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Cybersecurity · head to head

Sumsub vs Teleport

Sumsub logo

Sumsub

Cybersecurity

Identity verification and AML screening priced per verification

From
$1.35/verification
Rated
-
Teleport logo

Teleport

Cybersecurity

Certificate-based access to servers, Kubernetes, databases and apps, replacing shared credentials and VPNs

From
On request
Rated
-

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Sumsub the published per-verification rate is undercut by a monthly minimum of 149 or 299 dollars, so low volume businesses pay a much higher effective rate than the headline suggests.; Teleport pricing is not published and is described as active users plus protected resources, so an autoscaling estate cannot forecast the bill and finance teams discover the true cost only after the first true-up.
  • They diverge on capability: Sumsub covers Document verification, Teleport covers Short-lived certificates.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Sumsub and Teleport actually diverge.

Attributes where Sumsub and Teleport differ
AttributeSumsubTeleport
Starting price$1.35/verificationOn request
Pricing modelPer verificationquote
PlatformsWeb, iOS, AndroidLinux, macOS, Windows, Kubernetes, Cloud

Identical on both: free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Cybersecurity).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Sumsub

  • Document verification
  • AML screening
  • KYB verification
  • No-code flow builder
  • Transaction monitoring
  • Travel Rule
  • Fraud and duplicate detection

Only in Teleport

  • Short-lived certificates
  • Protocol coverage
  • Session recording and replay
  • Access Requests
  • Device Trust
  • Identity provider integration
  • Machine identity
  • FIPS and FedRAMP builds

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Sumsub

  • A crypto exchange needing KYC plus Travel Rule handling under one contractnot Teleport
  • A gambling operator entering several European markets and needing document coverage without a separate vendor per countrynot Teleport
  • A fintech that wants a published price it can model in a business case before speaking to a salespersonnot Teleport
  • A marketplace verifying both individual sellers and the companies behind them without buying two productsnot Teleport

Teleport

  • Removing long-lived SSH keys and shared database passwords so that offboarding an engineer takes one action in the identity providernot Sumsub
  • Producing session recordings and per-user database audit trails as direct evidence for SOC 2 or FedRAMPnot Sumsub
  • Giving contractors or on-call engineers time-boxed, approved access to production instead of standing admin rightsnot Sumsub
  • Replacing a flat VPN with per-resource authorisation across servers, Kubernetes and internal web appsnot Sumsub

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Sumsub

  • The published per-verification rate is undercut by a monthly minimum of 149 or 299 dollars, so low volume businesses pay a much higher effective rate than the headline suggests.
  • You are billed per verification attempt in most configurations, meaning applicant drop-off and resubmissions cost money without producing a customer.
  • Pass rates and document support vary noticeably by country, and a market that works well in Europe can produce materially worse rejection rates in parts of Africa and South East Asia.
  • The AML screening tier bundles list coverage that large institutions would normally buy separately and tune, giving less control over match thresholds than a dedicated screening vendor.
  • The company originated in Russia before restructuring to a UK entity, and some financial institutions still raise that history in vendor risk review, which can slow or block procurement at conservative banks.

Teleport

  • Pricing is not published and is described as active users plus protected resources, so an autoscaling estate cannot forecast the bill and finance teams discover the true cost only after the first true-up.
  • The proxy is a hard dependency on reaching production, so it needs its own high availability deployment and a tested break-glass path or an outage in Teleport becomes an outage in your ability to respond to outages.
  • The open source Community Edition omits Access Requests, Device Trust and the FIPS builds, which are exactly the controls an auditor asks about, so the free tier rarely survives a compliance review.
  • Self-hosting means running and upgrading a certificate authority and its backing store, and Teleport releases frequently enough that upgrade work becomes a standing operational commitment.
  • Coverage across protocols is uneven in depth, so teams with legacy systems, unusual databases or bespoke network appliances find gaps that still require the old VPN to remain in place alongside it.

Pricing, plan by plan

Sumsub

$1.35/verification
  • Basic$1.35/verification
    • 149 USD minimum monthly spend
    • Document verification and liveness
    • No-code flow builder
  • Compliance$1.85/verification
    • 299 USD minimum monthly spend
    • Everything in Basic
    • AML sanctions and PEP screening
  • Enterprise$undefined/year
    • Negotiated volume rate
    • Custom jurisdictions and languages
    • Dedicated support

Teleport

On request
  • Teleport Community Edition$undefined/year
    • Open source, self-hosted
    • SSH, Kubernetes, database and app access
    • Session recording
  • Teleport Enterprise$undefined/year
    • Cloud-hosted or self-hosted
    • Access Requests and approval workflow
    • Device Trust and hardware key enforcement

Which should you pick?

Choose Sumsub if

  • You need document verification.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want aml screening.

Choose Teleport if

  • You need short-lived certificates.
  • You work on Linux, macOS, Windows, Kubernetes, Cloud.
  • You also want protocol coverage.

Questions people ask

Is Sumsub or Teleport better?
Neither clearly leads. Sumsub starts at $1.35/verification and Teleport at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Sumsub or Teleport?
Sumsub starts at $1.35/verification and Teleport at On request.
Does Sumsub or Teleport run on more platforms?
Sumsub runs on Web, iOS, Android. Teleport runs on Linux, macOS, Windows, Kubernetes, Cloud.
What is Sumsub best used for?
Sumsub is most often used for a crypto exchange needing kyc plus travel rule handling under one contract, a gambling operator entering several european markets and needing document coverage without a separate vendor per country, a fintech that wants a published price it can model in a business case before speaking to a salesperson, a marketplace verifying both individual sellers and the companies behind them without buying two products. Of those, a crypto exchange needing kyc plus travel rule handling under one contract and a gambling operator entering several european markets and needing document coverage without a separate vendor per country are not what Teleport is typically brought in for.
What can Sumsub do that Teleport cannot?
Sumsub covers Document verification, AML screening, KYB verification, No-code flow builder. Teleport covers Short-lived certificates, Protocol coverage, Session recording and replay, Access Requests.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Sumsub: What does a verification actually cost?

1.35 USD on Basic and 1.85 USD on Compliance, but with 149 and 299 USD monthly minimums respectively. Below roughly 110 or 160 checks a month you are paying the minimum, not the rate.

Teleport: Is the open source edition usable in production?

Yes, but it lacks Access Requests, Device Trust and FIPS builds, which most compliance programmes end up requiring.

Sumsub: Do failed verifications get charged?

Attempts are generally billable, so a poor onboarding funnel raises your bill. Confirm the exact resubmission policy in your contract.

Teleport: How is it priced?

Not publicly. The vendor prices on active users and protected resources and provides a quote after a sales conversation.

Sumsub: Does it cover business verification?

Yes, KYB with company registry lookups and beneficial owner resolution is part of the platform rather than a separate product.

Teleport: What happens if Teleport goes down?

Nobody reaches the resources behind it, so you need a highly available deployment and a documented break-glass procedure.

Teleport: Does it replace our VPN?

For anything you put behind it, yes. Legacy systems and appliances it does not support will keep the VPN alive.

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