AML tool comparison
Crypto AML tools, compared
What each one costs, what you get for nothing, and which ones need a procurement process before you can screen a single address.
The short answer
Facts checked August 2026There are three groups. Chainalysis, TRM Labs, Elliptic and Crystal Intelligence are the contract-priced platforms built for investigations, law-enforcement work and bank procurement — you get a sales call, not a signup page. MistTrack, Scorechain, BitOK and AMLBot are the self-serve screeners: cheap to start, quick to answer, thinner on workflow. Sanctuary sits in the second group with published pricing — $199 a month for 1,000 checks with monitoring, API and team roles included, and 3 free checks a day in Telegram before you pay anything.
Pick by the job, not by the brand. If the report may end up in front of a regulator or a court, the enterprise platforms have the track record. If a compliance officer needs a verdict on an address before releasing funds this afternoon, the self-serve tools win on speed and price.
- None of the four enterprise platforms publishes an entry price — expect procurement, an annual contract and a sales cycle.
- Free entry points are common — a first check, a signup check, a free sanctions tool — but only Sanctuary's allowance resets every day.
- Monitoring, API and team access are standard at the top and gated in the middle — check which tier they sit in before you sign.
All nine, side by side
The six questions that come up before a purchase. Where a vendor publishes no number, the cell says so — we don't guess on someone else's product.
Tool
Chains
Free tier
Entry price
Telegram bot
API
Monitoring
19 chains
Light + 1 bot check
From $229/mo, public
Standard, $689/mo
Standard, $689/mo
50 addresses on Basic
What each one is for
Frequently asked questions
Which AML tool is best?
It depends on the job, and anyone answering with a single name is selling something. For investigations that end up in front of a regulator or a court, Chainalysis, TRM Labs, Elliptic and Crystal Intelligence are the reference platforms — bought on contract, through procurement. For screening an address before you accept money, the self-serve tools answer faster and cost far less: MistTrack, Scorechain, BitOK, AMLBot and Sanctuary. Sanctuary is the one publishing a flat number — $199 a month for 1,000 checks with monitoring, API and team roles included.
What is the cheapest way to check a wallet?
Free, if you check rarely: Sanctuary's Telegram bot runs 3 checks a day without signup, MistTrack gives a first bot check on top of its free Light tier, Scorechain gives one bot check and five trust reports, AMLBot gives one check on registration. At volume the picture changes — BitOK bills by consumption, $0.50 a check on a 2,000-check bundle sliding to $0.10 at very large volume; MistTrack sells a usage-based developer API from $20 a year for 100 calls; Sanctuary is $199 a month flat, 1,000 checks included and $0.20 for each one after that.
Which tools give free checks?
Most of them have some free entry point, and they are not equivalent. Sanctuary: 3 checks a day in Telegram, no signup, no card, and the count resets daily. MistTrack: the free Light tier plus a first bot check. Scorechain: one bot wallet check and five trust reports. AMLBot: one check on signup. Chainalysis publishes free sanctions screening tools and TRM Labs runs a free scam-reporting portal — useful, but neither is a screening plan. Elliptic and Crystal Intelligence publish no free tier at all.
What happened to CipherTrace?
Mastercard acquired CipherTrace in 2021 and shut its key products down in early 2024. Teams that ran on it moved to the vendors on this page — the enterprise platforms for investigations, the self-serve tools for daily screening. If you still have CipherTrace reports in a case file, treat them as historical: the addresses are worth re-checking against current data.
Compare on your own addresses
Take the last ten addresses you screened and run them through the Sanctuary bot. Three a day are free — no signup, no card.
Competitor facts checked August 2026 against public documentation and pricing pages. Product names and trademarks belong to their owners. Spotted something outdated? Tell us