Sightengine review
A cost-conscious multimodal moderation API with broad automated coverage.
Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026
Sightengine is a cloud content-moderation API for developers and businesses handling user-generated content. It analyzes text, images, videos, live streams, and audio for unwanted, unsafe, or policy-violating material. Its toolkit combines machine-learning and rule-based models with OCR-based moderation, custom moderation rules and classes, and custom allow and disallow lists. The product is available through web and API access, making it suited to teams that want automated moderation integrated into software rather than a human review service.
The plan structure supports a gradual start. The Free plan provides API access for testing. Starter costs $29 per month and adds visual moderation, text moderation, AI image and video detection, and deepfake detection. Pro costs $99 per month and includes everything in Starter, plus advanced video and live-stream moderation, audio moderation, image and video custom search, liveness detection, and age estimation. Enterprise includes everything in Pro, along with custom models and classes, geo-fencing, enterprise SLAs, and a dedicated support engineer. Enterprise pricing is custom, while the Free plan is stated to have no time limit.
Sightengine’s strongest fit is for small, mid-market, and enterprise teams that need one API covering several media types and policy controls. Audio transcription and profanity detection extend coverage beyond visual and text moderation, while OCR can identify text embedded in images and videos. GDPR is listed among its compliance coverage, and support channels include email and documentation. The main boundary is its fully automated approach: there are no human moderators in the loop. Teams requiring human review should choose an alternative, while developers seeking configurable, cloud-based multimodal automation may find the Starter or Pro plans more appropriate.
Sightengine pros and cons
- Where it wins
- Moderates text, images, video, live streams, and audio
- Includes OCR, custom rules, and allow/disallow lists
- Offers a free plan plus a $29/month Starter tier
- Where it doesn't
- Moderation is fully automated, with no human moderators
- Enterprise pricing is custom
- Advanced capabilities begin on higher paid tiers
Sightengine fact sheet, pricing and score →
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