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OpenSanctions
Berlin, Germany
What it is
OpenSanctions provides a structured database of sanctions, politically exposed persons, and other public-interest information gathered from hundreds of sources. It deduplicates records and models links such as ownership, family ties, political positions, and sanctions designations. The hosted API supports entity matching, full-text search, and retrieval of complete records; its /match endpoint returns ranked candidates using details such as names, dates of birth, nationality, or tax identifiers. Customers can download the full dataset, while commercial license customers can run the matching API on their own infrastructure. OpenSanctions says data points can be traced to their sources and its data pipeline is open source. The API is listed at €0.10 per query, and a 30-day API trial is available; commercial screening and reseller licenses are quote-based. The data collection is licensed as a whole rather than in selected portions. OpenSanctions supplies database and matching technology, not an end-user compliance application with alert review, case management, and approval workflows.
For and against
For
- Records cover sanctions, PEPs, and public-interest information.
- Matching API returns ranked candidates.
- Full dataset can be downloaded.
- Data points are traceable to their sources.
Against
- Does not include alert review or case management.
- Data is licensed as a complete collection.
- No ready-made CRM or ERP integrations are provided.
The verdict
OpenSanctions provides data and matching tools for screening and research use cases, with hosted and self-hosted options. It is not a complete compliance workflow application, and licensing covers the full collection rather than selected data.
Who it suits
It may suit compliance platforms, fintechs, investigation tools, government agencies, research institutions, journalists, and researchers seeking screening data or matching technology. Organizations needing case-management and alert-review workflows would need a separate application.
Plans and prices
Non-commercial access
Bulk data free for non-commercial use · free public-interest API keys
Read 15 Oct 2026 · opensanctions.org
Screening API 500 credits
500 credits · €0.10 per query · credits valid one year
Read 15 Oct 2026 · opensanctions.org
Screening API 5,000 credits
5,000 credits · €0.08 per query · 20% saving · credits valid one year
Read 15 Oct 2026 · opensanctions.org
Screening API 30,000 credits
30,000 credits · €0.067 per query · 33% saving · credits valid one year
Read 15 Oct 2026 · opensanctions.org
Screening API 100,000 credits
100,000 credits · €0.05 per query · 50% saving · credits valid one year
Read 15 Oct 2026 · opensanctions.org
Screening API 500,000 credits
500,000 credits · €0.03 per query · 70% saving · credits valid one year
Read 15 Oct 2026 · opensanctions.org
Screening API
30 day API trial · /entities and /statements are free · matching and search API
Read 30 Sep 2026 · opensanctions.org
Reseller license
Full dataset · redistribution inside products sold to customers
Read 15 Oct 2026 · opensanctions.org
Screening license
Full dataset · internal organizational use · transaction monitoring
Read 15 Oct 2026 · opensanctions.org
On the record
- API documentation
- Interactive endpoint documentation and an OpenAPI JSON specification are provided for client generation.opensanctions.org · read 15 Oct 2026
- Bulk data and self-hosting
- The full dataset is available for download, and commercial license customers can run the matching API on their own infrastructure.opensanctions.org · read 30 Sep 2026
- Bulk formats
- Bulk exports are available as FollowTheMoney JSON, CSV, names-only text and Senzing entity data, with statement-level CSV for provenance.opensanctions.org · read 15 Oct 2026
- Company history
- OpenSanctions says the project began in 2015, was rebuilt for commercial use with a 2021 BMBF Prototype Fund grant and incorporated as a GmbH in 2023.opensanctions.org · read 15 Oct 2026
- Company profile
- LinkedIn lists OpenSanctions as a privately held IT services company founded in 2021, headquartered in Berlin, with 11–50 employees.linkedin.com · read 15 Oct 2026
- Continuous monitoring
- Documentation describes re-screening counterparties when watchlist data changes.opensanctions.org · read 15 Oct 2026
- Coverage
- The licensing page lists 30 entity types, more than 470 sources and over 47 million facts.opensanctions.org · read 15 Oct 2026
- CRM and ERP integrations
- OpenSanctions says it does not provide ready-made integrations for specific CRM or ERP products.opensanctions.org · read 30 Sep 2026
- Data model
- OpenSanctions uses the FollowTheMoney model to represent entities, ownership, family, political and sanctions relationships.opensanctions.org · read 15 Oct 2026
- Data provenance
- The company says every data point can be traced back to its source and that its data pipeline is open source.opensanctions.org · read 30 Sep 2026
- Data updates
- The default collection is republished about every six hours, while source lists update every four to twelve hours or on slower schedules.opensanctions.org · read 15 Oct 2026
- Entities API
- The /entities endpoint returns a complete record for one entity, including nested related records.opensanctions.org · read 15 Oct 2026
- Entity categories
- The published collection includes people, organizations, securities, crypto addresses, vessels and aircraft, and enforcement notices.opensanctions.org · read 15 Oct 2026
- Entity resolution
- OpenSanctions deduplicates entities across sources and models links such as ownership, family ties, political positions, and sanctions designations.opensanctions.org · read 30 Sep 2026
- Explainability
- The API exposes auditable explanations for match scores and publishes its matching methodology.opensanctions.org · read 15 Oct 2026
- Hosted API features
- The API provides entity matching, full-text search, and retrieval of complete entity records.opensanctions.org · read 30 Sep 2026
- Independent package metadata
- PyPI describes the project as an open-source sanctions and PEP data codebase, with a Python API appliance and technical documentation.pypi.org · read 15 Oct 2026
- Independent repository
- The public GitHub repository describes parsing, cleaning, deduplication and export functions and is marked MIT licensed.github.com · read 15 Oct 2026
