Visual Compliance alternatives for small teams
If Descartes Visual Compliance is more than a small team needs, the alternatives run from free government search tools to self-serve services priced per month. On 7 October 2026, Descartes' pricing page said its screening "starts at a few thousand dollars a year for a basic implementation with small screening volumes and one user", that a typical customer screening 50,000 entities should budget around $20,000 a year, and showed "Contact Us for Pricing" rather than list prices. Below, each option's coverage and price as its own site stated that day.
How we checked
Every fact below comes from the provider's own public page, read on 7 October 2026. Prices and plans change; check the linked page before you buy. We sell one of the options listed (VerifySanctions), so we have kept every row to what each provider publishes.
The options
| Option | Lists, per its own page | Price, per its own page | Notes, per its own page |
|---|---|---|---|
| Descartes Visual Compliance | Denied and restricted party lists from 180+ countries | From a few thousand dollars a year; about $20,000 a year for a typical customer screening 50,000 entities; quote on request | Standard plan lists online, batch and dynamic screening, automated recordkeeping and 7-year audit trail retention; sanctioned party ownership screening is an add-on |
| OFAC Sanctions List Search | OFAC SDN and Consolidated lists (FAQ 369) | Free | For individual users, not automated systems (FAQ 287); shows current entries only, not removed names (FAQ 467) |
| Trade.gov Consolidated Screening List | Export screening lists of Commerce, State and Treasury | Free | Search with fuzzy names, downloadable files and an API; updated daily at 5:00 AM Eastern |
| SanctScan | US, EU, UK, global, Australia, Switzerland, Canada and Japan lists | Free (25 searches/month); Solo $19/month; Starter $39/month; Growth $149/month; Enterprise custom | Monitoring after every list update from Solo up; API and webhooks from Starter up |
| SanctionsLookup | OFAC SDN and Consolidated lists | 100 free trial screenings; Starter $49/month (5,000 screenings); Growth $109/month (15,000); Scale $329/month (50,000) | Priced per API screening; says its data updates every 15 minutes |
| OFACScreen | 8 lists | Plans from $49/month; $9.99 for a timestamped PDF of a single search | Saved names re-screened daily with email alerts; batch CSV, REST API and team seats on every plan |
| VerifySanctions (us) | OFAC SDN and Consolidated lists | Free search; founding plan $149/month shown on our home page | The free search shows which name or alias matched and the list publication date |
Questions to ask any provider
Whichever you pick, these are the questions that decide whether it holds up when an auditor, lender or underwriter asks:
- Which lists, exactly? A dealer or closer needs at least OFAC's SDN and Consolidated lists. An exporter needs the Commerce and State lists too, which the free CSL covers. See which lists to screen.
- Does each result record the list version? OFAC asks for complete records of how a potential match was investigated (OFAC FAQ 5), and transaction records are kept for at least 10 years under 31 CFR 501.601. Compare that with each provider's retention period.
- What happens when a list fails to update? OFAC names screening software that failed to incorporate list updates as a root cause of violations (OFAC Framework).
- Does it handle ownership? Entities 50 percent or more owned by blocked persons are blocked without being listed (OFAC FAQ 91).
- Can you see why something matched? Clearing a false positive means comparing the full entry with your party (OFAC FAQ 5); a bare score does not help you write the reason.
Try the free search
Run a free OFAC check against the SDN and Consolidated lists and compare it with whatever you use today. This is screening data, not legal advice.