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.
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 Shield — 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 forever, 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.
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?
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 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.
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.
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:
- 1IPQS (or Scamalytics/MaxMind) on every signup — score the IP, validate the email, classify the phone.
- 2GACS lookup on every entity the user mentions or links — wallets, social handles, sites — to catch known scam actors before they reach other users.
- 3Report back to GACS when you confirm a fraudster so the next platform sees the warning.
Where GACS wins outright
- Free forever 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.