APIs · head to head
Akoya vs Astra
Akoya
APIs
Bank-owned, token-based open finance network that replaces screen scraping for US financial data
- From
- On request
- Rated
- -
Astra
APIs
Instant payments API for push-to-card, card-to-account and FedNow transfers
- From
- On request
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Each has a real cost: Akoya coverage reaches several thousand institutions but does not match aggregators that can still scrape, so applications needing the long tail of small credit unions will run a second data provider alongside it.; Astra push-to-card costs materially more per transaction than ACH, so a platform that switches all payouts to instant sees payment costs rise sharply, and the usual answer of charging the recipient for speed only works where recipients will pay.
- They diverge on capability: Akoya covers FDX standard APIs, Astra covers Instant disbursements.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Akoya and Astra actually diverge.
Identical on both: starting price (On request), pricing model (quote), free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated), category (APIs).
What each one covers
Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.
Only in Akoya
- FDX standard APIs
- Token-based access
- Investment data
- Accounts, balances and transactions
- Statements and tax forms
- Customer identity
- Consumer permission management
- Single integration
Only in Astra
- Instant disbursements
- Card to account
- Net debit mode
- FedNow and RTP transfers
- ACH transfers
- Routing logic
- SDK
- Sandbox
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Akoya
- A wealth management platform that needs Fidelity brokerage holdings and tax lots, which cannot be scraped since Fidelity closed that route in October 2023not Astra
- A tax preparation product retrieving tax forms and cost basis directly from the institution rather than asking users to upload PDFsnot Astra
- A lender that needs a permissioning trail defensible under CFPB section 1033 rather than a credential-sharing arrangementnot Astra
- A bank that wants to meet data sharing obligations through one network connection instead of building and policing its own developer interfacenot Astra
Astra
- A gig or marketplace platform paying workers to their debit cards at the end of a shift rather than on a weekly ACH cyclenot Akoya
- An insurer settling small claims instantly to a claimant debit card to remove the cheque processnot Akoya
- A lending product disbursing approved funds in seconds so the borrower experience matches the approval decisionnot Akoya
- A consumer fintech letting users fund a new account from an existing debit card so the balance is usable immediatelynot Akoya
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Akoya
- Coverage reaches several thousand institutions but does not match aggregators that can still scrape, so applications needing the long tail of small credit unions will run a second data provider alongside it.
- The network is owned by large banks, so roadmap and coverage priorities reflect owner interests rather than those of the fintechs consuming the data, and a recipient has no leverage over which institutions are added next.
- Data availability is decided institution by institution, meaning a bank may expose balances but not transactions or investments, and recipients must verify field-level coverage per institution rather than assume the FDX model is fully populated.
- Pricing is unpublished and usage based, which makes it difficult to compare against aggregator pricing during a build-versus-buy decision and forces a sales cycle before you can model cost.
- The token model requires the institution to have implemented its side, so newly onboarded institutions arrive on the institution timetable, not yours, and a launch dependent on a specific bank can slip badly.
Astra
- Push-to-card costs materially more per transaction than ACH, so a platform that switches all payouts to instant sees payment costs rise sharply, and the usual answer of charging the recipient for speed only works where recipients will pay.
- Original Credit Transaction support is not universal across card issuers, so a proportion of payouts fall back to slower rails and you must build and explain a two speed experience rather than promising instant to everyone.
- The programme depends on Cross River Bank as sponsor, a bank with concentrated fintech exposure and a documented regulatory history, so a single supervisory action on that institution is a direct operational risk to your payouts.
- Nothing is published on pricing, and per transaction economics vary by rail and volume, so small platforms cannot estimate cost before a sales conversation and have limited leverage in it.
- FedNow reach still depends on the recipient bank participating, so instant account-to-account is not available to every recipient and the routing logic has to degrade gracefully, which is more integration work than the single API framing suggests.
Pricing, plan by plan
Akoya
On request- Akoya Data Access$undefined/year
- Usage-based pricing quoted by data product and call volume
- Separate commercial terms for data recipients and for financial institutions joining the network
- No published rate card
Astra
On request- Astra Payments$undefined/year
- Per transaction pricing quoted by volume and rail
- Push-to-card economics differ materially from ACH
- Net debit mode available in place of prefunding
Which should you pick?
Choose Astra if
- You need instant disbursements.
- You work on API, Web, iOS, Android.
- You also want card to account.
Questions people ask
- Is Akoya or Astra better?
- Neither clearly leads. Akoya starts at On request and Astra at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Akoya or Astra?
- Akoya starts at On request and Astra at On request.
- Does Akoya or Astra run on more platforms?
- Akoya runs on Web. Astra runs on API, Web, iOS, Android.
- What is Akoya best used for?
- Akoya is most often used for a wealth management platform that needs fidelity brokerage holdings and tax lots, which cannot be scraped since fidelity closed that route in october 2023, a tax preparation product retrieving tax forms and cost basis directly from the institution rather than asking users to upload pdfs, a lender that needs a permissioning trail defensible under cfpb section 1033 rather than a credential-sharing arrangement, a bank that wants to meet data sharing obligations through one network connection instead of building and policing its own developer interface. Of those, a wealth management platform that needs fidelity brokerage holdings and tax lots, which cannot be scraped since fidelity closed that route in october 2023 and a tax preparation product retrieving tax forms and cost basis directly from the institution rather than asking users to upload pdfs are not what Astra is typically brought in for.
- What can Akoya do that Astra cannot?
- Akoya covers FDX standard APIs, Token-based access, Investment data, Accounts, balances and transactions. Astra covers Instant disbursements, Card to account, Net debit mode, FedNow and RTP transfers.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
Akoya: Who owns Akoya?
A group of large US banks. It was spun out of Fidelity, which is why Fidelity data access runs through it.
Astra: Who is the sponsor bank?
Cross River Bank. All banking and payment services run through that relationship, so the bank should be part of your diligence rather than an implementation detail.
Akoya: Is Akoya screen scraping?
No. It uses FDX standard APIs with OpenID Connect tokens, so credentials are never shared with or stored by the data recipient.
Astra: Do I have to prefund payouts?
Not necessarily. Astra offers a net debit arrangement where disbursements settle against a reserve rather than a permanently funded float account, which is the main working capital argument for the product.
Akoya: Can we use Akoya alone instead of an aggregator?
Usually not. Its investment and large-institution coverage is excellent, but the long tail of smaller institutions is thinner, so most teams run both.
Astra: Is every payout instant?
No. Push-to-card requires the recipient card issuer to support Original Credit Transactions, and FedNow requires the recipient bank to participate. The rest fall back to ACH.
Akoya: Does it help with CFPB section 1033?
It is designed around it, providing tokenised permissioned access and consumer revocation rather than credential sharing.
Astra: What does it cost?
Nothing is published. Pricing is per transaction and varies by rail and volume, and card rails cost considerably more than ACH.
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