Age assurance and digital ID
Tessio vs Yoti
Yoti is one of the most established names in age assurance. Tessio keeps no documents or dates of birth and takes a narrower, wallet first route: it proves someone is over 18 straight from the EU age verification app (the EU Digital Identity Wallet follows once our access certificate is issued). Here's where each one fits.
Yoti and Tessio both help you check that a user is old enough, but they come at it from different ends. Yoti built a broad toolkit over the last decade: facial age estimation, a reusable Yoti digital ID app, age tokens and full document plus biometric identity checks. It's a proven, certified option, especially for UK Online Safety Act work.
Tessio does one thing. Your app asks whether someone is over 18, they confirm it in the EU age verification app and you get back a signed yes or no. There is no ID scan and no selfie, and we store no documents or dates of birth. If you want the check inside your own boundary, the .NET core is open source and self hostable.
Tessio and Yoti, side by side
| Tessio | Yoti | |
|---|---|---|
| Core approach | OpenID4VP presentations from the EU age verification app (EU Digital Identity Wallet to follow) | Facial age estimation, a reusable digital ID app, age tokens and document plus biometric checks |
| What you get back | A signed over 18 yes or no | An age or identity result. Some methods return a reusable ID or age token instead |
| Personal data stored | The yes or no and your reference. No date of birth, no document image, no selfie | Depends on method. Facial age estimation is anonymous, the digital ID app holds identity data |
| EU Digital Identity Wallet | The EU age verification app works today. The EU Digital Identity Wallet follows once our access certificate is issued. | Not EUDI native. Built around its own reusable ID and the UK digital identity and attributes trust framework (DIATF) |
| Self hosting | Yes. Open source .NET core under Apache-2.0 | No. Hosted service |
| Full KYC and AML | No. Age assurance only | Yes. Offers identity verification and KYC |
| Built on | Open source ASP.NET Core (OpenID4VP, SD-JWT VC, mdoc) | Proprietary |
| Primary market | EU age assurance for regulated platforms | UK and global age assurance and digital ID |
We try to keep this fair and current from public sources. If something about Yoti is out of date, tell us at hello@tessio.eu and we'll fix it.
Where Yoti is strong
- Facial age estimation that has been evaluated by NIST and under the UK Age Check Certification Scheme, with strong documented accuracy.
- A large reusable digital ID footprint, so returning users can prove their age again without repeating the whole flow.
- Certified under the UK DIATF and a credible choice for Ofcom grade age assurance today.
When to choose Yoti over us
If most of your users are in the UK and you need certified facial age estimation right now for people who don't have an EU wallet yet, Yoti is a safer bet. Its age estimation is independently evaluated, it carries UK certifications and it works for users with no wallet. We'd rather point you there than pretend the EU wallet is already in everyone's pocket.
When teams pick Tessio
Pick Tessio when you're building for the EU and want to store no documents or dates of birth at all. You get a signed over 18 boolean and nothing else, so your GDPR footprint stays small. If your compliance team won't let identity data leave your environment, you can self host the open source .NET core.
Frequently asked
Is Tessio a Yoti alternative?
For age verification, yes. If you only need to prove someone is over 18 and you'd rather not store any documents or dates of birth, Tessio does that with the EU age verification app. Yoti is broader and covers full identity and reusable digital ID, so the right pick depends on how much you need.
Does Yoti support the EU Digital Identity Wallet?
Yoti is primarily built around its own reusable digital ID and age tokens and the UK DIATF rather than a native EUDI Wallet verifier. It's active in age token interoperability work. If native EUDI support matters to you, confirm the current state with Yoti directly.
Can I use both?
Yes. You could use Yoti facial age estimation for users without the app and Tessio for those who have it. They solve overlapping problems, so running both while the wallet ecosystem matures is reasonable.
Compare and explore
Age verification API
See if Tessio fits
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