There are several ways to meet your AUSTRAC obligations from July 2026. Here's an honest, data-driven comparison of your options — costs, features, setup time, and what's included.
| AMLTranche Purpose-built for property |
Multi-Industry AML Platforms e.g. horizontal SaaS |
AML Consultants Manual & advisory |
DIY / Spreadsheets Self-managed |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly cost (5-person team) | $179/mo | $179–$449/mo + $15-20 per KYC check |
$2k–$4k/mo Retainer or hourly |
$0 But hidden time cost |
| Setup / onboarding fees | $0 | $0 | $5,000–$15,000 | $0 |
| Identity verification (IDV) cost | $12/check | $15–$20/check | Not included | Manual or separate tool |
| KYC checks included in base price | Screening included | 0 included (pay per check) | N/A | N/A |
| Time to compliance | < 1 hour | Days to weeks | 1–3 months | Weeks to months |
| Risk assessment & AML/CTF program | Auto-generated (free tier) | Included (paid only) | Written for you ($$$) | Write it yourself |
| Free tier available | ✓ Risk assessment + program | Training only (some) | ✗ | ✓ (but no tools) |
| Auction / delayed CDD support | ✓ Auto business-day deadlines | ✗ Not property-specific | Manual advice | ✗ |
| $10k cash TTR monitoring | ✓ Blocking modal + auto-alert | Basic (some) | ✗ | ✗ |
| Tipping-off prevention (role filtering) | ✓ Agents can't see SMR data | Not mentioned (most) | Training-based | ✗ |
| Trust onboarding (settlor/appointor) | ✓ Full trust CDD workflow | Basic | ✓ Manual | ✗ |
| All 7 AUSTRAC entity types | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ (paper-based) | Individual only |
| Sanctions screening lists | DFAT + PEP | Multiple (varies) | N/A | Manual DFAT check |
| Annual AUSTRAC compliance report | ✓ Auto-populated wizard | Some platforms | ✓ ($$$) | Write manually |
| Staff training included | ✓ Role-based + certificates | Some (varies) | Add-on ($$$) | Source your own |
| 7-year audit trail | ✓ Tamper-proof | ✓ | Spreadsheets | Your responsibility |
| Data hosted in Australia | ✓ Sydney | Varies | N/A | Your device |
| Board / executive reporting | ✓ PDF export | Some | ✓ ($$$) | Manual |
A real estate agency with 10 staff, processing 20 property transactions per month, needing ~20 KYC verifications.
You're a real estate agency, conveyancer, or developer with 3-50 staff. You want to be compliant quickly, need property-specific workflows (auction CDD, trust onboarding, cash monitoring), and prefer predictable monthly costs with no per-check surprises. Best for businesses that want a system that does the work, not just tells you what to do.
You operate across multiple industries (e.g. you're an accounting firm that also does conveyancing and tax advisory). You need CRM integrations with specific tools like Actionstep or Clio. You're comfortable paying per-verification on top of your base subscription and don't need property-specific features like auction delayed CDD.
You have a complex business structure (multi-branch franchise, international operations, very high-risk customer base). You need bespoke legal advice on your AML/CTF program. You have the budget ($30k+ year 1) and want someone to manage compliance for you. Note: you'll still need software for CDD and screening — consultants don't replace that.
While technically you can manage compliance manually, consider: AUSTRAC requires 7-year tamper-proof audit trails (hard to prove with spreadsheets), 24-hour SMR deadlines (hard to track manually), sanctions screening on every customer (impossible to do reliably by hand), and evidence that your program is actually being followed (not just written). The penalties for systemic failure are up to $2.2M — the cost of software is negligible by comparison.
All pricing data is based on publicly available information as of February 2026. Competitor prices are based on published pricing pages and include base subscription costs only (KYC/IDV fees shown separately where applicable). Consultant costs are based on the Australian Government's Regulatory Impact Statement for the AML/CTF Amendment Bill and industry reports.
This comparison is intended to help you make an informed decision. We believe in transparency — if you find any data here that's inaccurate, let us know and we'll update it.
Generate your risk assessment and AML/CTF program at no cost. See the platform before committing.
Start Free → See all features