Chainalysis, TRM and Elliptic are expensive — is there a free address-screening option for small teams?
Yes — but first decide which layer you need. Sanctions only: Chainalysis itself offers a free on-chain sanctions oracle and a free sanctions API covering US, EU and UN lists. Sanctions plus issuer freezes, mixers, scam and phishing lists in one pre-payment check: OceanAlt's lookup and decision APIs are free and keyless, with a verifiable source on every verdict — and we cross-check against the Chainalysis on-chain oracle as a second source. Full transaction monitoring, investigations and regulatory reporting are where the Chainalysis, TRM and Elliptic subscriptions earn their price, and no free option replaces them.
Three layers, three answers
Layer one, "is this address sanctioned": free options are fully sufficient. OFAC's sanctionssearch site works by hand; the free Chainalysis oracle and API suit code.
Layer two, "check everything checkable before paying": sanctions are one item among issuer freezes (USDT/USDC), mixers, scam and phishing lists, and spoofed endpoints. OceanAlt's GET /api/risk?addr=… and POST /api/decide are free and keyless, returning a verdict with a source for every item.
Layer three, "monitor every transaction, trace funds, file regulatory reports": this is what licensed institutions need. Subscription platforms bring years of entity attribution and investigation tooling, typically from tens of thousands of dollars a year. When your business reaches this layer, buy one.
Where free options stop
Free options check public lists and on-chain state. They cannot see a freshly generated scam address, and they lack the entity-attribution data the large vendors hold. OceanAlt's "no risk signals" means nothing matched in available data, not that an address is safe; a brand-new address returns "insufficient data" rather than an invented score.
Where to start: free address check · API docs · watch an address
Boundary of everything above: a screening "clear" only means no match in the data held, never a safety guarantee; this page is not legal or compliance advice.