Compare your options
Three ways to check a license.
Only one shows the full picture.
You can go to each regulator yourself, use WikiFX's WikiLicense, or use TrustLicense. Here is an honest comparison, including where each option falls short.
Ground truth, but one register at a time, each with its own interface and language.
No regulator grading, no review context, and owned by WikiFX, which also sells advertising to the brokers it lists.
TrustLicenseOne search, regulator grades A to D, a source link on every claim, and one click to reviews on TrustFinance.
By the numbers
Depth of data, side by side
TrustLicense figures are live from the TrustFinance database. WikiLicense figures are its own published claims.
| Dimension | Regulator websites | WikiLicense | TrustLicense |
|---|---|---|---|
| Companies covered | Own licensees only | "50,000+ brokers" (own claim) | 186,933 live |
| Regulators in one search | 1 | "80+" (own claim) | 198 live |
| Regulator quality grading | None | None | A to D (20 Grade A, 79 Grade B) |
| Regulator requirements shown | Scattered in legal docs | No | Min capital, licensing time, requirements per regulator |
| Reviews and reputation | None | None | 119,592 verified reviews on TrustFinance, one click away |
| Live-status badge for companies | None | Static seal | Live SVG + hover license list |
| Cost to companies | License fees | Free | Free, never for sale |
Feature by feature
Capability by capability
| What you get | Regulator websites | WikiLicense (WikiFX) | TrustLicense |
|---|---|---|---|
| One search across every regulator | No | Yes | Yes |
| Data straight from the official register | Yes | Aggregated | Aggregated, source link per claim |
| Regulator quality grading (A to D) | No | No | Yes |
| Tells a strong license from an offshore registration | If you already know | No | Yes |
| Neutral wording for unverified companies | No | Shows risk warnings by default | Yes |
| Free for anyone to look up a company | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| How a company gets listed | Hold the license | Free self-serve certification | LMP program, team-verified |
| Licenses can be self-uploaded by the company | No | Self-submitted | No |
| Owner independent from paid broker advertising | Yes | No | Yes |
| Error reporting with a response commitment | Varies | No | Yes |
| Reviews and reputation context | No | No | One click away on TrustFinance |
| Time to check 4 licenses in 4 countries | Hours | Minutes | Minutes |
Bottom line: the regulator's own register is always the ground truth, and TrustLicense links you to it on every claim. Use an aggregator for speed, then trust the one that shows its sources and grades the regulators instead of treating every license as equal.
The wider landscape
Where other platforms fit
People check brokers in a few different places. Most were built for reviews or ratings, not for license verification. Here is an honest read on each, and what it does not cover.
Closest to what we do: aggregates license data across regulators. No regulator grading, no review context, and owned by WikiFX, which also sells advertising and awards to the brokers it lists.
Broker profiles with a regulation tab and user reviews. Useful for a quick read, but license data is not graded or individually sourced, and coverage skews to forex/CFD brokers.
Ranks and rates brokers, often tied to affiliate signup links. Mentions regulation inside a rating, but is a ratings/referral site, not an independent license register.
Community reviews and scam reports. Strong for trader sentiment and dispute history, but it does not verify licenses against regulators.
Open review platform for any business. No financial-license data at all, and reviews are not tied to whether the company is actually regulated.
FCA, ASIC, CySEC and the rest. Always authoritative, and TrustLicense links to them on every claim. The catch is scale: one register at a time, each with its own interface and language.
TrustLicenseLicense verificationLicense-first: every regulator graded A to D, a source link on every claim, licenses kept current under LMP, and reviews one click away on TrustFinance. Free to look up, never pay-to-play.
The honest takeaway: use a review site to read sentiment, use the regulator to confirm a single license, and use TrustLicense when you want graded, sourced license data across every regulator in one place.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
Is TrustLicense free?
Looking up any company is free for everyone, with no account required. For companies, getting licenses verified, kept current, and counted toward the TrustScore runs through LMP, the TrustFinance License Monitoring Program, which is a paid program. Licenses cannot be self-uploaded. What the licenses say, and the grade of the regulator behind them, always come from the regulator, so a subscription buys verification work, not a better result.
How is TrustLicense different from WikiLicense?
Both aggregate license data across regulators. TrustLicense adds an A-to-D grade for each regulator so a strong license reads differently from an offshore registration, shows regulator requirements such as minimum capital and licensing time, links every claim to a source, and connects to TrustFinance's review platform for reputation context. TrustLicense also uses neutral wording for companies that have not been verified yet instead of showing risk warnings by default.
Why not just check the regulator's website directly?
You should - it is the ground truth, and TrustLicense links to the official register on every claim. The problem is scale: a broker holding four licenses in four countries means four registers, four search interfaces, and four languages. An aggregator does that lookup in one search; a good one shows you where its data came from.
What do the A to D regulator grades mean?
Grade A regulators such as the FCA or ASIC impose strict capital requirements, investor compensation schemes, and active enforcement. Grade B regulators are established with real oversight. Grade C are recognized but lighter. Grade D is registration-level oversight, where a license alone is a weak trust signal.
How does a company get the TrustLicense badge?
Submit your website on the Get badge page. The system matches your domain against the TrustFinance database, detects your licenses, and issues an embeddable badge that always shows your live license status. Full entity and domain verification is completed by the TrustFinance team.