Stripe Identity vs Smile ID Comparison: Everything You Need to Know Before Choosing

Stripe Identity is an online identity verification product from Stripe, the payments infrastructure company. It enables businesses to confirm that users are who they claim to be, helping to prevent fraud, meet regulatory requirements and build trust on digital platforms, while keeping the verification experience quick and straightforward for genuine customers. The product builds on Stripe's experience of verifying identities at scale for its own payments network, and it is designed to be integrated with minimal development effort. Its approach balances security and conversion: rather than imposing lengthy manual processes, it uses automated document and biometric checks that most users can complete in a short time from a phone or computer. Verification typically involves capturing an image of a government-issued identity document, which is checked for authenticity and consistency, and matching it against a live selfie using facial recognition. Stripe Identity can also verify identity numbers against authoritative data sources in supported countries, such as Social Security number checks in the United States, and it supports a wide range of document types across many countries. Businesses can use a pre-built, Stripe-hosted verification flow or embed it in their own application through APIs and mobile software development kits, with results returned through the Stripe Dashboard and webhooks. Stripe's fraud signals and network data help identify suspicious attempts, and data handling is designed with privacy in mind, including controls over retention and the ability for returning users to reuse previously verified information where appropriate. Common use cases include marketplaces and sharing economy platforms, financial services, online rental services, age-restricted goods and any business requiring know-your-customer checks. It is particularly attractive to companies already processing payments with Stripe. Pricing is usage-based and is not published in this listing, and no free trial or free version is indicated.