SigWise vs. moderation APIs
Content moderation APIs, such as OpenAI's Moderation endpoint, take one piece of content and return scores for a fixed set of harm categories: hate, harassment, self-harm, sexual content, violence and the like. They are fast, cheap and a good baseline for keeping obviously harmful content off a platform.
SigWise answers a different question. Instead of is this text harmful?, it answers the questions you define, about a user, listing or order, over everything they have done.
At a glance
| Moderation APIs | SigWise | |
|---|---|---|
| Unit judged | One piece of content | An object (user, listing, order) and its history |
| Questions | A fixed list of harm categories | Any question you write, in plain language |
| Answer | A score per category | Typed: a yes/no probability, a labelled score, or one of your categories |
| Context | The content you send | Recent events and messages plus a rolling summary of the rest |
| Inputs | Text (some also accept images) | Messages and structured events (logins, payouts, reports) with metadata |
| Timing | Synchronous | Background by default, or inline with "wait": true |
| Follow-up | Your code | Search by answers, signed webhooks, and rules that alert Slack, email or a webhook |
| Changing the policy | Not possible; categories are fixed | Edit a signal with one API call |
Where SigWise is the better fit
- Fraud and scams. "Can I pay by wire?" is harmless as text. It matters when it comes from a new account that just asked to move to WhatsApp. See Marketplace scam detection.
- Platform-specific rules. "No phone numbers before a booking" or "no reselling tickets above face value" aren't harm categories. Write them as a signal. See Chat and content moderation.
- Questions that aren't about harm at all, such as trust, churn risk or buying intent. See User trust scores and Buyer intent.
Where a moderation API is enough
If you only need to screen single messages for generic harmful content, a moderation API is simpler and often free. The two also combine well: screen every message with a moderation API, and send the conversation to SigWise to judge the people behind it.
Try it
Every new account starts with $5 of free credit and three signals (is_scammer, trust_score, buyer_intent). The Quickstart takes about five minutes.