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Short answer. The number that matters is cost per verified user: total verification spend divided by users who actually complete verification. Retries, failed captures, minimum fees and expiring credits can make a cheap per-check price expensive.
Price per check versus cost per verified user
A vendor quotes you a price per verification. But you are not buying verifications; you are buying verified customers. Some of your users will retry because of a blurry photo. Some will fail legitimately. The honest metric is:
Cost per verified user = total verification spend ÷ number of users who passed.
Take 1,000 users and a $0.50 check. If the average user needs 1.3 attempts and every attempt is billed, you spend 1,300 × $0.50 = $650. If all 1,000 eventually pass, your real cost is $0.65 each, 30% above the headline price. Better capture guidance lowers that number as effectively as a better rate card does.
Common pricing models
| Model | How it works | Watch for |
|---|---|---|
| Pay per check | A fixed fee per call | Are failed and retried calls billed? |
| Volume tiers | Lower unit price at higher volume | Tier boundaries and monthly resets |
| Platform fee plus usage | Monthly minimum plus per-check fees | You pay even in a quiet month |
| Annual commitment | Prepaid bundle for a year | Unused volume often expires |
| Prepaid credits | Top up a balance, spend per call | Expiry and refund terms |
Where the hidden costs sit
- Add-on checks. Document types, watermark validation, sanctions screening and deepfake detection are often separate line items.
- Retry billing. Poor-quality uploads that count as full checks.
- Sandbox limits. A free test tier that does not behave like production.
- Setup and integration fees. Common on enterprise contracts.
- Expiring credits or bundles. Money you paid for and cannot use.
Five questions to ask before you sign
- Is a rejected or unreadable capture billed?
- Do credits or bundles expire?
- Is there a minimum monthly spend?
- What is the refund policy, and what happens when a payment fails to credit?
- Which checks cost extra, and what do they cost?
Match the tier to the risk
You do not need your most expensive check on every user. A common pattern is progressive: a light liveness check to gate a new account, a document and face match before the first withdrawal or loan, and deepfake screening only on high-value or high-risk actions. Paying 10 credits for most users and 100 for the few that matter beats paying for the top tier across the board.
How IDNexus pricing works
You buy credits in advance and one credit is $0.01. A Basic check costs 10 credits ($0.10), Standard 50 ($0.50) and Enterprise 100 ($1.00). There is no subscription or minimum, and unused credits stay in your account indefinitely. Credits are non-refundable once added, with a reconciliation process if a payment clears but does not credit. BVN, NIN and phone lookups are priced separately; the rates are published on the identity pricing endpoint. See the fraud-cost calculator to estimate what verification returns against your own numbers.
Simple, prepaid pricing
Basic is 10 credits, Standard 50 and Enterprise 100, at $0.01 a credit. No subscription, and credits never expire.
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