Comparison · Verify SDK

Cloud KYC sends PII away.
We verify on-device.

Jumio, Veriff, and Onfido are cloud-first: they need connectivity and ship your users' personal data to their servers. Brain Breaking Verify validates signed ID documents entirely on-device, offline — nothing leaves the device.

Side by side

Where each approach runs, what it sends, and what it costs. Cloud KYC is built around a server; Verify is built around the device.

Cloud KYC
Jumio · Veriff · Onfido
Brain Breaking Verify
On-device · offline
Where verification runs
Their cloud servers
On-device, inside your app
Internet required
Yes — on every check
No — fully offline
User personal data (PII)
Sent to a third-party server
Never leaves the device
Data residency
Vendor's infrastructure & region
Your device, your jurisdiction
Cost model
Per-check fees that scale with volume
Per-device / flat — no per-check cloud cost
Field & air-gapped use
Breaks without connectivity
Designed for it
Latency
Network round-trip per check
Instant, local
Authenticity check
Document-image AI
Cryptographic signature (DSA / X.509) of the barcode
Tamper detection
Server-side
On-device signature check
New ID formats
Vendor backlog
YAML template — added during your pilot

Comparison reflects the general cloud-KYC model. Vendor capabilities change — verify current specifics for your use case.

When cloud KYC is the wrong tool

Four places it breaks down

Regulated & air-gapped

Government, defense, healthcare environments where nothing may phone home.

Data-residency rules

Jurisdictions where ID data can't be shipped to a foreign cloud.

High-volume access control

Per-call cloud pricing becomes uneconomic at scale.

Edge & field deployments

Kiosks, agents, and devices on poor or no connectivity.

Where cloud KYC still wins

Cloud vendors do selfie / liveness biometrics — matching a face to a document. Verify isn't that. We prove document authenticity (is this a genuine, untampered, signed ID?) and we do it offline. If you need biometric liveness too, pair them: Verify handles the document, on-device, while keeping PII local.

See it catch a tampered ID — in your browser

No signup. The whole check runs client-side: load a sample, then a tampered one, and watch the signature fail on-device.