KYC for prop firms: identity checks, timing and costs

What KYC means for a prop firm

KYC, short for know your customer, is the process of confirming a person's identity. A prop firm sells challenges and pays rewards to traders who pass, so it needs to know who it is paying. KYC also supports your restricted countries list, helps catch people running several accounts under different names, and gives your payment providers the records they may ask for.

This is general information, not legal advice. What you must check, and how long you keep the records, depends on your jurisdiction. Confirm it with a lawyer.

When to verify

There are two common moments.

• Before a funded account or the first reward. Checkout stays short, and you only pay for verifications on traders who pass. The trade-off is that you learn about a problem later.
• At sign-up or purchase. You block restricted countries and duplicate identities from the start, but you add a step before the sale and pay to verify people who may never pass.

Choose one moment, write it into your terms, and apply it to every trader the same way.

What a verification includes

Most providers combine a document check with a biometric check. As examples, since both are priced in our cost table:

• Sumsub's pricing page lists ID verification, liveness and face match, reusable KYC and email and phone verification in its Basic plan. Its Compliance plan adds AML screening, ongoing AML monitoring and address verification.
• Veriff's pricing page lists automated verification with biometric and liveness checks and a hosted verification page in its Essential plan. PEP and sanctions screening and ongoing monitoring are paid add-ons.

Naming these two is not a recommendation. Many providers offer similar checks. Compare what is included at each price before you choose.

Sanctions and restricted countries

Identity checks confirm who someone is. Sanctions screening checks whether that person appears on sanctions or politically exposed person lists. On the two plans above, screening sits in a higher plan or an add-on, so check whether the plan you are quoted includes it. Your payment provider may also run its own checks before it releases a reward.

Strengths and trade-offs

• Specialist provider: fast to set up and kept current by the vendor, but a per-check cost and a monthly minimum.
• Bundled with your CRM: some prop CRMs include a KYC module or connect to a provider. See CRM. Fewer vendors, but check which provider sits underneath and what it checks.
• Stricter checks: fewer bad actors, but more friction and more traders who drop out before they finish.

Questions to ask a KYC provider

• Which checks are in the plan I am quoted: document, liveness, address, sanctions, ongoing monitoring?
• Is there a monthly minimum, and what happens if I verify fewer people than that?
• Which countries and document types do you support?
• Does it connect to my CRM, and who maintains the connection?
• How long do you keep data, and where is it stored?
• Can a trader verify once and reuse it, and can I export records if I leave?

What it costs

Providers charge per verification. As examples, Sumsub Basic is $1.35 per verification and Veriff Essential is $0.80 per verification, both with a monthly minimum and both checked in September 2026. Screening add-ons and higher plans cost more. The cost table on this page links to each source. The launch cost calculator estimates KYC spend from how many traders you expect to verify.

Where Prop Firm Studios fits

We do not build identity or trading technology, and we have no referral deal with any KYC provider. On the Full Scale plan, we help a client choose a provider, then set it up and integrate it with their CRM, payments and platform. The client pays the provider directly. See the tech stack overview and how to start a prop firm in 2026.