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APIs · head to head

Apollo GraphQL vs Tink

Apollo GraphQL logo

Apollo GraphQL

APIs

GraphQL platform and API orchestration layer for building unified graphs

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Tink logo

Tink

APIs

European open banking platform for account data and payment initiation

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Apollo GraphQL has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Apollo GraphQL pricing beyond the Developer tier requires contacting sales, making cost comparison harder for mid-size teams.; Tink visa owns Tink, and pay-by-bank exists to move payments off card rails, so the roadmap and pricing of the product you are using to reduce interchange are set by the company that earns the interchange.
  • They diverge on capability: Apollo GraphQL covers Apollo Connectors, Tink covers Account data access.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Apollo GraphQL and Tink actually diverge.

Attributes where Apollo GraphQL and Tink differ
AttributeApollo GraphQLTink
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelfreemiumquote
Free tierYesNo
Platformsweb, apiAPI, Web

Identical on both: 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 Apollo GraphQL

  • Apollo Connectors
  • GraphOS Router
  • Schema registry
  • Schema checks
  • Response caching
  • Audit logging

Only in Tink

  • Account data access
  • Payment initiation
  • EEA passporting
  • Categorisation
  • Account verification
  • Risk and affordability signals
  • Variable recurring payments support
  • Consent management

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Apollo GraphQL

  • Federating multiple backend services into one GraphQL APInot Tink
  • Wrapping legacy REST APIs for frontend consumptionnot Tink
  • Enterprise API governance with schema checks and audit logsnot Tink
  • Reducing frontend over-fetching and under-fetching of datanot Tink

Tink

  • A European lender that needs verified income and expense data from a borrower bank account across several EEA markets under one licencenot Apollo GraphQL
  • A merchant offering pay-by-bank at checkout to avoid card acceptance costs on high value basketsnot Apollo GraphQL
  • A fintech that does not hold its own PSD2 licence and needs to operate under an authorised provider passported across the EEAnot Apollo GraphQL
  • A bank building an account aggregation view of a customer external accounts without negotiating with each institution individuallynot Apollo GraphQL

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Apollo GraphQL

  • Pricing beyond the Developer tier requires contacting sales, making cost comparison harder for mid-size teams.
  • Adopting GraphOS effectively requires buy-in to the GraphQL paradigm, which is a larger architectural shift than adding a REST gateway.
  • The free plan's 1-day data retention and 60 req/min self-hosted router limit make it unsuitable for production use.
  • Volume-based per-request pricing can become expensive at very high request volumes compared to flat-rate API gateways.

Tink

  • Visa owns Tink, and pay-by-bank exists to move payments off card rails, so the roadmap and pricing of the product you are using to reduce interchange are set by the company that earns the interchange.
  • Coverage is Europe only, so a product serving both European and United States users runs a second aggregator with a different data model and a separate contract.
  • PSD2 connection quality varies sharply by bank, and headline connection counts hide wide differences in success rate, consent lifetime and re-authentication frequency that determine what users actually experience.
  • Consent under PSD2 expires and requires periodic re-authentication, so any product depending on continuous data access has a recurring user friction it cannot design away, and drop-off at re-consent is a real product problem.
  • Pricing is quoted with data access and payment initiation priced separately, and there is no published rate card, so small merchants cannot compare pay-by-bank economics against card acceptance without a sales process.

Pricing, plan by plan

Apollo GraphQL

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Up to 3 developers
    • 1-day data retention
    • Community support
  • Developer$5/month
    • $5 per million requests with volume discounts
    • $50 usage credit for new signups
    • Up to 10 developers
  • Standard$undefined/month
    • Up to 30 developers
    • 90-day data retention
    • Standard support with SLA
  • Enterprise$undefined/month
    • Unlimited developers
    • 18-month data retention
    • 24x7x365 support with SLA

Tink

On request
  • Tink Platform$undefined/year
    • Priced by product, market and volume
    • Data access and payment initiation priced separately
    • Annual commitments typical for enterprise agreements

Which should you pick?

Choose Apollo GraphQL if

  • You need apollo connectors.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on web, api.
  • You also want graphos router.
Apollo GraphQL review

Choose Tink if

  • You need account data access.
  • You work on API, Web.
  • You also want payment initiation.
Tink review

Questions people ask

Is Apollo GraphQL or Tink better?
Neither clearly leads. Apollo GraphQL starts at Free and Tink at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Apollo GraphQL or Tink?
Apollo GraphQL has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Apollo GraphQL and On request for Tink.
Does Apollo GraphQL or Tink run on more platforms?
Apollo GraphQL runs on web, api. Tink runs on API, Web.
Can I use Apollo GraphQL for free?
Yes. Apollo GraphQL has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Tink starts at On request.
What is Apollo GraphQL best used for?
Apollo GraphQL is most often used for federating multiple backend services into one graphql api, wrapping legacy rest apis for frontend consumption, enterprise api governance with schema checks and audit logs, reducing frontend over-fetching and under-fetching of data. Of those, federating multiple backend services into one graphql api and wrapping legacy rest apis for frontend consumption are not what Tink is typically brought in for.
What can Apollo GraphQL do that Tink cannot?
Apollo GraphQL covers Apollo Connectors, GraphOS Router, Schema registry, Schema checks. Tink covers Account data access, Payment initiation, EEA passporting, Categorisation.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Apollo GraphQL: What does Apollo GraphQL cost?

The Free plan supports up to 3 developers at no cost. Developer plan starts at $5 per million requests with a $50 signup credit, while Standard and Enterprise require contacting sales for custom pricing.

Source
Tink: Who owns Tink?

Visa, since 2022. That is directly relevant if you are adopting pay-by-bank specifically to reduce card costs.

Apollo GraphQL: Is there a free plan and what are its limits?

Yes, the Free 'Forever Free' plan supports up to 3 developers, 1-day data retention for checks and insights, and a self-hosted router capped at 60 requests per minute.

Source
Tink: Do I need my own PSD2 licence?

No. Tink holds AIS and PIS licences from the Swedish FSA passported across the EEA, and customers can operate as its agent rather than obtaining their own authorisation.

Apollo GraphQL: How is usage metered on paid plans?

Standard requests are billed per million operations with tiered volume discounts, starting at $5.00/million for the first 250M and dropping to $3.00/million beyond 5B, with similar tiered pricing for subscription update events.

Source
Tink: Does Tink cover the United States?

No. It is a European platform. US coverage requires a separate provider.

Tink: How reliable are the bank connections?

It varies by institution far more than the headline count of roughly 6,000 connections suggests. Ask for per market and per bank success rates and consent lifetimes for the banks your users actually hold accounts with.

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