APIs · head to head
Basis Theory vs Skaleet
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
- -
Skaleet
APIs
Cloud-native core banking and payment hub with deployments measured in months
- 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.; Skaleet the installed base is in the tens rather than the hundreds, so the pool of consultants and systems integrators who know the platform is small and expensive.
- They diverge on capability: Basis Theory covers Tokenisation API, Skaleet covers Cloud-native core.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Basis Theory and Skaleet actually diverge.
| Attribute | Basis Theory | Skaleet |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $995/month | On request |
| Pricing model | Per month by token volume | quote |
| Platforms | Web, iOS, Android, Linux | Web, REST API, Linux |
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 Skaleet
- Cloud-native core
- Payment hub
- Card management
- Lending
- API-first
- Configurable products
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 Skaleet
- A merchant locked into a processor by that processor vault that wants to hold its own tokens and route to more than one acquirernot Skaleet
- A fintech collecting bank account and identity data that needs it isolated from its application database before an enterprise security reviewnot Skaleet
- 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 Skaleet
Skaleet
- A banking group launching a digital savings or deposit brand in a new country within a yearnot Basis Theory
- A bank modernising payments to ISO 20022 without replacing its whole corenot Basis Theory
- A payroll or HR software company adding embedded banking to its productnot Basis Theory
- A payment service provider needing a ledger and accounts under its existing licencenot 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.
Skaleet
- The installed base is in the tens rather than the hundreds, so the pool of consultants and systems integrators who know the platform is small and expensive.
- Speed references are mostly greenfield launches inside large groups, which is an easier problem than migrating an existing book off a legacy core.
- It is European-centric, with payment rails and regulatory work concentrated on SEPA and EU requirements rather than global coverage.
- As a smaller vendor carrying a bank core, it attracts hard concentration and viability questions in procurement that larger competitors do not face.
- Pricing is unpublished and scaled by accounts and transactions, so a bank whose volumes grow faster than forecast faces cost escalation it did not model.
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$undefined/month
- Quoted
- Additional compliance options for PII and PHI
- Responses for 95 percent of PCI SAQ D
Skaleet
On request- Skaleet Core Banking Platform$undefined/year
- Subscription licence scaled by accounts and transaction volume
- Payment hub licensable separately from the full core
- Implementation and configuration charged as a project
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 Skaleet if
- You need cloud-native core.
- You work on Web, REST API, Linux.
- You also want payment hub.
Questions people ask
- Is Basis Theory or Skaleet better?
- Neither clearly leads. Basis Theory starts at $995/month and Skaleet at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Basis Theory or Skaleet?
- Basis Theory starts at $995/month and Skaleet at On request.
- Does Basis Theory or Skaleet run on more platforms?
- Basis Theory runs on Web, iOS, Android, Linux. Skaleet runs on Web, REST API, Linux.
- 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 Skaleet is typically brought in for.
- What can Basis Theory do that Skaleet cannot?
- Basis Theory covers Tokenisation API, Hosted elements, Outbound proxy, PCI attestation of compliance. Skaleet covers Cloud-native core, Payment hub, Card management, Lending.
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.
Skaleet: What was Skaleet called before?
TagPay. The company rebranded to Skaleet while keeping the same platform lineage.
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.
Skaleet: Can I buy just the payment hub?
Yes. The payment engine is licensable standalone and can sit over an existing core, which is a common first step.
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.
Skaleet: How fast are real deployments?
Named European deployments have gone live in six to twelve months, including a Crédit Agricole savings platform live in Germany in eight months.
Basis Theory: Is data stored outside the United States?
Not on Starter, which is US only. Other regions require a Scale or Enterprise agreement.
Related pages
More on Basis Theory
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