Is Sift worth the price?
5.5/10
Sift has no public pricing — everything is sales-quoted based on event volume and modules.
Median annual contract is $144,600 across 47 tracked deals (Vendr data), with a range of $28,400 to $600,000. Small-to-mid-market companies processing 100K-500K events/month should budget $40K-$100K/year.
Unlike Riskified or Forter, Sift does not absorb chargeback liability — you get risk scores and decision tools, not a financial guarantee.
Pricing Plans
Free TrialStarter
$500/month
- Basic fraud detection
- Payment protection
- Account defense
Enterprise
Custom
- Volume-based pricing
- All modules
- Custom integrations
Hidden Costs & Gotchas
Overage fees run 20-50% higher than base per-event rates — volume spikes hurt
Professional services implementation
$5,000-$20,000+ depending on integration complexity
Premium support adds 10-20% to base contract value
Annual escalation clauses of 3-7% baked into most contracts — negotiate these out
No chargeback guarantee — unlike Forter/Riskified, Sift provides scores, not liability coverage
How Sift Compares
E-commerce business processing 500K transactions/month needing payment fraud prevention
Sift$100K-$200K/yr (Payment Protection module)
Forter$60K-$180K/yr
Riskified$70K-$200K/yr
Signifyd$50K-$150K/yr
Which Plan Do You Need?
Mid-market e-commerce (500K-2M events/month)→ Payment Protection module
Core fraud decisioning with ML-powered risk scores — budget $100K-$300K/year at this volume
Platforms fighting fake accounts and ATO→ Account Defense module
Standalone at $40K-$120K/year, or bundle with Payment Protection for 15-25% per-event savings
Marketplaces with content moderation needs→ Content Integrity module
Automated content screening at $30K-$100K/year — reduces manual review burden
Our Recommendation
Worth it if...
You need granular risk scoring across multiple fraud vectors (payments, accounts, content) and want to build custom decisioning rules. Sift excels when you have an in-house fraud team that wants control over accept/reject thresholds.
Skip if...
You want a chargeback guarantee (Forter, Riskified, Signifyd absorb fraud liability). Sift gives you scores and tools for in-house decision-making — great control, but you own the financial risk.
Negotiation tips
Vendr data shows buyers save 15.55% on average. Push hard in Q4 when sales teams are closing quota. Multi-year commitments unlock 10-20% discounts. Bundle modules (Payment + Account Defense) for 15-25% per-event savings. Always negotiate out the annual escalation clause.
