APIs · head to head
Basis Theory vs Tink
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
- -
Tink
APIs
European open banking platform for account data and payment initiation
- 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.; Tink visa owns Tink, and pay-by-bank exists to move payments off card rails, so the roadmap and pricing of the product you are using to reduce interchange are set by the company that earns the interchange.
- They diverge on capability: Basis Theory covers Tokenisation API, Tink covers Account data access.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Basis Theory and Tink actually diverge.
| Attribute | Basis Theory | Tink |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $995/month | On request |
| Pricing model | Per month by token volume | quote |
| Platforms | Web, iOS, Android, Linux | API, 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 Tink
- Account data access
- Payment initiation
- EEA passporting
- Categorisation
- Account verification
- Risk and affordability signals
- Variable recurring payments support
- 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 Tink
- A merchant locked into a processor by that processor vault that wants to hold its own tokens and route to more than one acquirernot Tink
- A fintech collecting bank account and identity data that needs it isolated from its application database before an enterprise security reviewnot Tink
- 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 Tink
Tink
- A European lender that needs verified income and expense data from a borrower bank account across several EEA markets under one licencenot Basis Theory
- A merchant offering pay-by-bank at checkout to avoid card acceptance costs on high value basketsnot Basis Theory
- A fintech that does not hold its own PSD2 licence and needs to operate under an authorised provider passported across the EEAnot Basis Theory
- A bank building an account aggregation view of a customer external accounts without negotiating with each institution individuallynot 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.
Tink
- Visa owns Tink, and pay-by-bank exists to move payments off card rails, so the roadmap and pricing of the product you are using to reduce interchange are set by the company that earns the interchange.
- Coverage is Europe only, so a product serving both European and United States users runs a second aggregator with a different data model and a separate contract.
- PSD2 connection quality varies sharply by bank, and headline connection counts hide wide differences in success rate, consent lifetime and re-authentication frequency that determine what users actually experience.
- Consent under PSD2 expires and requires periodic re-authentication, so any product depending on continuous data access has a recurring user friction it cannot design away, and drop-off at re-consent is a real product problem.
- Pricing is quoted with data access and payment initiation priced separately, and there is no published rate card, so small merchants cannot compare pay-by-bank economics against card acceptance without a sales process.
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$undefined/month
- Quoted
- Additional compliance options for PII and PHI
- Responses for 95 percent of PCI SAQ D
Tink
On request- Tink Platform$undefined/year
- Priced by product, market and volume
- Data access and payment initiation priced separately
- Annual commitments typical for enterprise agreements
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 Tink if
- You need account data access.
- You work on API, Web.
- You also want payment initiation.
Questions people ask
- Is Basis Theory or Tink better?
- Neither clearly leads. Basis Theory starts at $995/month and Tink at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Basis Theory or Tink?
- Basis Theory starts at $995/month and Tink at On request.
- Does Basis Theory or Tink run on more platforms?
- Basis Theory runs on Web, iOS, Android, Linux. Tink runs on API, 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 Tink is typically brought in for.
- What can Basis Theory do that Tink cannot?
- Basis Theory covers Tokenisation API, Hosted elements, Outbound proxy, PCI attestation of compliance. Tink covers Account data access, Payment initiation, EEA passporting, Categorisation.
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.
Tink: Who owns Tink?
Visa, since 2022. That is directly relevant if you are adopting pay-by-bank specifically to reduce card costs.
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.
Tink: Do I need my own PSD2 licence?
No. Tink holds AIS and PIS licences from the Swedish FSA passported across the EEA, and customers can operate as its agent rather than obtaining their own authorisation.
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.
Tink: Does Tink cover the United States?
No. It is a European platform. US coverage requires a separate provider.
Basis Theory: Is data stored outside the United States?
Not on Starter, which is US only. Other regions require a Scale or Enterprise agreement.
Tink: How reliable are the bank connections?
It varies by institution far more than the headline count of roughly 6,000 connections suggests. Ask for per market and per bank success rates and consent lifetimes for the banks your users actually hold accounts with.
Related pages
More on Basis Theory
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- Tink vs TrueLayer
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