AML tool comparison
Sanctuary vs Crystal Intelligence
Crystal has been tracing and attributing addresses since 2017, for law enforcement and financial institutions, on-premise where the data cannot leave. Sanctuary runs the screening decision at a published price. Here is the honest split.
The short answer
Facts checked August 2026Crystal Intelligence is an investigation and compliance analytics platform: visual tracing, transaction monitoring and risk scoring, deployed in the cloud or on-premise, in market since 2017, with law-enforcement and financial-institution users and strong exchange and wallet attribution, particularly across Eastern-European jurisdictions. It publishes no pricing. Sanctuary is the operational alternative with the number on the page: $199 a month for 1,000 checks, a 0-100 score on every one, 12 chains, 20+ intelligence sources, and API, monitoring, cases and a signed audit trail in the same tier.
Pick Crystal when the analysis has to run inside your own infrastructure, when your casework involves law enforcement, or when the counterparties you trace sit in the regions its attribution covers best. Pick Sanctuary when the recurring job is screening deposits, withdrawals and P2P counterparties, the team is small, and the budget for it needs to be a published line rather than a quote.
- Crystal publishes no pricing, and procurement trackers list no pricing evidence for it either. Sanctuary lists $199/month for 1,000 checks.
- Crystal deploys on-premise as well as in the cloud. Sanctuary is cloud only, so if your data cannot leave your infrastructure, this comparison ends here.
- Crystal's attribution across Eastern-European exchanges and wallets is a genuine strength, built since 2017. Sanctuary's answer is speed, price and the workflow around each decision.
$199/mo
1,000 checks, API and monitoring included
Crystal: pricing not published
0-100
risk score on every check, every plan
Crystal: scoring scale not published
3/day
free bot checks, no signup
Crystal: no free tier published
Feature by feature: Sanctuary vs Crystal Intelligence
Feature
Sanctuary
Crystal Intelligence
Risk score precisionSanctuary returns a 0-100 score on every check. Crystal scores risk in its platform; the scale is not published outside customer documentation.
0-100 on every check
Not published
Public pricingSanctuary lists tier prices on its pricing page. Crystal publishes none, and procurement trackers carry no pricing evidence for it.
Entry priceCrystal publishes no entry price and no per-check rate. Sanctuary's entry tier is $199/month with $0.20 overage.
From $199/mo, public
Not published
Procurement motionSign up and start, or talk to sales. Crystal is quoted per customer.
Self-serve + sales
Sales-led
Free tierSanctuary's Telegram bot runs 3 checks a day free. Crystal publishes no free tier.
3 free daily
Not published
Telegram botSanctuary's bot is button-driven and needs no account. Crystal publishes no Telegram bot.
DeploymentCrystal deploys in the cloud or on-premise, which decides the shortlist when data cannot leave your own infrastructure. Sanctuary is cloud only.
Cloud
Cloud or on-premise
Sanctions screeningBoth screen addresses against sanctions designations.
Continuous monitoring (KYT)Transaction monitoring is part of the Crystal platform. Sanctuary includes monitoring and webhook alerts from $199/mo.
Included from $199/mo
REST APISanctuary issues an API key on the paid tier. Crystal access comes with the contract.
Included from $199/mo
Enterprise contract
Investigation workbenchCrystal is built around investigation work. Sanctuary ships graph tracing and case handling, not an investigation platform of that depth.
Limited
On-chain graph analysisCrystal's visual tracing is its centre of gravity. Sanctuary's graph is built to explain a screening verdict.
Entity attributionCrystal's exchange and wallet attribution is a stated strength, particularly in Eastern-European jurisdictions. Sanctuary attributes across 12 chains from 20+ sources.
Chains supportedSanctuary screens 12 chains. Crystal does not publish a chain count.
12 chains
Not published
Reviewer evidenceBoth produce reviewable output. Sanctuary packages sources, attribution and history into an evidence pack tied to the decision.
Evidence packs
Case managementCases, assignment and resolution are in Sanctuary's base paid tier. Crystal does not publish its case workflow outside customer documentation.
Not published
Signed audit trailSanctuary signs a snapshot of every check. Crystal does not publish this detail.
Not published
Where each tool wins
Choose Sanctuary if
- You want the number without a call: $199/month, 1,000 checks, $0.20 after that.
- The work is a screening decision per counterparty, repeated all day, not one long trace.
- Monitoring, webhooks, cases and a signed audit trail have to be in the base tier.
- You want to be screening this afternoon rather than scheduling a demo for next week.
- Your operators check addresses from a phone before releasing funds, and it needs to cost nothing.
Where Crystal Intelligence still fits
- Data cannot leave your infrastructure, and you need an on-premise deployment.
- Your counterparties sit in Eastern-European jurisdictions, where Crystal's exchange and wallet attribution is a stated strength.
- Your casework runs alongside law enforcement, and the tracing output has to serve that audience.
- The purchase is an investigations platform first, and screening rides along as a side item.
What switching actually buys you
The invoice drops, the checks don't
Public pricing: $199 a month covers 1,000 checks with API access included. No quote call, no annual lock-in, overage at $0.20 a check.
Verdicts you can forward
Every check returns a 0-100 score with named sources — sanctions lists, darknet clusters, exchange attribution — and exports to a PDF your bank or partner can read.
Live in the next five minutes
Your first check runs in Telegram before a sales call would even be scheduled. 3 free checks a day, and the same account later carries to web and API.
Switching from Crystal Intelligence
1
Re-run your recent verdicts
Paste ten addresses you already screened into the Sanctuary bot. Free, no signup, 3 a day.
2
Compare what a reviewer sees
Put the outputs side by side: score, sources, attribution, and what actually ends up in the file.
3
Move the desk
Invite the team, issue an API key, import your watchlist. Checks are stateless, so there is no data to migrate.
Frequently asked questions
How much does Crystal Intelligence cost?
Crystal does not publish pricing, and third-party procurement trackers list no pricing evidence for it either, so any figure you see quoted elsewhere is an estimate rather than a published rate. Pricing is quoted per customer. Sanctuary publishes its numbers: $199/month for 1,000 checks with API, monitoring and case management included, $0.20 per additional check, and $499/month for 5,000 checks at $0.15.
Can I check an address for free on either one?
Crystal publishes no free tier. Sanctuary's Telegram bot runs 3 full checks a day free, with no signup and no card, returning a 0-100 risk score across 12 chains. That is the cheapest way to compare the two before anyone books a demo.
Is Crystal Intelligence worth it for an exchanger or OTC desk?
If your work regularly turns into casework with law enforcement, or the counterparties you trace are concentrated in the regions Crystal attributes best, it buys depth Sanctuary does not claim. If your work is a screening decision per deal, repeated dozens of times a day, an unpublished enterprise quote is a hard way to buy something that costs $199/month elsewhere. Run the same addresses through both and judge the output, not the brochure.
How do I switch from Crystal to Sanctuary?
Run your recent addresses through the Sanctuary Telegram bot first, free, and compare verdicts against the ones you already have. If the screening output holds up, move the desk: invite teammates, issue an API key, import your watchlist. Checks are stateless on both sides, so there is no export to negotiate. Keep Crystal for anything that is genuinely an investigation.
Compare the verdicts, not the brochures
Take ten addresses you screened last month and re-run them in the Sanctuary bot. Three free a day, no signup, no card.
Compare other AML tools
Competitor facts checked August 2026 against public documentation and pricing pages. Product names and trademarks belong to their owners. Spotted something outdated? Tell us