Outside services
switch on what you need.
Truthbeam combines local rules with outside services you connect on your own accounts. Each one is optional, off until you add its key, and billed to you by its provider.
01How a service is switched on
- Create an account with the provider and copy the key. Each provider page here says where.
- Open the console, go to the service's section in the Setup group, turn its switch on and paste the key. Only the owner can save keys.
- Press Test connection. The console makes one small, fixed call and shows the answer. Some tests count as one use on your provider account; the page of each service says so.
- Check Status. The status checks list every service that is on but missing something, or that was never tested.
02The services
| Service | Used by | Keys | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google Web Risk | Link check | Google Cloud API key | paid above a monthly allowance |
| Domain registries (RDAP) | Link check | none | no charge |
| Sightengine | Image, video and audio checks | API user + API secret | paid above a monthly allowance |
| Google Cloud Vision | Image check | Google Cloud API key | paid above a monthly allowance |
| Content Credentials | Image and video checks | none, runs on your server | no charge |
| Google Fact Check Tools | Claim check | Google Cloud API key | quotas apply |
| Anthropic or Perplexity web research | Claim check | API key + model id | paid per use |
| Speech to text | Audio and video checks | API key + model id | paid per minute |
| Language model | Message, e-mail, screenshot and page reads, claim finding, summaries, assistant | API key + model id | paid per token |
Usage of every service on this page is billed to the account and key you configure. None of it is included in the price of the item.
Without a language model, messages, e-mails and screenshots get only the phrase rules, and a message can never reach Safety OK: local rules alone are never enough for OK. Claims cannot be found either. See Language model.
03Your users are told
The app's consent screen names the outside services your server passes content to, from the services that are on and configured, including the language model. When you switch a service on, change its vendor or point it at another address, the app asks each person again before the next check. Content Credentials runs on your server and is not listed, because nothing leaves your server for it. Details: Consent.
04Services that are not used, and why
- Gemini grounding with Google Search is not included. Its terms (Gemini API Additional Terms) forbid caching or storing grounded results beyond narrow exceptions and require showing Google's Search Suggestions with every result. That does not fit how Truthbeam keeps results for 24 hours, saves them in the evidence locker and shows them on shared verdict pages.
- Google's free link-list API for non-commercial use is not included: Google limits it to non-commercial use and points commercial users to Web Risk (usage limits). Truthbeam uses Web Risk.
- The OpenPhish community feed, the VirusTotal public API, the urlscan.io no-cost tier and URLhaus without a licence do not allow commercial use on those terms, so they are not shipped.