In a remote world, companies need to be able to verify people behind the screens to know who they are doing business with. Customers need to have a reliable, intuitive, and secure way to prove their identities, wherever they are, with just an ID and their face.
Being able to identify an end user will help businesses serve customers better and secure a competitive edge to drive growth in the years to come. But how do teams choose the right identity verification platform with features and pricing that meet their industry and product needs to integrate smoothly and deliver an uncompromising user experience?
In this article, we will cover the basics of identity verification for digital services, and provide an overview comparison of Passbase and Onfido’s services that enable businesses to build secure and safe verification processes into their products.
Solving the problem of online identities
More than ever, businesses need customers to prove who they are to provide services. Whether companies are in real estate and car rentals or the sharing economy and handling virtual assets, identity verification helps end users demonstrate they are eligible for services and the authorized person to access an account.
Identity providers today are not only helping businesses navigate regulatory considerations such as KYC for AML/CFT, but also elevate customer experiences with safe and frictionless solutions.
Understanding how verification services go about identifying an individual and the features each provider has, will help teams identify a suitable solution to integrate into their product and services.
An overview of services
Both Passbase and Onfido provide services that verify people’s real identities in remote settings. To that end, both companies offer a number of verification and authentication services that help with digital transformation, customer acquisition, regulatory compliance, operations automation and fraud prevention. Based on the services you need, you can also decide if Passbase or Onfido pricing is ideal for you.
Verifying people’s identities now extends far beyond KYC checks for AML/CFT compliance in finance. Identity verification builds trust in marketplaces between verified users, ensures age eligibility for eSports tournaments and age-restricted goods, and secures logins and transactions with passwordless biometric authentication.
An identity verification for both Passbase and Onfido typically involves the following:
- Taking a photo of a government-issued photo ID
- Take a selfie to face match the person submitting the photo ID
- Receive instant feedback of their identity verification status
This approach to identity verification offers solutions for a range of applications. Passbase has solutions for:
- Customized identity verification workflows for different industries
- KYC checks for AML/CTF
- Age verification for retail, services, and regulated industries
- Biometric authentication for customers to reuse their digital identities and documents
Onfido also recognizes that companies may require services for a range of use cases and has solutions for:
- document verification
- biometric verification
- authentication
Both companies also offer an extensive range of documents that can be verified to serve global and expanding companies. Onfido supports 2500 documents globally and Passbase supports 6000. We encourage companies to ask sales about the types of documents or market coverage based on industry or geographic needs. For example, Passbase also supports CDC Covid-19 vaccination card scans and insurance card scans for the US for companies in health and wellness, events, travel and education industries.
An overview of products and features
Both Passbase and Onfido’s services can integrate into web and mobile products. In addition, both companies have extensive features to address a variety of industry needs.
Some comparable features include video selfie liveness detection against fraud, biometric authentication, database and watchlist checks for AML, and verifying users using two documents, which Passbase calls additional document checks. In addition, Onfido offers police record checks, NFC chip reads, and Right to Work checks for the UK. In contrast, Passbase offers insurance card scans globally.
In addition, while both companies have built KYC features to serve traditional financial industry requirements, Passbase has designed its products to also serve digital-native companies in the crypto industry and Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs).
Approaches to Verification
Companies performing identity verification also have different approaches to handling verification flows and risk.
Onfido claims 80% level of automation to speed up the verification process. In addition, Onfido has Reject, Consider, Approve responses based on pre-set thresholds. A verification that requires manual review can take up to two hours.
Passbase has a mixed model of automation and a scaled verification response that displays a 1-100% confidence score for verifications. This empowers businesses to tailor their auto-reject and auto-accept thresholds based on their requirements. For example, businesses can opt to accept verifications with a 95% confidence score and reject anything below 80% confidence, while having the flexibility to manually check verifications between 95-80% confidence. This helps companies balance risk tolerance and customer friction.
Security
Both Passbase and Onfido serve global clients that have to meet security considerations when choosing identity verification providers. For example, both companies are compliant with CCPA, GDPR and SOC2 Type II requirements.
Integration
Both Passbase and Onfido have web, iOS, and Android SDKs as well as API support with documentation. Passbase also offers support for React Native, Flutter and a hosted integration option. Developers can test immediately here and a Slack support channel.
Once a user has set up an account, such as through a hosted web link, the verification flow can be customized from the Passbase Dashboard without coding changes. For example, teams can upload the brand logo and change colours and copywriting as well as select the types of documents they would like customers to submit.
Companies will need to speak to Onfido’s representatives to get access to the SDKs and API to test integrations.
Pricing
Onfido’s pricing is based on the needs of a company, which requires companies to talk to a sales representative. In addition, Onfido may require a pre-payment of expected annual verification volumes.
Passbase provides the same identity verification and security functionalities irrespective of a company’s verification volume and companies can select plans:
- Startup: $83 platform fee and $1.49 per verification
- Growth: $249 platform fee and $1.29 per verification
- Enterprise: Customized
All plans come with:
- Document authentication
- Complete data extraction points ID documents
- Face matching
- Liveness test for fraud prevention
- SDKs, webhook and API access
Some industries may want to have additional features such as watchlist checks, database checks, and additional document checks, which can be added with an additional cost.
In addition, Growth and Enterprise plans come with scaling features such as biometric authentication, reusable documents, and multiple project environments to support operational efficiency.
Passbase plans can also be upgraded or downgraded depending on volume.
Final Considerations
Before you make your final decision on a provider, take time to fully test out the functionality of comparable features between companies. Consider both core functionalities that enable you to meet compliance or workflow requirements as well as strategic factors such as coverage that facilitate future market expansions.
Comprehensive Features
While many providers will have similar features such as liveness detection or document data extraction, how these are carried out will impact your business significantly. For example, find out whether cut-off documents are rejected with prompts or whether all data points are extracted from a document scan or if there are additional charges for certain security features. In addition, check for a service, document, or language coverage for markets you may soon enter.
Ease of customization
Having an embedded verification flow that is intuitive and easy to update helps your team serve customers better. Understand what customizations a provider supports as well as whether it is only at the code or dashboard level. Consider customizability from the perspective of workflows, branding, and product such as custom UX copywriting.
Companies using Passbase’s Growth and enterprise plans can embed a branded identity verification throughout different touchpoints or product lines.
True cost per verification
Pricing will always be key factor for businesses, so understanding the pricing model and true cost is essential for choosing a service provider. Passbase has price plans with transparent feature lists that help teams quickly calculate verification costs and adjust based on verification volume. Passbase’s pricing is pay-as-you-go whereas Onfido pricing requires some upfront commitment. Teams can compare both Passbase’s plans as well as the custom option to Onfido pricing and sales quotes.
Both Passbase and Onfido provide full-service identity verification options for companies serving global markets. Onfido’s services typically focus on higher-volume companies with customized needs while Passbase offers both out-of-box plans and customized solutions.
Both companies are dedicated to providing companies with secure identity verification solutions that can exceed customer expectations with intuitive and frictionless processes.
