Through your IDV provider; the verified identity feeds the risk model | Documents, liveness, non doc and video identification; 14,000+ document types |
| Screening data | Its own data and the customer's licensed providers; own data: 3,500+ sanctions, PEP and watchlists from 220+ jurisdictions | ComplyAdvantage's Mesh since 26 March 2026; other providers through its marketplace or own key; "over 50,000 independent sources across 240+ countries and territories" |
| List refresh, as stated | Every 15 minutes | "rescreens continuously against updated watchlists"; no cadence stated |
| Matching and match review | Fuzzy, phonetic and transliteration aware; thresholds per list type and per list; every search recorded, including no match | Vendor matching plus an AI review layer before the team reviews matches |
| KYB and UBO | Official registers; owners followed until natural persons are reached, no fixed depth cap; changes monitored continuously | "30K+ data sources across 220+ countries"; UBOs and directors in the same flow; periodic rechecks by risk level |
| Transaction monitoring | Rules without code, backtested on 30, 60 or 90 days of history; sender and receiver screened while a payment is processed | More than 600 ready rules, custom rules without code, dry run testing, anomaly detection |
| Customer risk | Your own factors and weights; portfolio simulation before a change applies; model version stamped on every rating | Real-time risk levels from transactions and user activity; Risk Scoring product |
| Case work and reports | Agents close routine cases with evidence, narrative and work log; complead submits SAR and other regulatory filings directly, including to FinCEN, once a second reviewer has signed the report built from the case | Case management and Summy AI copilot; FIU reports in goAML format |
| Security, as published | SOC 2, ISO 27001 and ISO 9001; GDPR built in; EU data residency; hosted on Azure or on-premise | Trust Center lists SOC 2 Type 2, SOC 1 Type 1, ISO/IEC 27001, ISO 22301, PCI DSS and iBeta liveness reports |
| Integration | API; typically integrates in hours; sub-200 ms response; 99.995% uptime SLA | Screening of every name, business and transaction "in under a second" |
| Pricing model | Custom quote based on modules and volume; no public price list | Per verification plans published on its pricing page, with a monthly minimum and a 14 day trial; KYB, transaction monitoring and fraud prevention quoted on request |
The Sumsub column draws on these pages, each opened on 10 November 2026:
- about
- AML screening
- KYB
- transaction monitoring
- Trust Center
- pricing
- the Mesh release of 26 March 2026
complead's column comes from its product pages and confirmed product facts. Quoted words belong to the vendor.
Whose screening data is it?
Since 26 March 2026, Sumsub's AML screening runs on ComplyAdvantage's Mesh as its "foundational intelligence layer", across Sumsub's KYC, KYB and transaction monitoring products. A client that already holds Mesh credentials can bring its own key, and others can pick a different provider from Sumsub's marketplace. So a buyer who asks "Sumsub or ComplyAdvantage?" for AML screening is often comparing one data source reached two ways: inside Sumsub's verification flow, or through ComplyAdvantage directly.
complead answers that question with its own data and, where a customer already licenses a provider, with that provider's data too: a team can "connect LexisNexis, Dow Jones, LSEG World-Check, or Moody's using your own credentials and search against them", and "matches from all sources are deduplicated into a single profile" (third party data providers). Its client screening reaches the OFAC, EU, UN, UK, DFAT and SECO lists and 200+ national regimes, refreshed every 15 minutes, with date of birth, nationality and ID numbers scored beside the name, so a common name does not trigger a common alert. Ask each vendor how many minutes pass between a new designation and an alert on one of your customers.
How do the price models differ?
Picture a lender that verifies 2,000 new applicants a month and screens its whole book every day. Under Sumsub's published model, the verification bill grows with each successful check, AML screening and ongoing monitoring sit in the higher of its two published plans, and KYB, transaction monitoring and fraud prevention are quoted separately. Under complead's model, the lender gets one quote for the modules it uses at its volume, and identity checks stay with its IDV provider at that provider's price.
For a like for like view, ask Sumsub for the plan plus the custom modules, ask complead for the module quote, and add the IDV provider's cost to the complead side.
Who is each one for?
Sumsub fits
A fintech, crypto, trading, iGaming or marketplace business whose first need is verifying people and businesses at sign up across many countries, with screening in the same flow and a published price to budget a launch. It also fits a firm that wants one vendor for identity checks and AML screening, and is comfortable with Mesh as the data underneath. Its Trust Center also offers a PCI DSS attestation, for a procurement team that asks for one.
complead fits
Banks, insurers, investment firms, crypto businesses, and e-money and payment institutions that already verify identity, or want to keep their IDV vendor, and need the AML program after sign up: screening on complead's own data and the customer's licensed providers, KYB and UBO verification, transaction monitoring, fraud prevention and customer risk on one record and one score. The on-premise option suits a firm that cannot use a cloud deployment.
When complead is not the right fit
If you need a published per check price before you talk to sales, Sumsub publishes one and complead quotes on modules and volume.
What changed in 2026
- 26 March 2026: ComplyAdvantage's Mesh became the intelligence layer behind Sumsub's AML screening across KYC, KYB and transaction monitoring (Sumsub newsroom). For a buyer, this changes whose data sits under a Sumsub screening hit.
- 21 October 2026: Sumsub announced that its liveness check achieved iBeta Level 3 compliance in independent biometric testing (Sumsub newsroom).
Running both, or moving from Sumsub
The two can run together. Keep Sumsub at sign up for identity, pass the verified identity to complead as an input to the risk model, and let complead screen, monitor and score the customer from there. complead runs beside your current tool, so the same customers can pass through both screening setups for 7 days before anyone decides.
If you move AML screening and monitoring away from Sumsub, export the customer and business files with their current risk levels, screen them on complead and read the matches that differ, then rebuild your monitoring rules and backtest them on 30, 60 or 90 days of your own history. There are no integration fees, the API typically integrates in hours, and sandbox keys are issued straight away.
What else do Sumsub buyers shortlist?
Sumsub's other alternatives split by first need: ComplyCube for identity checks, SEON for fraud signals, ComplyAdvantage and Flagright for screening data and monitoring.
The shortest path to an answer: keep Sumsub at sign up, run complead beside it for screening and monitoring for 7 days, and compare what each one flags on the same customers.
