Age estimation predicts a person's likely age from a facial image, while age verification confirms age against an authoritative source such as a government-issued ID or a database record. The practical differences:

• ROC Age estimation API: One supported face image or selfie in, and a numeric age estimate out. No identity document required and near-zero friction.
• Age verification: Additional document or database check. Validates age or date of birth against an authoritative source, providing higher assurance with additional user friction. Additional document or database check. Validates age or date of birth against an authoritative source, providing higher assurance with additional user friction.

Most modern age assurance workflows combine both: estimation clears the majority of users instantly, and verification is triggered only when the estimate falls near your policy threshold. ROC provides the estimation layer and returns structured data you can use to trigger any step-up verification method you choose.

ROC is the #1 global age estimation provider ranked by NIST, ranks #1 globally in the Child Online Safety and the Visa MAE, Application MAE, and Mugshots MAE categories of the NIST FATE Age Estimation and Verification benchmark (as of September 2026). MAE stands for Mean Absolute Error, the average difference in years between the estimated and actual age; lower is better. NIST results are public, so you can independently review ROC's accuracy across age groups and demographics before integrating the API.

No. The API works from a single supported facial image, such as a selfie captured during onboarding. This lets you apply age-appropriate rules without asking every user for an identity document. You decide when an estimate is sufficient and when your policies require escalating to a higher-assurance method.

No. ROC does not retain facial images and does not store biometric templates from API requests. Submitted images are processed to generate the age estimate and are not retained. The API returns a structured response, and your organization controls how it uses and retains the returned estimate within its own systems.

ROC can help support age-assurance and privacy workflows developed in response to COPPA, CCPA/CPRA, GDPR, and emerging age-assurance requirements. The API provides an age signal your application can use to apply age-appropriate safeguards, introduce consent steps, or route a user to additional verification. Requirements vary by jurisdiction and use case, so organizations remain responsible for determining and meeting their applicable legal obligations.

Integration is a single REST call:

• Request: send a supported facial image to the API endpoint with your credentials.
• Response: receive a structured JSON response with the estimated age, confidence data, and supporting fields.
• Decision: apply the result inside your own thresholds, access rules, and escalation logic.

ROC provides the intelligence, you decide what happens next.

Yes. Eligible U.S.-based businesses can start with 100 free production requests at no upfront charge. A credit card and acceptance of the applicable Terms of Service are required to activate the credits. After the first 100 requests, billing automatically begins on the Starter package at $49 per month unless you cancel service or change packages.

The service is available to eligible U.S.-based businesses and is intended for business use only - not for individual or personal use. Sign-up is self-service and testing starts immediately; account review runs in the background:

• Create an account in the ROC portal.
• Accept the Terms of Service, Customer Agreement, Acceptable Use Policy, and Privacy Policy.
• Complete your business profile.
• Add a payment method to activate your 100 free production credits.
• Begin testing against the live production API.

After the first 100 API requests, service automatically continues on the Starter package at $49 per month unless you cancel service or select another package. The Starter package includes 1,000 API requests per month, with additional requests billed at the published overage rate.

Pricing is credit-based, with one credit equal to one API request. Eligible U.S.-based businesses receive 100 free production credits at no upfront charge after adding a credit card and accepting the applicable Terms of Service. After the first 100 API requests, billing automatically begins on the Starter package at $49 per month unless you cancel service or change packages.

• Starter — $49/month: 1,000 API requests included, 1¢ per additional request, 1 request per second, and 5 concurrent requests.
• Growth — $99/month: 10,000 API requests included, 0.75¢ per additional request, 10 requests per second, and 20 concurrent requests.
• Enterprise — $499/month: 100,000 API requests included, 0.4¢ per additional request, 1,000 requests per second, and 100 concurrent requests.

There is no separate sandbox tier: you test against the same production API you deploy on.

Choose the deployment model that best fits your environment. Both models run on the same NIST-ranked algorithms:

• Cloud API: The fastest path to production. Get self-service, cloud-hosted access with credit-based billing and no infrastructure to manage.
• ROC SDK: The most control over deployment, workflow logic, and integration. Run age estimation on premises, at the edge, on device, or in air-gapped environments, and combine it with ROC capabilities such as face recognition and liveness inside your own applications.

The ROC developer documentation includes the current endpoint specification, accepted image inputs, request parameters, response schema, error responses, and implementation requirements.

View API Documentation