Perspective API sunset: December 31, 2026

Perspective API Retirement: Migrate to Vettly

Google announced that Perspective API will be retired in 2026. Vettly provides a migration option with the policy-driven moderation with independently calibrated signals - plus images, video, webhooks, and dashboards.

Verified November 1, 2026 against Google’s official sunset announcement. See current Vettly pricing.

Migration rollout checklist

  • Inventory endpoint calls, languages, policies, and downstream consumers of attributeScores.
  • Build a labeled evaluation set including abuse, benign slang, and ambiguous comments.
  • Run shadow checks without changing published decisions; compare false positives and missed abuse.
  • Tune each threshold independently, version the policy, then canary a small share of traffic.
  • Monitor errors, latency, review volume, and disagreement rates. Keep a rollback switch before sunset and a review queue for outages.
  • Remove Perspective dependencies before December 31, 2026; preserve historical decisions and policy versions.
1

Sign up for Vettly

Create a free account and get your API key in under 2 minutes.

2

Create and validate a policy

Create a versioned moderation policy and validate its actions on representative comments.

3

Update your API calls

Replace Perspective API calls with Vettly's /v1/check endpoint. Map the response and recalibrate thresholds.

4

Add images & video (optional)

Now that you're on Vettly, moderate images and video with the same API.

Category Mapping

These are starting points for evaluation, not equivalent scores. TOXICITY, INSULT, and SEVERE_TOXICITY collapse into harassment. Recalibrate thresholds against your own labeled samples; do not reuse Perspective thresholds unchanged.

Perspective Category
Vettly Category
Notes
TOXICITY
harassment
Validate against labeled samples
SEVERE_TOXICITY
harassment
No separate severe-toxicity score; calibrate independently
IDENTITY_ATTACK
hate_speech
Validate against labeled samples
INSULT
harassment
Validate against labeled samples
PROFANITY
profanity
Validate against labeled samples
THREAT
violence
Validate against labeled samples
SEXUALLY_EXPLICIT
sexual
Validate against labeled samples

API Migration

Before (Perspective)
POST https://commentanalyzer.googleapis.com/v1alpha1/comments:analyze
{
  "comment": { "text": "..." },
  "requestedAttributes": {
    "TOXICITY": {},
    "IDENTITY_ATTACK": {}
  }
}
After (Vettly)
POST https://api.vettly.dev/v1/check
Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY
Content-Type: application/json
{
  "content": "...",
  "policyId": "moderate"
}

// Response includes harassment,
// hate_speech, and other policy signals

What you gain by switching

+Image & video moderation - same API, no extra integration
+Dashboards & analytics - see all decisions, filter by category
+Webhooks - get notified on flag/block with HMAC signing
+Evidence storage - automatic screenshots, signed URLs
+Appeals queue - built-in human review workflow
+Spam & scam detection - categories Perspective never had
+App Store Guideline 1.2 - covers filtering, reporting, blocking, and audit trails

Shipping an iOS app?

Vettly covers every App Store Guideline 1.2 requirement out of the box: content filtering, user reporting, user blocking, and audit trails.

See the compliance checklist →

Perspective API retirement FAQ

Is Perspective API being retired?

Yes. Google announced the Perspective API retirement with a 2026 shutdown window. The commentanalyzer.googleapis.com comments:analyze endpoint will stop accepting requests.

When does Perspective API shut down?

Google confirms that service remains active until December 31, 2026 and ends after 2026. Teams should migrate before their final pre-shutdown release to avoid a rushed transition.

What should I replace Perspective API with?

Vettly is a migration option: harassment, violence, and hate-speech signals with configurable policies, plus image and video moderation, webhooks, dashboards, and appeals.

How long does the migration take?

Most teams swap the endpoint and remap categories in under a day. The Free plan covers 15,000 decisions per month for testing.

Start your migration today

Don't wait until Perspective shuts down. Get started free with 15,000 decisions per month.

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