What is OpenSanctions and what data does it provide?

OpenSanctions is a financial crime data provider that builds and maintains an international database of persons and companies of political, criminal, or economic interest. It combines sanctions lists, lists of politically exposed persons, and other public-interest information from hundreds of sources into a single, structured dataset. The database includes sanctions, regulatory data, and PEP (politically exposed person) information.

Is OpenSanctions free to use?

OpenSanctions is free for non-commercial users including journalists, researchers, and investigators. However, businesses and commercial users must acquire a data license to use the dataset or subscribe to the pay-as-you-go API service.

How often is the OpenSanctions database updated?

OpenSanctions updates from major sanctions authorities within hours of publication. The database runs continuous entity resolution across sources so that individuals designated by multiple authorities appear as consolidated profiles with each authority's data attributed separately.

Can I self-host or download the full OpenSanctions dataset?

Yes. The full dataset is available for download and self-hosting. You can run the matching API inside your own infrastructure, which means customer PII never has to leave your environment.

What makes OpenSanctions different from other sanctions databases?

OpenSanctions emphasizes transparency, with an open-source data pipeline and published methodology that allows any entity to be traced back to its source. It provides depth of integration across sources with entity resolution, enrichment with identifiers, and relationship modeling. The dataset is also built to standards set by investigative journalists, who have exacting data fidelity requirements.

Business profile · Analytics & Data

OpenSanctions

The open database of sanctions, PEPs and watchlists

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OpenSanctions at a glance

OpenSanctions

Category: Analytics & Data
Founded: 2015
Based in: Berlin, Germany
Stage: Established
Website: opensanctions.org
Founder: Friedrich Lindenberg (Founder)
Votes: 0

OpenSanctions metrics

Info on opensanctions.org: Ahrefs Domain Rating and Majestic link info, each with the change since the last update.
Metric	Value
Domain Rating	72 no change since last check
Trust Flow	32 no change since last check
Citation Flow	45 no change since last check
Referring domains	5,048 no change since last check
External backlinks	1,127,372 no change since last check

Info: Ahrefs Domain Rating as of 17 Oct 2026, last changed 3 Oct 2026. Info: top topic is Business (31). Info: Majestic as of 3 Oct 2026, last changed 3 Oct 2026. Link info from Majestic. Trust Flow, Citation Flow and Topical Trust Flow are trademarks of Majestic-12 Ltd.

OpenSanctions domain at a glance

Source: the public RDAP record, checked 16 Oct 2026, 14:19 UTC.
Domain age	9 years
Registered	9 Apr 2017
Expires	9 Apr 2027
Registrar	InterNetX GmbH
DNSSEC	Not signed

Complete domain info for opensanctions.org

An open-source database aggregating sanctions, watchlists, and politically exposed persons data from hundreds of sources for compliance, investigation, and research.

About

Homepage of OpenSanctions

OpenSanctions is a financial crime data provider that builds and maintains an international database of persons and companies of political, criminal, or economic interest. The platform combines sanctions lists, politically exposed persons registries, and other public-interest information from hundreds of sources into a single, structured, continuously updated dataset.

The company collects, cleans, and integrates data from sanctions authorities, government registries, and public records worldwide. Entities are mapped to a consistent data model, deduplicated across sources, and published with full provenance. OpenSanctions updates from major sanctions authorities within hours of publication and resolves entities across sources so that individuals designated by multiple authorities appear as consolidated profiles.

The platform serves compliance platforms, investigation tools, government agencies, and research institutions. It offers bulk data access for download and self-hosting, as well as a screening API for integration into workflows. The company is headquartered in Berlin and operates on a freemium model, with free access for non-commercial users and commercial licensing for businesses.

Features at a glance

Entity search across sanctions, watchlists, and PEP data
Screening tool with multi-property matcher
Bulk data download and self-hosting
Screening API for integration
Entity resolution across sources
Data enrichment with identifiers and relationships
Real-time updates from sanctions authorities
Coverage of 469+ global data sources

Pricing

Pricing model: Freemium

Free for non-commercial users. Commercial users must acquire a data license or subscribe to the API service at 0.10 € per query.

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Quick answers

What is OpenSanctions and what data does it provide?: OpenSanctions is a financial crime data provider that builds and maintains an international database of persons and companies of political, criminal, or economic interest. It combines sanctions lists, lists of politically exposed persons, and other public-interest information from hundreds of sources into a single, structured dataset. The database includes sanctions, regulatory data, and PEP (politically exposed person) information.
Is OpenSanctions free to use?: OpenSanctions is free for non-commercial users including journalists, researchers, and investigators. However, businesses and commercial users must acquire a data license to use the dataset or subscribe to the pay-as-you-go API service.
How often is the OpenSanctions database updated?: OpenSanctions updates from major sanctions authorities within hours of publication. The database runs continuous entity resolution across sources so that individuals designated by multiple authorities appear as consolidated profiles with each authority's data attributed separately.
Can I self-host or download the full OpenSanctions dataset?: Yes. The full dataset is available for download and self-hosting. You can run the matching API inside your own infrastructure, which means customer PII never has to leave your environment.
What makes OpenSanctions different from other sanctions databases?: OpenSanctions emphasizes transparency, with an open-source data pipeline and published methodology that allows any entity to be traced back to its source. It provides depth of integration across sources with entity resolution, enrichment with identifiers, and relationship modeling. The dataset is also built to standards set by investigative journalists, who have exacting data fidelity requirements.

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