APIs · head to head
Basis Theory vs Treasury Prime
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
- -
Treasury Prime
APIs
Banking as a service platform sold to sponsor banks rather than to fintechs
- 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.; Treasury Prime a fintech cannot buy Treasury Prime directly since the 2024 pivot, so the sales process starts with finding a sponsor bank willing to take your programme, which adds months and removes most of your negotiating leverage on fees.
- They diverge on capability: Basis Theory covers Tokenisation API, Treasury Prime covers BankOS.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Basis Theory and Treasury Prime actually diverge.
| Attribute | Basis Theory | Treasury Prime |
|---|---|---|
| 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 Treasury Prime
- BankOS
- OneKey Banking
- Deposit accounts
- Payments
- Card issuing
- Bank oversight tooling
- Ledger and reconciliation
- Programme onboarding
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 Treasury Prime
- A merchant locked into a processor by that processor vault that wants to hold its own tokens and route to more than one acquirernot Treasury Prime
- A fintech collecting bank account and identity data that needs it isolated from its application database before an enterprise security reviewnot Treasury Prime
- 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 Treasury Prime
Treasury Prime
- A community or regional bank that wants to run an embedded finance line with examiner-acceptable oversight of its fintech programmesnot Basis Theory
- A fintech that has already chosen its sponsor bank and needs API access to that bank rather than to a middleware layernot Basis Theory
- A company that wants deposits spread across several banks for FDIC coverage beyond a single institution limitnot Basis Theory
- A bank replacing a fragile middleware arrangement with a structure where it holds the customer contract and the oversight obligationnot 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.
Treasury Prime
- A fintech cannot buy Treasury Prime directly since the 2024 pivot, so the sales process starts with finding a sponsor bank willing to take your programme, which adds months and removes most of your negotiating leverage on fees.
- Commercial terms including minimum deposit balances, reserve requirements and per transaction pricing are set by the bank rather than the platform, so two fintechs on the same software can face materially different economics with no public benchmark.
- The company cut roughly half its staff in the 2024 pivot, which reduced the teams that supported fintech customers directly and left fintechs relying on their bank for support rather than on the vendor who wrote the software.
- Bank risk appetite is now the binding constraint, and after the Synapse failure sponsor banks decline programmes in higher risk categories that a middleware provider would once have onboarded, so some business models simply cannot get placed.
- If your sponsor bank exits the programme or is told by its regulator to reduce fintech exposure, you are migrating your entire deposit base to another institution, and the software being the same at both ends does not make that a small project.
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$undefined/month
- Quoted
- Additional compliance options for PII and PHI
- Responses for 95 percent of PCI SAQ D
Treasury Prime
On request- BankOS$undefined/year
- Sold to sponsor banks, not directly to fintechs
- Fintech commercial terms are set by the sponsor bank
- Minimum deposits, reserves and per transaction fees vary by bank
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 Treasury Prime if
- You need bankos.
- You work on API, Web.
- You also want onekey banking.
Questions people ask
- Is Basis Theory or Treasury Prime better?
- Neither clearly leads. Basis Theory starts at $995/month and Treasury Prime at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Basis Theory or Treasury Prime?
- Basis Theory starts at $995/month and Treasury Prime at On request.
- Does Basis Theory or Treasury Prime run on more platforms?
- Basis Theory runs on Web, iOS, Android, Linux. Treasury Prime 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 Treasury Prime is typically brought in for.
- What can Basis Theory do that Treasury Prime cannot?
- Basis Theory covers Tokenisation API, Hosted elements, Outbound proxy, PCI attestation of compliance. Treasury Prime covers BankOS, OneKey Banking, Deposit accounts, Payments.
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.
Treasury Prime: Can a fintech buy Treasury Prime directly?
No. Since the 2024 pivot it sells to banks. A fintech contracts with a sponsor bank running BankOS, and the bank sets the terms.
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.
Treasury Prime: Why did it change model?
Regulatory pressure on the tri-party middleware structure, sharpened by the Synapse failure. Examiners want the bank holding the customer contract and the oversight obligation, which is what bank-direct means.
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.
Treasury Prime: What is OneKey Banking?
A way of spreading deposits across several banks in the network, used for FDIC coverage above a single institution limit and for resilience if one bank exits.
Basis Theory: Is data stored outside the United States?
Not on Starter, which is US only. Other regions require a Scale or Enterprise agreement.
Treasury Prime: Is pricing published?
No, at neither the bank nor the fintech level. Fintech economics are set by the sponsor bank, so expect wide variation.
Related pages
More on Basis Theory
More on Treasury Prime
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