APIs · head to head
Basis Theory vs Dwolla
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
- -
Dwolla
APIs
Account to account payment API for ACH, RTP and FedNow with pay by bank and instant payment routing
- 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.; Dwolla nothing is published: there are no per-transaction rates, no platform fee and no minimum on the pricing page, so every buyer negotiates blind and small platforms have no way to sanity check what they are quoted.
- They diverge on capability: Basis Theory covers Tokenisation API, Dwolla covers ACH transfers.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Basis Theory and Dwolla actually diverge.
| Attribute | Basis Theory | Dwolla |
|---|---|---|
| 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 Dwolla
- ACH transfers
- Instant payments
- Rail orchestration
- Bank account verification
- Dwolla Balance
- Webhooks and reconciliation
- Pay by bank
- White label flows
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 Dwolla
- A merchant locked into a processor by that processor vault that wants to hold its own tokens and route to more than one acquirernot Dwolla
- A fintech collecting bank account and identity data that needs it isolated from its application database before an enterprise security reviewnot Dwolla
- 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 Dwolla
Dwolla
- An insurance or lending platform disbursing funds to customer bank accounts where card payout fees would destroy the marginnot Basis Theory
- A B2B marketplace collecting large invoice payments by bank transfer rather than paying interchange on cardsnot Basis Theory
- A payroll or gig platform that needs to pay workers instantly and wants the rail chosen automatically by receiving bank capabilitynot Basis Theory
- A property management system collecting rent by ACH with verified bank accounts and reliable return handlingnot 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.
Dwolla
- Nothing is published: there are no per-transaction rates, no platform fee and no minimum on the pricing page, so every buyer negotiates blind and small platforms have no way to sanity check what they are quoted.
- It is payments only, with no deposit accounts, card issuing or general ledger, so companies embedding financial products need at least one further vendor and the reconciliation between them.
- Instant payment reach depends on the receiving institution supporting RTP or FedNow, so a meaningful share of payouts still fall back to ACH timing regardless of what the API can do.
- ACH returns and administrative returns remain your operational problem, and platforms new to bank rails routinely underestimate the customer support load that failed debits generate.
- Access to instant rails runs through Dwolla banking partner, which reintroduces a bank dependency into a product that otherwise avoids sponsor bank programme risk.
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$undefined/month
- Quoted
- Additional compliance options for PII and PHI
- Responses for 95 percent of PCI SAQ D
Dwolla
On request- Dwolla Payment API$undefined/year
- Custom pricing built around transaction volume, rails used and integration needs
- No published per-transaction rates or platform fees
- Volume based plans for platforms and enterprises
Which should you pick?
Choose Basis Theory if
- You need tokenisation api.
- You work on Web, iOS, Android, Linux.
- You also want hosted elements.
Questions people ask
- Is Basis Theory or Dwolla better?
- Neither clearly leads. Basis Theory starts at $995/month and Dwolla at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Basis Theory or Dwolla?
- Basis Theory starts at $995/month and Dwolla at On request.
- Does Basis Theory or Dwolla run on more platforms?
- Basis Theory runs on Web, iOS, Android, Linux. Dwolla 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 Dwolla is typically brought in for.
- What can Basis Theory do that Dwolla cannot?
- Basis Theory covers Tokenisation API, Hosted elements, Outbound proxy, PCI attestation of compliance. Dwolla covers ACH transfers, Instant payments, Rail orchestration, Bank account verification.
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.
Dwolla: What does Dwolla cost?
It does not publish anything. Pricing is custom and built around volume, rails and integration. Establish the monthly platform fee and any minimum before negotiating per-transaction rates.
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.
Dwolla: Does it support instant payments?
Yes, through both the RTP network and the FedNow Service, with automatic selection based on the receiving bank. Where neither is supported, payments fall back to ACH.
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.
Dwolla: Is Dwolla a bank?
No. It is a payments platform that works through banking partners. It does not offer deposit accounts or card issuing.
Basis Theory: Is data stored outside the United States?
Not on Starter, which is US only. Other regions require a Scale or Enterprise agreement.
Dwolla: How does bank account verification work?
Either instantly through open banking connections or by micro-deposit verification, which takes a day or two but works where instant linking fails.
Related pages
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