APIs · head to head
Basis Theory vs Bud Financial
Basis Theory
APIs
Developer tokenisation platform that holds card and sensitive data inside a PCI Level 1 environment you do not operate
- From
- $995/month
- Rated
- -
Bud Financial
APIs
Transaction enrichment and customer intelligence for banks, built on UK open banking data
- From
- On request
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Each has a real cost: Basis Theory the Starter plan is 995 US dollars a month before any volume, which is a real floor for an early stage company and puts the product out of reach of teams tokenising a few thousand records.; Bud Financial it is an enrichment and intelligence layer, not connectivity, so most buyers also pay an aggregator and the total cost of the open banking stack is higher than the Bud contract suggests.
- They diverge on capability: Basis Theory covers Tokenisation API, Bud Financial covers Transaction enrichment.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Basis Theory and Bud Financial actually diverge.
| Attribute | Basis Theory | Bud Financial |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $995/month | On request |
| Pricing model | Per month by token volume | quote |
| Platforms | Web, iOS, Android, Linux | Web |
Identical on both: 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 Basis Theory
- Tokenisation API
- Hosted elements
- Outbound proxy
- PCI attestation of compliance
- Processor portability
- Reactors
- Access controls and audit
- PII and PHI options
Only in Bud Financial
- Transaction enrichment
- Recurring payment detection
- Income and affordability
- Drive customer intelligence
- Engage
- Open banking connectivity
- Segmentation and next best action
- Data model consistency
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Basis Theory
- A payments company that wants card on file without bringing its own infrastructure into PCI scope and paying for the assessment that followsnot Bud Financial
- A merchant locked into a processor by that processor vault that wants to hold its own tokens and route to more than one acquirernot Bud Financial
- A fintech collecting bank account and identity data that needs it isolated from its application database before an enterprise security reviewnot Bud Financial
- A team that needs to send stored card data to a third party for a one-off integration without that data traversing its own serversnot Bud Financial
Bud Financial
- A bank whose transaction feed is unreadable to its own analytics team and which needs merchant and category resolution before any personalisation is possiblenot Basis Theory
- A lender running affordability assessments from bank data that needs income and committed spend classified consistently across institutionsnot Basis Theory
- A banking application adding money management features where users expect recognisable merchant names and logos rather than raw card descriptorsnot Basis Theory
- An institution trying to identify customers in financial difficulty early from changes in recurring commitments and income patternsnot Basis Theory
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Basis Theory
- The Starter plan is 995 US dollars a month before any volume, which is a real floor for an early stage company and puts the product out of reach of teams tokenising a few thousand records.
- Starter is limited to the US region, so a company with European data residency requirements is pushed into a quoted Scale or Enterprise agreement immediately.
- Log retention on Starter is 24 hours, which is well below what most security teams expect for a system holding cardholder data and forces an upgrade for reasons unrelated to volume.
- Migrating away means moving card data out of the vault, which requires processor and assessor involvement and is slow, so the portability argument that attracts buyers cuts against them at exit.
- An attestation of compliance covers the vendor environment, not your assessment; your assessor still decides what is in scope, and buyers occasionally discover their integration pattern pulled systems back into scope anyway.
Bud Financial
- It is an enrichment and intelligence layer, not connectivity, so most buyers also pay an aggregator and the total cost of the open banking stack is higher than the Bud contract suggests.
- Categorisation accuracy is market specific, and merchant coverage tuned for the UK does not transfer cleanly to other countries, so non-UK buyers should insist on accuracy testing against their own data.
- Sending complete customer transaction histories to a third party triggers a data protection and vendor risk review at any bank, and that process routinely takes longer than the technical integration itself.
- Pricing is unpublished and blends a committed fee with usage, so an institution whose enriched volume grows faster than the value it extracts can find the contract repricing against it at renewal.
- The product set spans enrichment, decisioning, staff analytics and consumer features, which means a buyer wanting only enrichment may be steered towards a broader platform commitment than the problem requires.
Pricing, plan by plan
Basis Theory
$995/month- Starter$995/month
- 20,000 tokens included
- Production PCI Level 1 environment
- US region only
- Scale$undefined/month
- Quoted
- Higher token volumes
- Additional regions
- Enterprise$undefined/month
- Quoted
- Additional compliance options for PII and PHI
- Responses for 95 percent of PCI SAQ D
Bud Financial
On request- Bud Platform$undefined/year
- Recurring committed fee plus usage-based charges, quoted
- Priced by product mix across Enrich, Assess, Drive and Engage
- Volume-based pricing on enriched transactions
Which should you pick?
Choose Basis Theory if
- You need tokenisation api.
- You work on Web, iOS, Android, Linux.
- You also want hosted elements.
Choose Bud Financial if
- You need transaction enrichment.
- You also want recurring payment detection.
Questions people ask
- Is Basis Theory or Bud Financial better?
- Neither clearly leads. Basis Theory starts at $995/month and Bud Financial at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Basis Theory or Bud Financial?
- Basis Theory starts at $995/month and Bud Financial at On request.
- Does Basis Theory or Bud Financial run on more platforms?
- Basis Theory runs on Web, iOS, Android, Linux. Bud Financial runs on Web.
- What is Basis Theory best used for?
- Basis Theory is most often used for a payments company that wants card on file without bringing its own infrastructure into pci scope and paying for the assessment that follows, a merchant locked into a processor by that processor vault that wants to hold its own tokens and route to more than one acquirer, a fintech collecting bank account and identity data that needs it isolated from its application database before an enterprise security review, a team that needs to send stored card data to a third party for a one-off integration without that data traversing its own servers. Of those, a payments company that wants card on file without bringing its own infrastructure into pci scope and paying for the assessment that follows and a merchant locked into a processor by that processor vault that wants to hold its own tokens and route to more than one acquirer are not what Bud Financial is typically brought in for.
- What can Basis Theory do that Bud Financial cannot?
- Basis Theory covers Tokenisation API, Hosted elements, Outbound proxy, PCI attestation of compliance. Bud Financial covers Transaction enrichment, Recurring payment detection, Income and affordability, Drive customer intelligence.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
Basis Theory: Does this make us PCI compliant?
It removes cardholder data from your systems and gives you an AOC plus documented responses for most of a SAQ D. Your assessor still determines your scope, and a careless integration can pull systems back in.
Bud Financial: Does Bud provide open banking connections?
It can, but its differentiator is enrichment of transaction data. Many customers already have the data and buy Bud to make it usable.
Basis Theory: What does it cost to start?
995 US dollars a month on Starter, including 20,000 tokens, a production PCI Level 1 environment and US hosting. Higher tiers are quoted.
Bud Financial: Is it UK only?
It is UK founded and its merchant coverage is strongest there, with expansion into the US. Accuracy outside the UK should be tested on your own data.
Basis Theory: Can we switch payment processors without re-collecting cards?
Yes, that is the main non-compliance reason to buy it. You hold the tokens and detokenise into whichever processor you route to.
Bud Financial: What does it cost?
Not published. Typically a recurring committed fee plus usage-based charges, priced by product mix and enriched transaction volume.
Basis Theory: Is data stored outside the United States?
Not on Starter, which is US only. Other regions require a Scale or Enterprise agreement.
Bud Financial: Why not build categorisation in house?
Because it is not a one-off build. Merchant naming changes continuously and an in-house model degrades unless someone maintains it permanently, which is the cost most institutions underestimate.
Related pages
More on Basis Theory
More on Bud Financial
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