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APIs · head to head

Astra vs Treasury Prime

Astra logo

Astra

APIs

Instant payments API for push-to-card, card-to-account and FedNow transfers

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Treasury Prime logo

Treasury Prime

APIs

Banking as a service platform sold to sponsor banks rather than to fintechs

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: 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.; Treasury Prime a fintech cannot buy Treasury Prime directly since the 2024 pivot, so the sales process starts with finding a sponsor bank willing to take your programme, which adds months and removes most of your negotiating leverage on fees.
  • They diverge on capability: Astra covers Instant disbursements, Treasury Prime covers BankOS.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Astra and Treasury Prime actually diverge.

Attributes where Astra and Treasury Prime differ
AttributeAstraTreasury Prime
PlatformsAPI, Web, iOS, AndroidAPI, Web

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 Astra

  • Instant disbursements
  • Card to account
  • Net debit mode
  • FedNow and RTP transfers
  • ACH transfers
  • Routing logic
  • SDK
  • Sandbox

Only in Treasury Prime

  • BankOS
  • OneKey Banking
  • Deposit accounts
  • Payments
  • Card issuing
  • Bank oversight tooling
  • Ledger and reconciliation
  • Programme onboarding

What people use each for

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

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 Treasury Prime
  • An insurer settling small claims instantly to a claimant debit card to remove the cheque processnot Treasury Prime
  • A lending product disbursing approved funds in seconds so the borrower experience matches the approval decisionnot Treasury Prime
  • A consumer fintech letting users fund a new account from an existing debit card so the balance is usable immediatelynot Treasury Prime

Treasury Prime

  • A community or regional bank that wants to run an embedded finance line with examiner-acceptable oversight of its fintech programmesnot Astra
  • A fintech that has already chosen its sponsor bank and needs API access to that bank rather than to a middleware layernot Astra
  • A company that wants deposits spread across several banks for FDIC coverage beyond a single institution limitnot Astra
  • A bank replacing a fragile middleware arrangement with a structure where it holds the customer contract and the oversight obligationnot Astra

Where each one falls short

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

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.

Treasury Prime

  • A fintech cannot buy Treasury Prime directly since the 2024 pivot, so the sales process starts with finding a sponsor bank willing to take your programme, which adds months and removes most of your negotiating leverage on fees.
  • Commercial terms including minimum deposit balances, reserve requirements and per transaction pricing are set by the bank rather than the platform, so two fintechs on the same software can face materially different economics with no public benchmark.
  • The company cut roughly half its staff in the 2024 pivot, which reduced the teams that supported fintech customers directly and left fintechs relying on their bank for support rather than on the vendor who wrote the software.
  • Bank risk appetite is now the binding constraint, and after the Synapse failure sponsor banks decline programmes in higher risk categories that a middleware provider would once have onboarded, so some business models simply cannot get placed.
  • If your sponsor bank exits the programme or is told by its regulator to reduce fintech exposure, you are migrating your entire deposit base to another institution, and the software being the same at both ends does not make that a small project.

Pricing, plan by plan

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

Treasury Prime

On request
  • BankOS$undefined/year
    • Sold to sponsor banks, not directly to fintechs
    • Fintech commercial terms are set by the sponsor bank
    • Minimum deposits, reserves and per transaction fees vary by bank

Which should you pick?

Choose Astra if

  • You need instant disbursements.
  • You work on API, Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want card to account.
Astra review

Choose Treasury Prime if

  • You need bankos.
  • You work on API, Web.
  • You also want onekey banking.
Treasury Prime review

Questions people ask

Is Astra or Treasury Prime better?
Neither clearly leads. Astra starts at On request and Treasury Prime at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Astra or Treasury Prime?
Astra starts at On request and Treasury Prime at On request.
Does Astra or Treasury Prime run on more platforms?
Astra runs on API, Web, iOS, Android. Treasury Prime runs on API, Web.
What is Astra best used for?
Astra is most often used for a gig or marketplace platform paying workers to their debit cards at the end of a shift rather than on a weekly ach cycle, an insurer settling small claims instantly to a claimant debit card to remove the cheque process, a lending product disbursing approved funds in seconds so the borrower experience matches the approval decision, a consumer fintech letting users fund a new account from an existing debit card so the balance is usable immediately. Of those, a gig or marketplace platform paying workers to their debit cards at the end of a shift rather than on a weekly ach cycle and an insurer settling small claims instantly to a claimant debit card to remove the cheque process are not what Treasury Prime is typically brought in for.
What can Astra do that Treasury Prime cannot?
Astra covers Instant disbursements, Card to account, Net debit mode, FedNow and RTP transfers. Treasury Prime covers BankOS, OneKey Banking, Deposit accounts, Payments.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

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.

Treasury Prime: Can a fintech buy Treasury Prime directly?

No. Since the 2024 pivot it sells to banks. A fintech contracts with a sponsor bank running BankOS, and the bank sets the terms.

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.

Treasury Prime: Why did it change model?

Regulatory pressure on the tri-party middleware structure, sharpened by the Synapse failure. Examiners want the bank holding the customer contract and the oversight obligation, which is what bank-direct means.

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.

Treasury Prime: What is OneKey Banking?

A way of spreading deposits across several banks in the network, used for FDIC coverage above a single institution limit and for resilience if one bank exits.

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.

Treasury Prime: Is pricing published?

No, at neither the bank nor the fintech level. Fintech economics are set by the sponsor bank, so expect wide variation.

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