Honest comparison · Updated June 2026
GACS vs IPQualityScore
They show up next to each other in Google for “scam checker” — but they solve completely different problems. IPQualityScore (IPQS) is a paid B2B fraud-prevention API for IPs, emails, phones and URLs. GACS is a free consumer tool for checking whether a website, wallet, or social account is a scam. Here's how to pick the right one in 30 seconds.
free and ad-free
No signup
No wallet connection
No ad-tracking
The 30-second answer
Pick GACS if you're a person
You got a suspicious DM, found a too-good investment site, were asked to send crypto, or want to check whether a freelancer or vendor is legit. GACS gives you a verdict in 2 seconds — free, no signup, no wallet prompt.
Pick IPQS if you're a business
You run a fintech, gaming, marketplace, or ad-tech platform and need to score every signup IP, validate emails at scale, or block disposable phone numbers. IPQS's production API is purpose-built for that pipeline.
They overlap on exactly one thing: both let you run a single free check on their site. Beyond that, they answer completely different questions.
What IPQualityScore actually does
IPQS sells a stack of fraud-prevention APIs. The headline products are:
- Proxy & VPN detection — flag risky IPs (residential proxies, datacenter, Tor, VPN).
- Email validation — deliverability, disposable-domain detection, abuse-history score.
- Phone validation — carrier lookup, line-type, abuse-velocity score.
- URL/domain scanner — malware and phishing classification for a single URL.
- Device fingerprinting — browser and mobile SDKs for risk-scoring sessions.
It's a serious, well-built B2B product. The free single-lookup widgets on ipqualityscore.com are demos that funnel into paid API plans. None of those products is designed to answer the question a regular person actually has — “is this specific website / wallet / person trying to scam me?”
What GACS actually does
GACS — Global Anti-Crime & Safety — is a free, ad-free, donation-funded scam registry built for individuals. Paste an entity (website, crypto wallet, social handle, phone, email) and GACS returns a traffic-light verdict, the signals that drove it (registration age, blacklist hits, mirror-site cluster, on-chain links, community reports), and a one-click path to report a new scam.
GACS is entity-centric, not IP-centric — which is what you actually want when you're trying to figure out whether something is a scam. Coverage spans domains, crypto wallets (ETH, BTC, SOL, TRON, BSC), social accounts on X / Instagram / TikTok / Telegram, phone numbers, and email addresses.
Full feature comparison
| Feature | GACS | IPQualityScore |
|---|---|---|
Primary use case | Consumer scam check (is this site / wallet / handle a scam?) | B2B fraud prevention (is this IP / email / phone risky?) |
Who it's for | Anyone — victims, families, journalists, investigators | Fraud teams at fintech, gaming, e-commerce, ad-tech |
Pricing for an individual | free and ad-free, no signup | Free single-lookup demos; production API is paid |
Funding model | Donation-funded public-safety project | Commercial SaaS |
Checks a domain / website | Yes — registration age, blacklist, scam reports, mirror clusters | Yes — URL scanner for malware / phishing (no scam-report registry) |
Checks a crypto wallet | Yes — ETH, BTC, SOL, TRON, BSC; on-chain + report graph | No |
Checks a social account (X, Instagram, TikTok, Telegram) | Yes — free, with shareable verdict pages | No |
Scores an IP address | No | Yes — proxy / VPN / Tor / fraud-score core product |
Email validation & disposable-domain check | No | Yes — major product line |
Phone number validation | Lookup against scam reports + carrier-spam labels | Carrier validation + abuse score (paid API) |
Public scam-report database | Yes — crowdsourced + verified, public per-entity pages | No public registry |
Real-time API for production apps | Free public lookup + lightweight read API | Yes — paid, designed for production scale |
Device fingerprinting SDK | No | Yes — browser + mobile SDKs |
Free embeddable trust badge for vendors | Yes — live SVG that flips red if your domain is reported | No |
Time to first answer | ≈ 2 seconds, no signup | ≈ 2 seconds for the demo; minutes to integrate the API |
Based on publicly documented features as of June 2026. Anything out of date? Email hello@gacs.app and we'll correct it within 24 hours.
Which one do you actually need?
I want to check if a website is a scam before I buy / invest / send money.
→ GACS
IPQS's URL scanner classifies malware/phishing but doesn't surface scam reports, mirror clusters, or a plain-language verdict for non-technical users.
A stranger asked me to send crypto to this wallet — is it safe?
→ GACS
Paste the address into the GACS wallet checker. IPQS has no on-chain coverage.
Someone DMed me on Instagram / TikTok / X — is the account real?
→ GACS
GACS social-scanner returns a free shareable verdict page. IPQS doesn't analyse social accounts.
I run a marketplace and need to block disposable emails on signup.
IPQS's email validation API was built exactly for this. GACS doesn't validate emails at production scale.
I need to detect VPNs / proxies / Tor on a high-volume web app.
Or alternatives like Scamalytics or MaxMind. GACS doesn't do IP-level scoring.
My parent / partner is talking to someone online and I'm worried it's a scam.
→ GACS
Use the social-scanner and share the verdict page — designed to be sent in a chat without an accusation.
I'm a vendor and want a public 'verified, no scam reports' badge on my site.
→ GACS
Free live trust badge that flips red automatically if your domain ever gets reported. IPQS doesn't offer this.
When to use both together
If you're running a fraud team at a marketplace or financial platform, the stack actually looks like this:
- IPQS (or Scamalytics/MaxMind) on every signup — score the IP, validate the email, classify the phone.
- GACS lookup on every entity the user mentions or links — wallets, social handles, sites — to catch known scam actors before they reach other users.
- Report back to GACS when you confirm a fraudster so the next platform sees the warning.
Where GACS wins outright
- free and ad-free for consumers — no paywall on any check.
- Covers domains, wallets, social, phone, email — not just IPs.
- Public scam-report registry with per-entity pages indexed by Google.
- Multi-chain crypto coverage with on-chain link tracing.
- Free embeddable trust badge for honest vendors.
- Donation-funded — no incentive to upsell a paid tier.
Where IPQS wins outright
- IP risk scoring with proxy/VPN/Tor classification.
- Email validation + disposable-domain detection at API scale.
- Phone validation + carrier lookup as a paid API.
- Production-grade URL malware scanner.
- Device-fingerprinting SDKs for browser + mobile.
Try GACS in 10 seconds
Paste any URL, wallet address, social handle, or phone number. Get a verdict in two seconds — free, no signup, no wallet prompt, no ad tracking.
Frequently asked questions
Is GACS a free IPQualityScore alternative?
Only for consumer use cases. IPQS is a paid B2B fraud-prevention API; GACS is a free consumer scam checker. If you're a person checking a site, wallet, or social account, GACS replaces the IPQS free demo. If you're a developer scoring every signup IP in production, GACS doesn't replace IPQS.
Is IPQualityScore free?
IPQS offers limited free single-lookup demos and a small free-tier API key (typically a few thousand requests/month). Production usage is paid.
Is GACS really free, or is there a paid tier?
All public scam checks on GACS are free and ad-free, no signup. Funded by donations and an optional fraud-investigator certifications program — never by gating consumer safety tools.
Can GACS score an IP address or detect a VPN?
No. GACS does entity-level checks (domain, wallet, social handle, phone, email). For IP-level scoring or VPN detection, IPQS, Scamalytics, or MaxMind are the right tools.
Which is better for checking if a website is a scam?
GACS. IPQS's URL scanner flags malware/phishing but has no public scam-report registry, no on-chain wallet linking, and no per-entity verdict pages designed for non-technical people.
Does GACS connect to my crypto wallet?
Never. You can paste a wallet address to check it, but GACS never requests a wallet connection. We can't sign or move funds, ever.
What about Scamalytics, MaxMind, Scamadviser, Chainabuse?
We have honest comparisons against each: /vs/scamalytics, /vs/maxmind, /vs-scamadviser, /vs/chainabuse.
Related
Authoritative sources
Independent primary sources used to check and corroborate the guidance on this page.
FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3)Official US channel for reporting internet-enabled fraud and cybercrime.
US Federal Trade Commission — ReportFraudConsumer fraud reporting and published enforcement data.
UK Report FraudUK national reporting centre for fraud and cybercrime.
Canadian Anti-Fraud CentreCanada's central repository for fraud reports and scam alerts.