Comparison
Stripe Identity Alternative: Stile vs Stripe Identity
Choose Stripe Identity for checks inside a Stripe checkout. Choose Stile for the risky moments outside it, with US state age rules and a signed result instead of stored ID files.
At a glance
Keep Stripe for payments. The identity check is a separate decision.
- Stripe Identity fits
- Checks inside a Stripe checkout or Stripe-hosted onboarding
- Stile fits
- Payout changes, account recovery, vendor onboarding, in-person pickup
- Document + selfie check
- Stripe $1.50 after the first 50 · Stile full check $0.25 after 1,000 a month
Prices as listed by each company on October 26, 2026. Sources follow the table below.
Risk doesn't wait for checkout
Stripe Identity is built around Stripe's own flows: a checkout or a Stripe-hosted onboarding. The riskier moments often come later, when someone changes the bank account a payout goes to or asks to recover an account.
Stile starts a check at that moment, from your backend, a shared link or a QR code. It opens in the user's browser with nothing to install, is designed to take about two seconds, and your system gets a signed result.
What to compare
Four differences that decide it
Trigger
Start a check from your backend, a shared link or a QR code, not only at signup.
What comes back
A signed pass/fail result you can log, or the identity data itself.
Data retention
Every stored ID image is something you have to secure, disclose and delete.
Jurisdiction rules
US age-verification laws differ by state. One age threshold is not a compliance program.
Stripe Identity vs Stile at a glance
| Stile | Stripe Identity | |
|---|---|---|
| Checks | Document, liveness, face match, age, mDL and Apple/Google Wallet IDs | Document, selfie and US SSN checks; address, phone and email by invite. Age and document validity checks |
| How a check starts | API call, shared link or QR code; opens in the browser, nothing to install | An API session or a Dashboard verification flow; web and mobile SDKs |
| What comes back | Signed webhook with an audit trail, no raw identity files | The verification outcome, with access to the collected images and ID data |
| ID image retention | Raw ID data deleted on completion by default | Stored by Stripe on your behalf, encrypted; you can delete it |
| Age rules | Jurisdiction-aware age rules applied per check | Programmatic age checks |
| Stripe account required | No | Yes, activated in the Stripe Dashboard |
Sources
- Stripe: stripe.com/identity, stripe.com/pricing and the verification checks documentation, checked October 26, 2026. Launch history: TechCrunch, June 14, 2021.
- Stile: pricing and security and data handling.
Prove the check, don't keep the passport
Stripe stores the verification data, ID images included, on your behalf, and you can access or delete it. Stile returns a signed webhook with an audit trail instead, and deletes the raw ID data when the check completes, by default.
You can show a check happened without becoming the custodian of the document. How Stile handles data.
Verify in person, too
Show a QR code at the counter or the loading dock. A driver or a customer scans it, verifies on their own phone, and your system gets the signed result.
Where each fits
Stripe Identity verification
Built in-house and used for years to verify Stripe's own merchants, it sits in the same dashboard as your payments and Radar rules.
Where it fits best: a risky moment inside a Stripe checkout or Stripe-hosted onboarding, with one vendor relationship.
Stile
A signed result slots in beside Stripe Radar, your own fraud rules or a compliance queue, so payments stay where they are. It also accepts mDLs and Apple or Google Wallet IDs and applies US state age rules.
Where it fits best: payout and payment-detail changes, account recovery, vendor onboarding and in-person pickup.
What each costs
As listed on each company's pricing page on October 26, 2026, in USD. Stile has no monthly base, seats or minimum, and sandbox checks are free.
| Stile | Stripe Identity | |
|---|---|---|
| Free allowance | First 1,000 completed checks every month | First 50 verifications |
| Document and selfie | $0.25 per full check: ID, face match, age and liveness | $1.50 per completed ID document and selfie verification |
| Single components | ID document $0.15, face match $0.06, age check $0.06, liveness $0.03 | ID number lookup $0.50 (US SSNs only) |
| At volume | 10% to 30% off past 2,500 checks a month; custom above 250,000 | Custom pricing above 2,000 verifications a month |
| When it bills | Per completed check, pass or fail; abandoned sessions are never billed | When a user completes verification |
No. Stripe Identity is a product you use to verify your users. Stripe separately verifies its own merchants during onboarding and risk review. If your Stripe account is under review or payouts are held, that is Stripe assessing you as a merchant, and changing identity vendors will not change it.
As of October 26, 2026, Stripe lists the first 50 verifications free, then $1.50 per completed ID document and selfie verification and $0.50 per US SSN lookup, with custom pricing above 2,000 verifications a month. Stile's full check is $0.25, with 1,000 free completed checks a month.
No. Stile returns a signed webhook your backend reads, so it runs next to Stripe payments and Radar without replacing either.
Stile's comparison of seven identity verification APIs covers a wider field.
Try it on one risky moment
Pick the action where you most need to know who is acting, such as a payout change, and run a check there first. Stile gives you an API key in minutes with 1,000 free checks a month and no card.