Sanctions Screening API - sanctions.io PEP, Watchlist, Media

Screen people, companies, vessels and aircraft against global sanctions lists, politically exposed persons (PEPs), criminal watchlists and adverse media through the sanctions.io API with your own token, and get every match as a clean dataset row.

Works with the sanctions.io API (api-docs.sanctions.io) on api.sanctions.io: GET /search/ to screen a name, GET /search/media/ for adverse media, GET /search/batch/ and /search/batch-result/ for batch screening results, GET /monitoring/ for ongoing monitoring entries and alerts, and GET /sources/ for the watchlists and their short codes. Each match becomes one row with the matched name, entity type, confidence score, list (OFAC SDN, EU CFSP, UK Sanctions, UN, BIS Entity List, Interpol and many more), sanctions programs, aliases, countries, nationalities, birth dates, identifiers and remarks, plus the full sanctions.io record. Download as JSON, CSV or Excel, schedule it, or feed it into a KYC, KYB, onboarding or vendor due diligence workflow or an AI agent. Bring your own API key.

BYOK, not live-tested: every route, query parameter and response field comes from the sanctions.io API reference, and every route was confirmed to exist on api.sanctions.io (it answers an invalid token with 401, while an invented path answers 404), but the actor has not been run against a live sanctions.io account.

What it does

• Screen names: one sanctions.io real-time screening per name against the collections you choose (all sanctions lists, PEP, criminal watchlists, high risk jurisdictions) and any individual lists by short code. Tune it with entity type, country, date or year of birth, an identifier (passport, tax ID, IMO number, wallet address and more), the minimum score and the boosting thresholds. One row per match with its confidence score.
• Adverse media: news articles about each name, filtered by 24 risk topics (fraud, corruption, money laundering related financial crime, sanctions, terrorism financing and more), news country, language, subject type, minimum score and publication dates.
• Batch screening results: every match of every name in a batch screening you ran in sanctions.io (up to 10,000 names a batch), tagged with your external identifier. Names with no match are listed too, free.
• Monitoring alerts: every alert a monitoring entry raised, with its review status (New, False Positive, Real Positive) and the matched watchlist record.
• Monitoring entries: your monitored names with their new, false positive and real positive counters, filtered by alert or review status.
• Batch screenings list and Watchlist data sources: your batches with their status, and every list with the short code to use in screening.
• Read only: no route that creates a batch, adds or deletes a monitoring entry, resolves an alert, or changes tokens, users or webhooks is called.
• Pay only for results: a name with no matches, or a lookup that returns nothing, gives one free row that says why.

Important: each screened name counts on your plan

Screen and Adverse media modes call GET /search/ or GET /search/media/ once per name, and sanctions.io counts each one as a screening under your own sanctions.io plan, which sanctions.io bills separately. Screening the same list twice uses twice the screenings. Results come 25 to a page and each further page is one more API call, so keep Matches per name at 25 unless you need more. The run stops starting new screenings once maxResults rows are reached. Every other mode only reads your account.

How to get an API key

sanctions.io sells plans with API access (see the pricing calculator on sanctions.io; a free trial signs up at app.sanctions.io/signup). Sign in to the sanctions.io portal, open Settings, API and Webhooks, and copy a Live API token (your default token is created with the account). Paste it into the API key field, or set the DATA_API_KEY secret. The token is sent only to api.sanctions.io in the Authorization header as Bearer <token> (never as a URL parameter) and is never logged. Sandbox tokens only reach the sanctions.io test dataset. Adverse media needs a plan that includes it, and monitoring must be switched on by sanctions.io support. A missing or rejected token ends the run cleanly with a status message.

Input

Field	Modes	Description
mode	all	screen, adverseMedia, batchResults, monitoringAlerts, monitoringEntries, batchList or dataSources
names	screen, adverse media	Names, one per line (up to 1,000 a run, 15 words each)
collections	screen	SANCTIONS-LISTS, PEP, CRIME, HIGH-RISK-JURISDICTIONS
sourceCodes	screen	Individual list short codes such as SDN, CFSP or UK-SANCTIONS
minScore	screen	0.8 to 1, default 0.88
entityType	screen	individual, entity, vessel or aircraft
country	screen	One ISO alpha-2 code
dateOfBirth, yearOfBirth	screen	Birth date YYYY-MM-DD or year, for individuals
identifier	screen	One identifier, with one name
nameBoostThreshold, identifierBoostThreshold	screen	0.7 to 1
matchesPerName	screen	Matches read per name, default 25
mediaKeywords	adverse media	Risk topics such as Fraud, Corruption, Sanctions
mediaCountries, mediaLanguages	adverse media	News countries (ISO alpha-2) and languages (ISO 639-1)
mediaEntityType, precise, mediaMinScore	adverse media	Individual or Entity, strict matching, 0.65 to 1
publishedFrom, publishedTo	adverse media	Publication date range
articlesPerName	adverse media	Articles read per name, default 25
batchIds	batch results	Batch screening IDs
batchProcessed, batchFrom, batchTo	batch list	Status and created date range
monitoringIds	monitoring alerts	Monitoring entry IDs
monitoringFilter, monitoringSearch, showInactive	monitoring entries	Alert or review status filter, free text, deleted entries
maxResults	all	Row ceiling for the run (default 100)
requestsPerMinute	all	Pacing, default 60
apiKey	all	Your sanctions.io API token (or the DATA_API_KEY secret)

An input set for a mode that does not take it is left off with a warning, never sent.

Example: screen two companies against OFAC and EU lists plus all PEPs.

{
    "mode": "screen",
    "names": ["Acme Trading Ltd", "Northwind Shipping LLC"],
    "collections": ["PEP"],
    "sourceCodes": ["SDN", "NONSDN", "CFSP"],
    "entityType": "entity",
    "minScore": 0.9,
    "maxResults": 50
}

Example output

An illustrative screening match, shaped like the documented GET /search/ response (values are the reference's fictional sandbox example). The full match is kept under record.

{
    "mode": "screen",
    "recordType": "match",
    "found": true,
    "input": "Pied Piper Inc.",
    "externalIdentifier": null,
    "matchName": "Pied Piper Inc.",
    "entityType": "Entity",
    "confidenceScore": 1,
    "dataSource": "FSL",
    "dataSourceName": "Fictional Sanctions List",
    "programs": null,
    "altNames": "PiedPiper Systems; PP Inc.",
    "countries": "US",
    "nationalities": "US",
    "datesOfBirth": null,
    "identifiers": null,
    "remarks": "Tech firm facilitating distributed hosting of sanctioned content",
    "siIdentifier": "FSL-NONE-005",
    "sourceListUrl": null,
    "lastUpdate": "2025-06-16T15:42:29.381766+00:00",
    "alertStatus": null,
    "articleTitle": null,
    "articleUrl": null,
    "publishedAt": null,
    "mediaSource": null,
    "keywords": null,
    "language": null,
    "batchId": null,
    "processed": null,
    "resultsCount": null,
    "monitoringEntryId": null,
    "newMatches": null,
    "falsePositives": null,
    "realPositives": null,
    "monitoringStatus": null,
    "searchId": "689ed2fe-50d7-44bc-bdb5-0fd12b4e997b",
    "timestamp": "2026-03-23T22:34:27.121297+00:00",
    "note": null,
    "record": { "name": "Pied Piper Inc.", "confidence_score": 1.0, "data_source": { "short_name": "FSL" }, "si_identifier": "FSL-NONE-005" }
}

FAQ

What is the sanctions.io API?

sanctions.io (sanctions.io Inc., Delaware) is an AML compliance screening service. Its REST API screens names against global sanctions lists (OFAC SDN and non-SDN lists, UN, EU, UK, Australia, Canada, France and more), BIS export control lists, a global politically exposed persons database, criminal watchlists such as FBI Most Wanted and Interpol Red Notices, high risk jurisdiction lists and an indexed adverse media dataset. sanctions.io updates its lists every 60 minutes.

Do I need my own sanctions.io API key?

Yes. This is a bring-your-own-key actor: it calls sanctions.io with your token, under your plan and its terms. A missing or rejected token ends the run cleanly with a status message, and nothing is charged.

Does screening use my sanctions.io screenings?

Yes. Each name in Screen or Adverse media mode is one screening on your sanctions.io plan, and each further page of results is one more API call. Reading batch results, monitoring entries and alerts, batches and sources does not screen anything.

How do I reduce false positives?

Set the entity type, add a country and, for people, a date or year of birth, raise the minimum score toward 0.93, and avoid a low name boosting threshold. Screen against the lists you need rather than every collection.

Can I screen vessels, aircraft or crypto wallets?

Yes. Set the entity type to vessel or aircraft, and put an IMO number, aircraft registration or wallet address in the identifier field with one name.

Can I run a batch of 10,000 names?

Create the batch screening in sanctions.io (its portal or batch API), then run Batch screening results with the batch ID. This actor reads the results; it does not create batches. sanctions.io deletes batches after 30 days.

Does this actor resolve monitoring alerts?

No. It reads monitoring entries and their alerts with review status, but never marks an alert as a false or real positive, and never adds or removes monitoring entries.

What do I pay?

Pay per result: 0.02 USD per screening match (from Screen, Batch screening results or Monitoring alerts), 0.01 USD per adverse media article and 0.005 USD per watchlist source, batch summary or monitoring entry. Names with no matches and lookups that return nothing are never charged. Your sanctions.io plan is billed separately by sanctions.io.

Pricing

Event	Price	Charged for
screening-match	0.02 USD	Each sanctions, PEP or watchlist match, from Screen, Batch screening results or Monitoring alerts
adverse-media-article	0.01 USD	Each adverse media article
account-record	0.005 USD	Each watchlist source, batch screening summary or monitoring entry

Keyword map

sanctions screening API, sanctions.io API, PEP screening API, AML screening, watchlist screening, OFAC SDN check, EU sanctions check, UK sanctions list check, adverse media screening, negative news screening, KYC screening, KYB screening, vendor due diligence, vessel sanctions screening, crypto wallet sanctions check, batch sanctions screening, ongoing sanctions monitoring, Interpol red notice check, AML compliance automation, sanctions data for AI agents.

Terms and data use

sanctions.io data is provided under your agreement with sanctions.io Inc. (its Terms and Conditions, last updated April 25, 2022, plus your plan). Section 2 makes the site content available for your own use and forbids copying, reproducing, aggregating, republishing, distributing, selling or licensing it for any commercial purpose without written permission. Section 9 forbids systematically retrieving data to build a collection or database without written permission, and using the service to compete with sanctions.io or for any revenue-generating endeavour it has not approved. Section 8 licenses its software to you personally and non-transferably. The terms set no limit on how long you keep your own screening results. Run this actor with your own token, screen your own customers, vendors and counterparties, keep the results for your own compliance records, and do not resell, republish or pool them into a list of your own. This actor is not affiliated with or endorsed by sanctions.io.