What does an OFAC screening API cost in 2026?
The SDN list is free. Everything you pay for an OFAC screening API is freshness, latency and proof — here is what each pricing model actually costs and which one fits your volume.
The OFAC SDN list is free. The US Treasury publishes it, and republishing it is permitted. Nothing you pay for an OFAC screening API is payment for the data — it is payment for how fresh it is, how fast the answer comes back, and whether you can prove afterwards that you checked.
The four pricing models, and who each one suits
| Model | How it bills | Suits |
|---|---|---|
| Free tier | A daily allowance, no card | Evaluation, and low-volume production where a few checks a day is genuinely the whole need |
| Flat monthly | A fixed fee for a monthly check allowance | Predictable volume; the cheapest model once you are past a few hundred checks a month |
| Per-call | Metered per screen, often over x402 for agents | Spiky or agent-driven volume where nobody can forecast the month |
| Enterprise contract | Annual, quote-gated, seat and module based | Regulated institutions that need PEP data, adverse media and analyst tooling alongside screening |
What actually costs money
Freshness
OFAC updates the SDN list without a schedule. A cached copy that is a week old is a copy that can clear a party who was designated on Tuesday, and strict liability means the staleness is your problem, not your vendor's. Ask how often the list is refreshed and what the vendor does when a refresh fails.
Latency
If the screen sits in front of a payment, its latency is added to every payment. A batch job that returns overnight and an API that returns in under 100 ms are not the same product, and the second is what an autonomous agent needs.
Proof
The screen is only worth what you can demonstrate about it later. A verdict with no record of which list version produced it is not evidence. If you ever file a voluntary self-disclosure, the audit trail is the part that matters — see how to file an OFAC VSD.
Scope you will not use
Most of the price difference between an OFAC screening API and an enterprise compliance platform is capability, not margin. PEP databases, adverse-media research, ownership data behind the 50% Rule and blockchain forensics are genuinely expensive to build. The question is not whether they are worth it in general — it is whether your transaction flow calls them.
What SanctionsAI charges
| Plan | Price |
|---|---|
| Free | 5 checks/day, no API key, no signup |
| Dev | $19/mo for 10,000 checks/month |
| Pro | $99/mo for 100,000 checks/month |
| Pay-per-call | $0.05 per check, pay-per-call over x402 |
| Self-host | MIT-licensed self-host: pip install sanctions-mcp |
The self-host option is the honest floor on this market: the list is public and the matching logic is MIT-licensed, so if your volume ever makes a hosted API the wrong trade, you can run it yourself and pay nothing.
Frequently asked questions
Is the OFAC SDN list free to use?
Yes. The US Treasury publishes the SDN list and it can be used and republished. What screening vendors charge for is refresh frequency, response latency, fuzzy matching quality and the audit record — not the underlying data.
What is a reasonable price for OFAC screening?
For direct SDN list matching, anything from zero upward. SanctionsAI is free for 5 checks/day and $19/month for 10,000. Enterprise compliance platforms cost far more because they bundle PEP data, adverse media and analyst tooling that direct list matching does not require.
Why do compliance vendors hide their pricing?
Because the contracts are scoped per customer: data modules, seats, redistribution rights and volume all move the number, so no single list price would be accurate. It also means published estimates you find online describe one deployment and not yours.
Do I need a paid tool to be OFAC compliant?
OFAC requires that you do not transact with designated parties; it does not require a particular vendor. What matters is that the screen happens before funds move, against a current list, with a record. That obligation can be met with a free tier or self-hosted code — this is not legal advice, and a compliance officer should confirm it against your obligations.
Screen against the OFAC SDN list for free
5 checks a day, no API key and no signup. Paid plans start at $19/month. See pricing or read the docs.
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© 2026 SanctionsAI · sanctionsai.dev. Vendor pricing is quote-gated and set by the vendor; figures quoted for SanctionsAI are our own published prices. Not legal or compliance advice.