APIs · head to head
Akoya vs Highnote
Akoya
APIs
Bank-owned, token-based open finance network that replaces screen scraping for US financial data
- From
- On request
- Rated
- -
Highnote
APIs
Card issuing, acquiring and ledger on one platform for embedded payments
- 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.; Highnote card issuing requires a sponsor bank, and that bank sets programme approval, compliance obligations and often minimum volumes, so a small programme can be rejected regardless of technical fit.
- They diverge on capability: Akoya covers FDX standard APIs, Highnote covers Card issuing.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Akoya and Highnote 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 Highnote
- Card issuing
- Merchant acquiring
- Unified ledger
- Spend controls
- GraphQL API
- Programme management
- Dispute handling
- Real time authorisation webhooks
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 Highnote
- A tax preparation product retrieving tax forms and cost basis directly from the institution rather than asking users to upload PDFsnot Highnote
- A lender that needs a permissioning trail defensible under CFPB section 1033 rather than a credential-sharing arrangementnot Highnote
- A bank that wants to meet data sharing obligations through one network connection instead of building and policing its own developer interfacenot Highnote
Highnote
- A marketplace that both pays out to sellers and issues them spend cards, wanting one settlement ledgernot Akoya
- A vertical software company embedding card acceptance and card issuing for the same customer basenot Akoya
- A fintech launching a commercial charge card programme with custom authorisation logicnot Akoya
- A platform replacing separate issuing and acquiring vendors to remove cross system reconciliationnot 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.
Highnote
- Card issuing requires a sponsor bank, and that bank sets programme approval, compliance obligations and often minimum volumes, so a small programme can be rejected regardless of technical fit.
- Pricing is entirely quoted, including platform fees, per active card charges and monthly minimums that do not appear on the website, so the true cost per card is only visible late in a sales process.
- Interchange sharing is the real revenue model for most customers, and the split is negotiated, capped for regulated debit under the Durbin amendment and sensitive to your spend mix, so revenue projections built on headline interchange rates overstate income.
- Running issuing and acquiring with one provider concentrates risk: an outage or a compliance action affects both money in and money out at the same time.
- Highnote is a younger company than the established issuer processors, so long term programme continuity, network certifications in new geographies and international coverage are thinner than the incumbent alternatives.
Pricing, plan by plan
Akoya
On request- Akoya Data Access$undefined/year
- Usage-based pricing quoted by data product and call volume
- Separate commercial terms for data recipients and for financial institutions joining the network
- No published rate card
Highnote
On request- Highnote platform$undefined/year
- Quoted per programme with no public rate card
- Requires a sponsor bank relationship for card issuing
- Interchange sharing terms negotiated per programme
Which should you pick?
Choose Highnote if
- You need card issuing.
- You work on Web, API.
- You also want merchant acquiring.
Questions people ask
- Is Akoya or Highnote better?
- Neither clearly leads. Akoya starts at On request and Highnote at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Akoya or Highnote?
- Akoya starts at On request and Highnote at On request.
- Does Akoya or Highnote run on more platforms?
- Akoya runs on Web. Highnote runs on Web, API.
- 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 Highnote is typically brought in for.
- What can Akoya do that Highnote cannot?
- Akoya covers FDX standard APIs, Token-based access, Investment data, Accounts, balances and transactions. Highnote covers Card issuing, Merchant acquiring, Unified ledger, Spend controls.
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.
Highnote: Do I need a sponsor bank?
Yes for card issuing in the United States. Highnote is a processor and programme platform, not a bank, and the sponsor bank sets approval and compliance terms.
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.
Highnote: How do customers make money on a card programme?
Mostly interchange sharing. Negotiate the split explicitly and model it against your actual spend mix, since regulated debit interchange is capped.
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.
Highnote: Can Highnote handle both accepting and issuing payments?
Yes since its 2025 acquiring launch, on the same ledger, which is its main structural differentiator.
Akoya: Does it help with CFPB section 1033?
It is designed around it, providing tokenised permissioned access and consumer revocation rather than credential sharing.
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