Comparison
Middesk vs Persona
Our take
Middesk is the sharper tool if your risk is specifically fake US vendor entities and you want direct government-registry data. Persona is the better call if you also need to verify individual identities, want international coverage, or need a free tier to start on. Most companies outgrow needing to pick just one.
M
Middesk
Verifies the business is real before you verify the human is
VERIFIED JUN 18, 2026
P
Persona
Configurable identity verification that doesn't assume you're a bank
VERIFIED JUN 18, 2026
| Pricing model | usage-based | freemium |
| Starting point | No public price list | Startup and small business track: 500 free verifications a month, then roughly $1 per verification after that |
| Best for | Companies onboarding 1099 contractors, vendors, or new employer entities where the risk is a fake or shell company, not a fake person. | Small and mid-size companies that need both individual and business identity verification and want to configure exactly what gets checked. |
| Countries | United States | United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Australia |
| Editorial score | 8.2/10 | 8/10 |
Middesk
Pros
- Pulls from actual government registries instead of scraped or third-party data, which matters when you're making a payroll decision off it
- Monitoring after onboarding catches fraud that develops later, not just at signup
- API-first design integrates cleanly into vendor and contractor onboarding flows
Cons
- US-only, so it's the wrong tool if you're paying contractors or entities outside the US
- No published pricing and no self-serve signup, expect a sales cycle
- Solves business-identity fraud, not individual employee identity, you'll still need something else for that side
Persona
Pros
- Genuinely usable at small-business scale, including a free tier that covers a lot of early-stage volume
- Covers both individual identity and business verification in one platform
- International coverage most competitors in this space don't have
Cons
- Workflow builder has a learning curve, plan on someone owning configuration, it's not fully out of the box
- Full fraud tooling and KYB live behind the custom-quoted Growth plan
- Built for a lot of use cases beyond payroll, so you're paying for and navigating features you may not need
United StatesCanadaUnited KingdomGermanyFranceAustralia