Age assurance and online safety
Tessio vs VerifyMy
VerifyMy is a UK age assurance and online safety specialist with certified, low friction age estimation. Tessio stores no documents or dates of birth and proves someone is over 18 with the EU age verification app (the EU Digital Identity Wallet follows once our access certificate is issued). Both are privacy minded, so the split is mostly UK Online Safety Act versus EU wallet.
VerifyMy offers one of the widest ranges of age check methods, including facial age estimation with liveness and a proprietary email based age estimation, plus card, document and mobile checks. It is ACCS certified and aligned to Ofcom expectations, which makes it a strong option for UK Online Safety Act work where you want high pass rates and minimal friction.
Tessio takes the wallet native route. A user confirms they are over 18 with the EU age verification app, and you get a signed yes or no with no document or date of birth kept. Where VerifyMy offers estimation alongside card, document and mobile checks, Tessio proves age cryptographically from a wallet credential.
Tessio and VerifyMy, side by side
| Tessio | VerifyMy | |
|---|---|---|
| Core approach | OpenID4VP presentations from the EU age verification app (EU Digital Identity Wallet to follow) | Facial and email age estimation plus card, document and mobile checks |
| What you get back | A signed over 18 yes or no | An age assurance result |
| Personal data stored | The yes or no and your reference. No date of birth, no document image, no selfie | Privacy minded estimation designed to minimise data, aligned to Ofcom expectations |
| EU Digital Identity Wallet | The EU age verification app works today. The EU Digital Identity Wallet follows once our access certificate is issued. | UK and Ofcom oriented. No EUDI native wallet verifier we could find, so verify |
| Self hosting | Yes. Open source .NET core under Apache-2.0 | No. Hosted service |
| Full KYC and AML | No. Age assurance only | Focused on age assurance and online safety |
| Built on | Open source ASP.NET Core (OpenID4VP, SD-JWT VC, mdoc) | Proprietary |
| Primary market | EU age assurance for regulated platforms | UK Online Safety Act age assurance |
We try to keep this fair and current from public sources. If something about VerifyMy is out of date, tell us at hello@tessio.eu and we'll fix it.
Where VerifyMy is strong
- ACCS certified against the age check and data protection standards Ofcom looks for.
- A wide menu of low friction methods, including email and facial age estimation, to maximise pass rates.
- Built around UK Online Safety Act expectations, with online safety and content moderation tooling alongside.
When to choose VerifyMy over us
If your priority is the UK Online Safety Act right now and you want certified age estimation that works for users without an EU wallet, VerifyMy is a strong, low friction choice. Its email and facial estimation work for people with no wallet, which Tessio can't do on its own today.
When teams pick Tessio
Pick Tessio when you want a cryptographic over 18 proof rather than an estimate, with no documents or dates of birth stored. You get a signed boolean, and the core is open source and self hostable on .NET.
Frequently asked
Is Tessio a VerifyMy alternative?
For EU age verification, yes. VerifyMy estimates age with certified methods that need no wallet, while Tessio proves age cryptographically with the EU age verification app. Both keep data to a minimum, so the right pick depends on your market and whether you want an estimate or a wallet proof.
Does VerifyMy support the EU Digital Identity Wallet?
VerifyMy is UK and Ofcom oriented, and we could not find a native EUDI Wallet verifier. If native EUDI support matters to you, confirm the current state with VerifyMy directly.
Can I use both?
Yes. One mix is VerifyMy age estimation for users without the app and Tessio for those who have it.
Compare and explore
Age verification API
See if Tessio fits
Signup is open and a test project works as soon as you create one. Sending real traffic needs us to switch your organisation to live mode, so that part stays a conversation. Pricing is published, with no quote needed.