APIs · head to head
Basis Theory vs Rutter
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
- -
Rutter
APIs
One API across accounting, commerce, payments and advertising platforms
- 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.; Rutter a unified schema exposes only the fields common across platforms, so the platform-specific detail underwriting models want usually requires passthrough calls and per-platform code, which is the work the unified API was bought to avoid.
- They diverge on capability: Basis Theory covers Tokenisation API, Rutter covers Accounting and ERP.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Basis Theory and Rutter actually diverge.
| Attribute | Basis Theory | Rutter |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $995/month | On request |
| Pricing model | Per month by token volume | quote |
| Platforms | Web, iOS, Android, Linux | Web, API |
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 Rutter
- Accounting and ERP
- Commerce data
- Payments data
- Advertising data
- Write operations
- Passthrough requests
- Observability tooling
- Sandbox
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 Rutter
- A merchant locked into a processor by that processor vault that wants to hold its own tokens and route to more than one acquirernot Rutter
- A fintech collecting bank account and identity data that needs it isolated from its application database before an enterprise security reviewnot Rutter
- 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 Rutter
Rutter
- A revenue-based lender that must pull a merchant's sales, payouts and general ledger before pricing a facilitynot Basis Theory
- A spend management product that needs to push bills and journal entries back into whichever accounting system its customer runsnot Basis Theory
- A B2B payments platform reconciling invoices across customers using four different ERPsnot Basis Theory
- An insurance or benefits provider that needs verified business financials without asking the customer to upload PDFsnot 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.
Rutter
- A unified schema exposes only the fields common across platforms, so the platform-specific detail underwriting models want usually requires passthrough calls and per-platform code, which is the work the unified API was bought to avoid.
- Write operations into accounting systems are where these products break, because each system validates differently, and a rejected journal entry surfaces as a support ticket against you rather than against the ERP.
- No pricing is published beyond a sandbox trial, so cost cannot be compared against alternatives without a sales process, and pricing tends to scale with connected accounts.
- QuickBooks Desktop and other on-premises systems require a local connector or hosted agent, which introduces installation steps your customers must complete and support burden you inherit.
- Sync freshness varies by platform and by customer authorisation state, so a product promising near real-time figures will find some connections update far less often than the marketing implies.
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$undefined/month
- Quoted
- Additional compliance options for PII and PHI
- Responses for 95 percent of PCI SAQ D
Rutter
On request- Starter$undefined/month
- Thirty day sandbox trial
- Test integrations with QuickBooks, Xero, FreshBooks and Zoho Books
- Documentation and workflow guides
- Full Access$undefined/year
- Production access across all platforms
- Includes NetSuite, QuickBooks Desktop and Sage Intacct
- Write operations and passthrough
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 Rutter if
- You need accounting and erp.
- You work on Web, API.
- You also want commerce data.
Questions people ask
- Is Basis Theory or Rutter better?
- Neither clearly leads. Basis Theory starts at $995/month and Rutter at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Basis Theory or Rutter?
- Basis Theory starts at $995/month and Rutter at On request.
- Does Basis Theory or Rutter run on more platforms?
- Basis Theory runs on Web, iOS, Android, Linux. Rutter runs on Web, API.
- 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 Rutter is typically brought in for.
- What can Basis Theory do that Rutter cannot?
- Basis Theory covers Tokenisation API, Hosted elements, Outbound proxy, PCI attestation of compliance. Rutter covers Accounting and ERP, Commerce data, Payments data, Advertising data.
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.
Rutter: Does Rutter support QuickBooks Desktop?
Yes, which distinguishes it from unified APIs that only cover cloud accounting, and matters because many small businesses still run it.
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.
Rutter: Can Rutter write data back?
Yes. Invoices, bills and journal entries can be pushed into supported accounting systems, not only read.
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.
Rutter: Is there a free tier?
There is a thirty day sandbox trial with test data. Production access requires a paid plan with quoted pricing.
Basis Theory: Is data stored outside the United States?
Not on Starter, which is US only. Other regions require a Scale or Enterprise agreement.
Rutter: What if the unified model lacks a field I need?
Rutter supports passthrough requests to the underlying platform API, though using them reintroduces platform-specific code.
Related pages
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