Patronscan Alternative: Patronscan vs FTx Identity for ID Scanning

For businesses that sell age-restricted products or manage age-restricted environments, checking an ID is more than a quick glance at a driver’s license. Businesses need a reliable way to confirm a customer’s age and identity while keeping the experience simple for both employees and customers.

That can be challenging as fake IDs become more sophisticated and businesses serve customers across more channels. A retailer may need to verify one customer at the point of sale (POS) one moment and verify another customer remotely through an ecommerce site the next.

As a result, businesses are looking beyond traditional ID scanning and exploring identity verification solutions that can support different parts of the customer journey.

Patronscan and FTx Identity are two options businesses may consider. Both provide tools for ID and age verification, but they take different approaches to how verification is handled.

Here’s a closer look at Patronscan and FTx Identity, including their verification technologies, deployment options, integrations, re-verification capabilities, and pricing:

What Is Patronscan?

Patronscan is an ID verification and management platform that blends dedicated scanning hardware with cloud-based software. It is designed to help businesses verify IDs, check for potentially fraudulent documents, confirm age, and manage information related to scanned IDs and flagged individuals.

Its scanning hardware uses technologies such as ultraviolet (UV), infrared (IR), white-light analysis, barcode checks, and document-template comparisons to examine identification documents. Patronscan also offers a Flag Network that allows participating businesses to share information about flagged patrons across connected locations.

Patronscan is used across a range of environments, including bars and nightclubs, casinos and entertainment venues, retail businesses, events, and other settings where ID verification and access control are important.

The platform also offers online verification and pre-enrollment, giving businesses options for verifying customers beyond in-person ID scanning.

This is also part of the notes I provided you for this section: Age-restricted venues (bars, nightclubs, casinos), automotive dealerships, logistics, property management.

What Is FTx Identity?

FTx Identity is an age and identity verification platform designed to help businesses verify customers across online and in-store experiences. It combines ID scanning, AI-based verification, biometric authentication, and hands-free age verification to support different verification needs.

FTx Identity is designed for businesses such as tobacco shops, liquor stores, convenience stores, and CBD retailers, as well as online businesses that sell age-restricted products or services.

The platform supports several ID verification methods, including:

• Barcode scanning
• PDF417 barcode extraction
• Optical character recognition (OCR) for visual ID data
• Machine-readable zone (MRZ) scanning

FTx Identity also offers AI-based verification to help reduce fraud and false positives, along with biometric authentication and hands-free age verification using internet protocol (IP) camera-based check-ins.

Patronscan vs FTx Identity: Quick Comparison

Trying to decide which verification approach makes sense for your business? A side-by-side look can make the differences easier to spot.

Here’s a quick comparison of Patronscan and FTx Identity, including their hardware, verification technology, integrations, support, and pricing:

Patronscan uses custom pricing, with costs depending on factors such as hardware, locations, integrations, and other business requirements.

FTx Identity pricing can vary based on the verification setup, number of locations, volume, and additional features or services selected. Businesses should confirm current pricing and available features when evaluating the platform.

5 Reasons to Consider FTx Identity as a Patronscan Alternative

If you’re comparing age and identity verification solutions, hardware requirements, verification options, and integration capabilities can all play a role in finding the right fit.

Here are five reasons to consider FTx Identity as a Patronscan alternative:

1. Minimal Hardware Needed*

One thing to consider when choosing an age and identity verification solution is how much hardware you’ll need. With FTx Identity, that depends on the setup.

For ecommerce verification, customers can complete the process from their own mobile device, so no additional verification hardware is needed on the retailer’s end. Retailers can monitor activity through a live dashboard.

For setups that require hardware, FTx Identity may use POS hardware, cameras, or entry equipment for facial or ID verification.

*Hardware requirements vary depending on the FTx Identity deployment and use case.

2. One Platform for Online and In-Store Verification

Whether customers are verifying their identity online or in a physical location, FTx Identity gives businesses a way to manage both verification environments.

This can help retailers maintain a more consistent verification process across ecommerce, in-store transactions, entry points, and other customer touchpoints.

3. Built-In Biometric Authentication and 3D Liveness

FTx Identity combines ID verification with biometric authentication and 3D liveness detection.

Customers verify their identity using a government-issued ID and a selfie, while liveness technology helps confirm that the person completing the verification is present during the verification process.

4. SDK, API, and Third-Party Ecommerce Integrations

Not every business uses the same software or customer journey. FTx Identity can be integrated into applications and experiences where age or identity verification is needed.

Its software development kit (SDK) and application programming interface (API) can support use cases such as age-restricted applications, login modules where age verification is required, websites, apps, vending machines, and entry gateways.

Third-party ecommerce integrations can also help businesses add verification to the online shopping experiences they already have in place.

5. Customer Re-Verification Can Reduce Repeated ID Checks

Once a customer has completed verification, FTx Identity can support re-verification without requiring the customer to go through the entire ID-check process every time.

This can make repeat visits more convenient while still giving businesses a way to confirm that the customer is the verified individual.

Conclusion

Choosing an ID verification solution really comes down to what works best for your business. Do you need dedicated hardware for in-person scanning, or are you looking for a solution that can support customers online and in store?

Patronscan and FTx Identity take different approaches, so it’s worth looking at the features, integrations, hardware, and pricing that matter most to your business.

If you’re looking for a flexible way to handle age and identity verification across different customer touchpoints, FTx Identity gives you options to explore.