Is Astra or Tuum better?

Neither clearly leads. Astra starts at On request and Tuum at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, Astra or Tuum?

Astra starts at On request and Tuum at On request.

Does Astra or Tuum run on more platforms?

Astra runs on API, Web, iOS, Android. Tuum runs on Web, API.

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 Tuum is typically brought in for.

What can Astra do that Tuum cannot?

Astra covers Instant disbursements, Card to account, Net debit mode, FedNow and RTP transfers. Tuum covers Modular product structure, Low-code integration middleware, Cloud-agnostic deployment, Multi-currency real-time accounts.

APIs · head to head

Astra vs Tuum

Astra

APIs

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

From: On request
Rated: -

Full review Website

Tuum

APIs

Modular core banking platform from Estonia, formerly branded Modularbank

From: On request
Rated: -

Full review Website

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.; Tuum it is a smaller, younger company than Mambu, so it has fewer live reference deployments and a shorter track record to evaluate risk against.
They diverge on capability: Astra covers Instant disbursements, Tuum covers Modular product structure.
Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Astra and Tuum actually diverge.

Attributes where Astra and Tuum differ
Attribute	Astra	Tuum
Platforms	API, Web, iOS, Android	Web, API

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 Tuum

Modular product structure
Low-code integration middleware
Cloud-agnostic deployment
Multi-currency real-time accounts
Cards and lending modules
Faster migration timeline

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

Tuum

A bank wanting to migrate specific banking products to the cloud within months rather than replacing its entire core at oncenot Astra
A fintech in the DACH region or Middle East wanting a European core banking vendor with regional expansion focusnot Astra
An institution wanting low-code middleware to connect new modules to an existing legacy core rather than a full rebuildnot Astra
A company researching "Modularbank" that needs to confirm it is the same company now branded Tuumnot 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.

Tuum

It is a smaller, younger company than Mambu, so it has fewer live reference deployments and a shorter track record to evaluate risk against.
The 2022-era rebrand from Modularbank to Tuum means older funding records, case studies and press coverage appear under a different name, complicating due diligence for anyone unaware of the change.
Pricing is entirely unpublished, requiring a sales conversation to budget against competing composable core vendors.
Its geographic expansion into DACH and the Middle East is comparatively recent, so support depth and local regulatory expertise in those markets are less proven than in its home Baltic and Nordic base.
As with any core banking platform, choosing Tuum is a multi-year infrastructure commitment; switching cores after implementation is a major undertaking regardless of how modular the initial adoption was.

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

Tuum

On request

Tuum$undefined/year
- Subscription and module-based pricing, not published
- Custom quote required via sales

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 Tuum if

You need modular product structure.
You work on Web, API.
You also want low-code integration middleware.

Tuum review

Questions people ask

Is Astra or Tuum better?: Neither clearly leads. Astra starts at On request and Tuum at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Astra or Tuum?: Astra starts at On request and Tuum at On request.
Does Astra or Tuum run on more platforms?: Astra runs on API, Web, iOS, Android. Tuum runs on Web, API.
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 Tuum is typically brought in for.
What can Astra do that Tuum cannot?: Astra covers Instant disbursements, Card to account, Net debit mode, FedNow and RTP transfers. Tuum covers Modular product structure, Low-code integration middleware, Cloud-agnostic deployment, Multi-currency real-time accounts.

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.

Tuum: Is Tuum the same company as Modularbank?

Yes, Modularbank rebranded to Tuum; it is the same company and platform.

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.

Tuum: Where is it strongest geographically?

Its base is Estonia and the Nordic and Baltic region, with newer expansion into DACH and the Middle East.

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.

Tuum: Is pricing published?

No, subscription and module pricing require a sales conversation.

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.

Astra vs Tuum

Astra

Tuum

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Astra

Only in Tuum

What people use each for

Astra

Tuum

Where each one falls short

Astra

Tuum

Pricing, plan by plan

Astra

Tuum

Which should you pick?

Choose Astra if

Choose Tuum if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Astra

More on Tuum

Keep looking

Other head to heads