# persona

Source: https://startwithidentity.com/vendors/identity-verification/persona/
Last updated: 2026-09-20
License: content by Start with Identity. Cite the source URL.

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## Overview

Persona is an identity platform spanning [identity verification](https://startwithidentity.com/guides/compliance/customer-identity-verification-guide/), KYB, AML screening, age assurance and employee verification, built around a no-code workflow editor that adapts friction in real time. Founded in October 2018 by Rick Song and Charles Yeh, it raised a [200 million dollar Series D](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/persona-raises-200m-at-2b-valuation-to-build-the-verified-identity-layer-for-an-agentic-ai-world-302442649.html) at a 2 billion dollar valuation in April 2025, taking disclosed funding past 417 million dollars. Named customers include OpenAI, LinkedIn, Etsy, Twilio and Block.

It publishes an entry price, 250 dollars per month for 500 services, which puts it among the more transparent vendors in a category that mostly quotes privately.

## What it is good at

Workflow flexibility. The Flow editor lets teams compose document checks, database lookups, selfie comparison, watchlist screening and business verification into branching flows that escalate friction only when signals warrant, rather than applying one verification path to everyone. Government ID verification spans 200 or more countries, AML screening covers 100 or more sanctions lists and 5,000 or more PEP lists with adverse media, and KYC and KYB run in a single flow so a business and its beneficial owners verify together.

Graph, its link-analysis tool, surfaces fraud rings and identity mules by finding shared attributes across accounts, which is genuinely useful for platforms fighting coordinated abuse rather than one-off fraud.

## Where it falls short

The evidence gap is the significant one. Persona appears in no NIST face benchmark, publishes no false-accept or false-reject rates, and its references to iBeta and to Kantara under NIST SP 800-63 could not be matched to any public confirmation letter or registry entry. Competitors including Sumsub, Veriff, IDEMIA and LexisNexis have dated third-party grants. For an orchestration platform that composes other vendors' engines this is defensible, but buyers comparing accuracy have nothing independent to compare.

Coverage maps are locked behind a customer login, so there is no public document-type count.

February 2026 was costly. Exposed frontend source maps on a non-production FedRAMP subdomain revealed a 269-check capability inventory, and Discord ended the relationship eight days later. No personal data was exposed, and calling it a breach is wrong, but the commercial consequence was real.

## Pricing

Essential at 250 dollars per month annually, 500 services included, 1.50 dollars per additional service, no rollover. Growth and Enterprise quoted. Startup Program available. Model it with our [TCO calculator](https://startwithidentity.com/tools/tco-calculator/).

## Best for, and who should look elsewhere

Choose Persona for platforms and marketplaces wanting configurable verification flows and link analysis across a large user base. Choose [Sumsub](https://startwithidentity.com/vendors/identity-verification/sumsub/) if you need published pricing plus dated independent biometric testing, [Jumio](https://startwithidentity.com/vendors/identity-verification/jumio/) for large regulated deployments, or [Stripe Identity](https://startwithidentity.com/vendors/identity-verification/stripe-identity/) for simple document and selfie checks. See [Persona vs Veriff](https://startwithidentity.com/compare/persona-vs-veriff/).

## Bottom line

The most flexible workflow-driven verification platform, with unusually clear entry pricing, undermined by an absence of independent accuracy evidence and a self-inflicted February 2026 disclosure.