APIs · head to head
Basis Theory vs Method 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
- -
Method Financial
APIs
Consumer liability data and payment API covering credit cards, loans and mortgages without account credentials
- 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.; Method Financial institution coverage is uneven once you move beyond major card issuers, so a lender focused on auto or student loan servicers should test its own portfolio mix rather than trust the headline institution count.
- They diverge on capability: Basis Theory covers Tokenisation API, Method Financial covers Identity-based account resolution.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Basis Theory and Method Financial actually diverge.
| Attribute | Basis Theory | Method 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 Method Financial
- Identity-based account resolution
- Liability data
- Payoff quotes
- Direct card payoff
- Loan payments
- Method Sync
- Wide institution reach
- Consent management
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 Method 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 Method Financial
- A fintech collecting bank account and identity data that needs it isolated from its application database before an enterprise security reviewnot Method 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 Method Financial
Method Financial
- A debt consolidation lender that needs every card balance and payoff quote for an applicant without asking them to log into each issuernot Basis Theory
- A credit card refinancing product that must send funds directly to the cards being paid off rather than to the consumernot Basis Theory
- A personal finance application that wants an accurate debt picture including auto and student loans that deposit-account aggregation does not shownot Basis Theory
- A credit union offering balance transfer where the application drop-off from credentialed linking is the main constraint on volumenot 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.
Method Financial
- Institution coverage is uneven once you move beyond major card issuers, so a lender focused on auto or student loan servicers should test its own portfolio mix rather than trust the headline institution count.
- It reads liabilities, not cash flow, so a lender that also needs income and affordability evidence is running a second aggregator alongside it and paying twice for consumer connectivity.
- Payoff quote accuracy and freshness are commercially load bearing, because a consolidation loan funded against a stale figure leaves a residual balance and a customer complaint, and the contractual position on that risk needs to be explicit.
- Pricing is unpublished and split across data and payment events, which makes unit economics hard to model before volume and easy to misjudge in a product where every application triggers multiple calls.
- Identity-based access without credentials depends on consumer consent capture being defensible, and any shift in US regulatory interpretation of permissioned data access lands directly on this model rather than on the edges of it.
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$undefined/month
- Quoted
- Additional compliance options for PII and PHI
- Responses for 95 percent of PCI SAQ D
Method Financial
On request- Method API$undefined/year
- Quoted by volume and product mix across data retrieval and payments
- Separate pricing for liability data, payoff quotes and payment execution
- Sandbox access available for development
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 Method Financial if
- You need identity-based account resolution.
- You also want liability data.
Questions people ask
- Is Basis Theory or Method Financial better?
- Neither clearly leads. Basis Theory starts at $995/month and Method 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 Method Financial?
- Basis Theory starts at $995/month and Method Financial at On request.
- Does Basis Theory or Method Financial run on more platforms?
- Basis Theory runs on Web, iOS, Android, Linux. Method 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 Method Financial is typically brought in for.
- What can Basis Theory do that Method Financial cannot?
- Basis Theory covers Tokenisation API, Hosted elements, Outbound proxy, PCI attestation of compliance. Method Financial covers Identity-based account resolution, Liability data, Payoff quotes, Direct card payoff.
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.
Method Financial: How is this different from Plaid?
Plaid connects to deposit accounts with credentials and returns transactions. Method resolves liabilities from verified identity without credentials and can pay those accounts directly. Most lenders use both.
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.
Method Financial: Do consumers have to log in to each card issuer?
No. That is the point of the product, and removing that step is what changes conversion in consolidation and refinancing flows.
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.
Method Financial: What does it cost?
Not published. It is quoted by volume and split across liability data, payoff quotes and payment execution.
Basis Theory: Is data stored outside the United States?
Not on Starter, which is US only. Other regions require a Scale or Enterprise agreement.
Method Financial: Can it actually pay off a credit card?
Yes, funds are sent directly to the identified card accounts, which is what makes balance transfer and consolidation products work without account numbers.
Related pages
More on Basis Theory
More on Method Financial
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