Company profiles show you the entity.
Ownership intelligence shows you the network.
Financial profiles tell you who the entity is. Sayari’s World Model shows you who controls it – and whether you can trust that.
See Sayari in action
Request a live demo – we’ll run your entities through the world model.
Moody’s Orbis is widely used for credit ratings and firmographic data across millions of entities. Orbis excels at financial analysis, creditworthiness assessment, and broad entity identification through established identity management. Strong on financial profiles; quarterly-updated data sourced from company self-reporting and commercial aggregation.
Sayari is built for intelligence-grade entity risk: beneficial ownership opacity, sanctions exposure through indirect structures, and adversarial entity networks. Sources directly from government corporate registries across 250+ jurisdictions with continuous monitoring. Real-time ownership chain traversal through shell companies, nominees, and trusts. Graph-based discovery surfaces relationships that financial data alone cannot reveal.
Do you need financial data and credit risk assessment (Moody’s strength), or do you need to resolve who ultimately owns and controls entities and whether they’re sanctioned, politically exposed, or connected to forced labor (Sayari strength)?
Quick Verdict
Sayari’s Product Advantage
Graph (with Supply Chain Mapping)
Moody’s Orbis is hierarchical and Latin-script first – it structurally misses opaque jurisdictions (BVI, UAE free zones, China provincial, Russia EGRUL). Sayari’s World Model covers 250+ jurisdictions with original-language filings and significantly more ownership relationships than direct registry lookups.
Signal
Sayari Signal delivers <4hr sanctions list update lag vs. Moody’s batch refresh cycles. Customers report significantly fewer false positives vs. name-string matching – one top-10 global bank reduced false positives by more than 70%. 40+ sanctions lists included.
Guide
Guide automates entity research – resolving entities, traversing ownership, screening against lists – and delivers structured sourced findings. No black-box scores. Every claim traces back to the World Model. Expert AI, not general AI.
Detailed Comparison
| Capability | Sayari | Moody’s |
|---|---|---|
Data & Coverage |
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Data Freshness
Registry update frequency
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Continuous monitoring – updates within hours of government registry publications; real-time change detection across jurisdictions
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Quarterly updates – relies on company self-reporting and periodic commercial data refreshes; may miss beneficial owner changes
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Source Authenticity
Primary vs. self-reported
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Primary-source registries – direct government corporate registry data; verified authentic documents; not dependent on company accuracy
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Company self-reported – data quality depends on accuracy of company filings and corporate disclosures
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Entity Coverage
Breadth of database
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500M+ companies across 250+ jurisdictions – deep coverage of opaque/emerging markets; focus on jurisdiction registries, not financial breadth
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500M+ entities globally – world’s largest corporate database with strong financial and firmographic coverage
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Ownership & Compliance |
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Beneficial Ownership
Ownership chain traversal
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10+ degree traversal – follows ownership through shell companies, nominees, trusts across registries; built from corporate registry data
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Corporate hierarchy (1-2 levels) – reported ownership from financial filings; limited shell company traversal
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Sanctions Screening
Multi-list entity matching
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40+ sanctions lists integrated – entity resolution applied before matching; updates within 4 hours; indirect ownership exposure flagged
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Screening available – sanctions matching included in KYC suite; not primary platform focus; limited ownership chain screening
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Jurisdiction & Screening |
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Jurisdiction Coverage
Opaque jurisdiction priority
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250+ jurisdictions – priority coverage of opacity-prone registries (BVI, UAE free zones, Russia EGRUL, China provincial)
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Western markets – limited opaque jurisdictions; hierarchical Latin-script-first approach
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Screening Method
Speed and false positive rates
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Entity resolution + 40+ lists – sub-4hr updates; significantly lower false positives (70%+ reduction vs. name-string matching)
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Name-string matching – batch refresh cycles; higher false positive rates
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Platform & Integration |
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API & Integration
Real-time workflow integration
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REST API with Python/Node SDKs – MCP integration for AI workflows; real-time compliance pipeline integration
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API available – requires enterprise licensing; integration typically managed through professional services
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Integration Model
Workflow integration approach
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API-first + pre-configured workflows – Signal pre-configured for compliance pipelines; Guide automates research workflows
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Standalone dashboard – integration typically managed through professional services
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Government & Classified
Deployment
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Deployed across 15+ U.S. government agencies – GovCloud, on-premise, and air-gapped options
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Government clients served – classified-environment deployment options vary by product line; not primary government intelligence platform
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Sayari research. Based on publicly available product documentation and capability analysis. Last reviewed April 2026. Moody’s capabilities described based on Orbis and KYC product lines.
When to Choose Each Platform
- You need to trace beneficial ownership through opaque structures to identify ultimate controllers
- Compliance workflows require sanctions screening with deep entity resolution (not just list matching)
- Government or defense deployments mandate GovCloud or classified access
- You need real-time monitoring of ownership changes across registries
- Shell company detection and network clustering are part of your risk profile
- Adversarial state actor or FOCI exposure is a concern beyond financial risk
- Credit risk assessment and financial ratings drive your decisions
- Financial statement analysis and broad company financials are primary use cases
- You need standardized financial benchmarking across large universes
- Orbis corporate database coverage is a key requirement for your workflow
- You’re already deeply integrated with existing Moody’s systems
- Broad adverse media monitoring at scale matters more than ownership depth
Adding Sayari to Your Compliance Stack
Most organizations add Sayari alongside Moody’s – it fills the ownership intelligence and sanctions gaps that financial data platforms can’t cover.
Assessment Call
30 minutes to map your current stack, identify ownership intelligence gaps, and understand your compliance use cases
Proof-of-Concept
Run real counterparties against Sayari to see beneficial owners, shell networks, and sanctions exposure your current tools miss
Integration Scoping
Map API integration points with your CTRM, KYC platform, or compliance workflow; determine data pipeline approach
Deployment & Onboarding
4-6 weeks to full deployment with team training on entity intelligence workflows and API integration
4-6 weeks
From assessment call to full deployment with team trained on entity intelligence and API workflows
Sayari vs Moody’s FAQ
Moody’s Orbis is built for financial analysis – credit risk, financial health, commercial due diligence. It doesn’t trace beneficial ownership through shell company structures, and it doesn’t resolve entities against sanctions lists with the precision regulators require. Organizations switch when their compliance scope expands to include UFLPA enforcement, OFAC sanctions screening, or beneficial ownership disclosure requirements – needs that Moody’s data model structurally cannot address. Sayari’s 10.6B+ records sourced directly from government registries are the same sources regulators use; Moody’s aggregated commercial data is not audit-defensible for ownership-based screening.
Moody’s Orbis has broader coverage on financially-active entities across major markets (500M+ entities). Sayari has deeper coverage on opaque jurisdictions, emerging markets, and corporate registry data (500M+ across 250+ jurisdictions). Choose based on your primary need: financial breadth (Moody’s) or ownership depth in higher-risk jurisdictions (Sayari).
For compliance teams that need ownership intelligence and audit-ready evidence, Sayari replaces the need for Moody’s as a primary compliance data source. Organizations running credit risk programs may continue to use Moody’s for financial analytics; Sayari handles the risk intelligence layer they cannot.
Sayari ingests government registry data continuously and detects ownership changes within hours of filing. Moody’s relies on quarterly refreshes from company self-reporting. For compliance workflows where change detection matters (beneficial owner shifts, new officers, shell formations), Sayari’s real-time monitoring catches issues Moody’s periodic updates may miss.
Both are enterprise-licensed platforms. Before comparing cost, validate capability fit for your specific compliance gaps. A cheaper tool that doesn’t solve your problem is expensive; a better-fit tool pays for itself through false positive reduction and operational efficiency. Request POC runs on your actual data and build business case on risk mitigation before engaging on price.
Bring a real entity. We’ll run a live comparison.
Upload a counterparty or provide a company name. We’ll show you the beneficial owners, shell networks, and sanctions exposure Sayari surfaces that financial data alone misses.
Request a Demo