OpenSanctions website screenshot

OpenSanctions

OpenSanctions is an open database of international sanctions, watchlists, criminal designations and politically exposed persons (PEPs), published as a screening API, bulk data downloads and MIT-licensed open-source software from Berlin. It consolidates hundreds of primary government sources — OFAC, the EU consolidated list, UN Security Council, UK FCDO, procurement debarment registers, regulatory enforcements and national PEP registers — into a single de-duplicated entity graph expressed in the FollowTheMoney ontology it stewards. The hosted Screening API at api.opensanctions.org offers query-by-example entity matching with scored, per-feature explanations, free-text search, entity fetch with relationship traversal, statement-level provenance for every asserted value, and an OpenRefine reconciliation manifest. It is used for customer due diligence, transaction monitoring, supply-chain and vessel screening, KYB, and investigative journalism. The dataset is free for non-commercial use under CC BY-NC 4.0; commercial use is licensed, and the API is metered at EUR 0.10 per query.

OpenSanctions publishes 1 API on the APIs.io network: Screening API. Tagged areas include Sanctions Screening, Anti-Money Laundering, Politically Exposed Persons, Compliance, and Financial Crime.

OpenSanctions’ developer surface includes engineering blog, documentation, API reference, getting-started guide, support, pricing, signup flow, and 33 more developer resources.

74.5/100 exemplar ▬ flat Agent 38/100 agent ready saas Full breakdown ↓
scored 2026-09-01 · rubric v0.17.2
AccessSelf serveFree trial
1 APIs 1 MCP Servers
Sanctions ScreeningAnti-Money LaunderingPolitically Exposed PersonsComplianceFinancial CrimeKnow Your CustomerEntity ResolutionOpen DataRisk DataDue DiligencePublic APIsagent-native

Kin Score

Kin Score Kin Score How this is scored →
scored 2026-09-01 · rubric v0.17.2
Composite quality — 74.5/100 · exemplar
Contract Quality 10.8 / 21
Developer Ergonomics 14.6 / 17
Access Clarity 15.7 / 17
Operational Transparency 7.6 / 11
Contract Governance 1.9 / 10
Discoverability 7.1 / 9
Regulatory Posture 10.0 / 15
Agent readiness — 38/100 · agent ready
Machine-Readable Contract 18 / 18
Agentic Access Contract 10 / 10
Documented Reversibility 0 / 6
MCP Server 12 / 12
Machine-Readable Auth 10 / 10
Idempotency 0 / 9
Stable Error Semantics 8 / 8
Request/Response Examples 0 / 7
Rate-Limit Signaling 7 / 7
Typed Event Surface 0 / 6
Agent Skills 5 / 5
Well-Known Catalog 0 / 4
Consent & Bot Identity 0 / 3
A2A Agent Card 0 / 8
Dry-Run / Simulate Mode 0 / 4
Delegated User Identity 0 / 6
Protected Resource Metadata 0 / 5
Registration Without a Human 0 / 6
Agentic Commerce Surface 0 / 5
Regulatory Posture applies to this provider. Its tags matched the Government & Public Sector regime, so Regulatory Posture carries 15 points of the composite. If this regime is wrong for your business, say so on your provider repo — the applicability map is public and we will correct it.
The six quality facets above are damped to 85 points between them, because the conditional facet above carries the other 15. That is why each facet's contribution is shown against a damped maximum: raising a quality facet moves the composite by 85% of its nominal weight, not 100%. The full arithmetic is at apis.io/rating/.
Improve this rating by publishing the missing artifacts — every area above can be raised, and the full rubric is at apis.io/rating/. This rating is computed from github.com/api-evangelist/opensanctions: open an issue to ask a question, or submit a pull request to add artifacts. Want it done for you? Prioritized profiling — $2,500 →

APIs 1

Individual APIs this provider publishes, each with its own machine-readable definition.

OpenSanctions Screening API

REST API for screening people, companies, vessels and other entities against sanctions, watchlist and PEP data. Query-by-example matching returns scored candidates with per-feat...

MCP Servers 1

Model Context Protocol servers that expose these APIs to AI agents.

Pricing Plans 1

Published pricing tiers and plan structures.

Rate Limits 1

Documented rate limits and quota policies.

Opensanctions Rate Limits

3 limits

RATE LIMITS

Security Posture 4

Authentication, domain security, vulnerability disclosure, and trust-center signals.

Opensanctions Authentication

apiKey · 1 scheme

SECURITY

Opensanctions Domain Security

TLSv1.3 · HSTS · DMARC

SECURITY

Opensanctions Vulnerability Disclosure

Hackerone · contact published

SECURITY

Opensanctions Trust Center

ISO/IEC 27001:2022

SECURITY

Agentic Access 1

Recommended x-agentic-access execution contracts for AI agents.

Opensanctions Agentic Access

12 operations · 2 acting

12 operations · 2 acting

AGENTIC

Resources

Get Started 5

Portal, sign-up, and the first successful call

Documentation 2

Reference material describing how the API behaves

Agent Surfaces 4

MCP servers, agent skills, and machine-readable catalogs

Design & Contract 5

Pagination, idempotency, versioning, errors, and events

Build 5

SDKs, sample code, and the tooling you integrate with

Access & Security 6

Authentication, authorization, and security posture

Operate 6

Status, limits, changes, and where to get help

Commercial 4

Pricing, plans, and the legal terms of use

Company 2

The organization behind the API

Other 1

Properties that don't map to a standard resource type

Source (apis.yml)

apis.yml Raw ↑
aid: opensanctions
name: OpenSanctions
description: OpenSanctions is an open database of international sanctions, watchlists, criminal designations and politically
  exposed persons (PEPs), published as a screening API, bulk data downloads and MIT-licensed open-source software from Berlin.
  It consolidates hundreds of primary government sources — OFAC, the EU consolidated list, UN Security Council, UK FCDO, procurement
  debarment registers, regulatory enforcements and national PEP registers — into a single de-duplicated entity graph expressed
  in the FollowTheMoney ontology it stewards. The hosted Screening API at api.opensanctions.org offers query-by-example entity
  matching with scored, per-feature explanations, free-text search, entity fetch with relationship traversal, statement-level
  provenance for every asserted value, and an OpenRefine reconciliation manifest. It is used for customer due diligence, transaction
  monitoring, supply-chain and vessel screening, KYB, and investigative journalism. The dataset is free for non-commercial
  use under CC BY-NC 4.0; commercial use is licensed, and the API is metered at EUR 0.10 per query.
deliveryModel:
  model: saas
  open_source: false
  commercial: true
  callable_host: false
  label: Hosted service · you call their endpoint
  confidence: medium
  source:
  - pricing
  generated: '2026-08-28'
  method: derived
image: https://kinlane-images.s3.amazonaws.com/shared/apis-json/icons/opensanctions.png
url: https://www.opensanctions.org/docs/api/
specificationVersion: '0.23'
created: '2026-05-28'
modified: '2026-08-27'
x-source: public-apis/public-apis
x-category: Open Data
x-tier: 3
x-tier-reason: bulk-registered-from-public-apis
accessModel:
  pricing: usage-based
  onboarding: self-serve
  trial: true
  try_now: false
  public: false
  label: Self-serve signup with a 30-day trial
  confidence: high
  source:
  - https://www.opensanctions.org/api/
  - https://www.opensanctions.org/docs/api/authentication/
  - https://www.opensanctions.org/docs/api/faq/
  generated: '2026-08-27'
  method: searched
tags:
- Sanctions Screening
- Anti-Money Laundering
- Politically Exposed Persons
- Compliance
- Financial Crime
- Know Your Customer
- Entity Resolution
- Open Data
- Risk Data
- Due Diligence
- Public APIs
- agent-native
apis:
- name: OpenSanctions Screening API
  description: 'REST API for screening people, companies, vessels and other entities against sanctions, watchlist and PEP
    data. Query-by-example matching returns scored candidates with per-feature explanations; free-text search, entity fetch
    with graph traversal, statement-level provenance and an OpenRefine reconciliation manifest round out the surface. Authenticated
    with an `Authorization: ApiKey <key>` header and metered per logical query.'
  humanURL: https://www.opensanctions.org/docs/api/
  baseURL: https://api.opensanctions.org
  tags:
  - Sanctions Screening
  - Anti-Money Laundering
  - Politically Exposed Persons
  - Compliance
  - Entity Resolution
  - Open Data
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/opensanctions-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://www.opensanctions.org/docs/api/
  - type: APIReference
    url: https://www.opensanctions.org/reference/
  - type: Overlay
    url: overlays/opensanctions-api-overlay.yaml
  - type: ToolCrosswalk
    url: mcp/opensanctions-tool-crosswalk.yml
  - type: DataModel
    url: data-model/opensanctions-data-model.yml
common:
- type: AgenticAccess
  url: agentic-access/opensanctions-agentic-access.yml
- type: DomainSecurity
  url: security/opensanctions-domain-security.yml
- type: Website
  url: https://www.opensanctions.org/
- type: PublicAPIsListing
  url: https://github.com/public-apis/public-apis
- type: Blog
  url: https://www.opensanctions.org/articles/rss/
- type: DeveloperPortal
  url: https://www.opensanctions.org/docs/api/
- type: Documentation
  url: https://www.opensanctions.org/docs/
- type: APIReference
  url: https://www.opensanctions.org/reference/
- type: GettingStarted
  url: https://www.opensanctions.org/docs/api/quickstart/
- type: Support
  url: https://www.opensanctions.org/support/
- type: HelpCenter
  url: https://discuss.opensanctions.org/
- type: GitHubOrganization
  url: https://github.com/opensanctions
- type: SourceCode
  url: https://github.com/opensanctions/api-examples
- type: Pricing
  url: https://www.opensanctions.org/api/
- type: SignUp
  url: https://www.opensanctions.org/api/
- type: Login
  url: https://www.opensanctions.org/account/
- type: TermsOfService
  url: https://www.opensanctions.org/docs/terms/
- type: PrivacyPolicy
  url: https://www.opensanctions.org/docs/privacy/
- type: Security
  url: https://www.opensanctions.org/docs/security/
- type: VulnerabilityDisclosure
  url: security/opensanctions-vulnerability-disclosure.yml
- type: TrustCenter
  url: security/opensanctions-trust-center.yml
- type: Compliance
  url: https://www.opensanctions.org/docs/security/
- type: Conformance
  url: conformance/opensanctions-conformance.yml
- type: StatusPage
  url: https://status.opensanctions.org/
- type: Deprecation
  url: https://www.opensanctions.org/docs/data/changes/
- type: Lifecycle
  url: lifecycle/opensanctions-lifecycle.yml
- type: ChangeLog
  url: changelog/opensanctions-changelog.yml
- type: Authentication
  url: authentication/opensanctions-authentication.yml
- type: ErrorCatalog
  url: errors/opensanctions-problem-types.yml
- type: Conventions
  url: conventions/opensanctions-conventions.yml
- type: RateLimits
  url: rate-limits/opensanctions-rate-limits.yml
- type: Plans
  url: plans/opensanctions-plans-pricing.yml
- type: Packages
  url: packages/opensanctions-packages.yml
- type: SDKs
  url: packages/opensanctions-packages.yml
- type: CLI
  url: cli/opensanctions-cli.yml
- type: Sandbox
  url: sandbox/opensanctions-sandbox.yml
- type: MCPServer
  url: mcp/opensanctions-mcp.yml
- type: AgentSkill
  url: skills/_index.yml
- type: LLMsTxt
  url: llms/opensanctions-llms.txt
- type: DataModel
  url: data-model/opensanctions-data-model.yml
maintainers:
- FN: Kin Lane
  email: kin@apievangelist.com
x-enrichment:
  date: '2026-08-27'
  status: enriched
  artifacts_added: 26
  pass: local-v1

Work with this as data

Every provider here is available over the APIs.io API and to AI agents over MCP.

MCP server

One button, every client — Claude, Cursor, VS Code and the rest.

https://apis.io/mcp

Tools for providers

9 MCP tools reach this
  • find_providersBrowse and filter every provider in the catalog.
  • get_provider_artifactsEvery artifact this provider publishes, grouped by type.
  • get_provider_operationsEvery operation across all of their OpenAPIs — one call instead of parsing every spec.
  • get_provider_toolsEvery MCP tool they ship, with the operation each wraps.
  • get_provider_evidenceHow each part of their score was established. Free — the basis for a claim should not sit behind it.
  • get_provider_ratingPRO — composite, band, trend and facet scores.
  • apis_io_searchSTART HERE — APIs, providers and tags for one query, each with its total.
  • resolveTurn a domain, URL or GitHub org into the provider it belongs to.
  • find_cohortsEvery scored population of providers in the catalog.
All 92 tools →

Call it yourself

curl for this page
This provider
curl "https://apis.io/api/v1/providers/opensanctions"
All providers
curl "https://apis.io/api/v1/providers?limit=25"
Every operation they expose
curl "https://apis.io/api/v1/providers/opensanctions/operations?limit=25"
How their score was established
curl "https://apis.io/api/v1/providers/opensanctions/evidence"

Discovery needs no key. Ratings and market analysis are Pro.

Get an API key

Free tier, no email required.

A second provider on the same verified email joins the account you already have.