APIs · head to head
Codat vs Highnote
Codat
APIs
One API for small business accounting, banking and commerce data
- From
- On request
- Rated
- -
Highnote
APIs
Card issuing, acquiring and ledger on one platform for embedded payments
- From
- On request
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Each has a real cost: Codat the accounting platforms are metering developer access themselves, with Xero introducing tiered connection based developer pricing from 2 March 2026, so a cost you do not control has been inserted between you and the data and it scales with the number of customers you connect.; Highnote card issuing requires a sponsor bank, and that bank sets programme approval, compliance obligations and often minimum volumes, so a small programme can be rejected regardless of technical fit.
- They diverge on capability: Codat covers Normalised accounting API, Highnote covers Card issuing.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Codat and Highnote actually diverge.
Identical on both: starting price (On request), pricing model (quote), 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 Codat
- Normalised accounting API
- Banking and commerce data
- Lending products
- Write-back
- Business verification
- Supplier onboarding
- Connection management
- Data quality handling
Only in Highnote
- Card issuing
- Merchant acquiring
- Unified ledger
- Spend controls
- GraphQL API
- Programme management
- Dispute handling
- Real time authorisation webhooks
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Codat
- A business lender that wants live ledger data for underwriting rather than a borrower emailing exported PDF accountsnot Highnote
- A commercial bank monitoring covenant compliance across a portfolio of small business borrowers continuously rather than quarterlynot Highnote
- A payment company verifying a merchant trading history before extending working capitalnot Highnote
- A B2B platform writing bills and payments back into a customer accounting system so reconciliation happens automaticallynot Highnote
Highnote
- A marketplace that both pays out to sellers and issues them spend cards, wanting one settlement ledgernot Codat
- A vertical software company embedding card acceptance and card issuing for the same customer basenot Codat
- A fintech launching a commercial charge card programme with custom authorisation logicnot Codat
- A platform replacing separate issuing and acquiring vendors to remove cross system reconciliationnot Codat
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Codat
- The accounting platforms are metering developer access themselves, with Xero introducing tiered connection based developer pricing from 2 March 2026, so a cost you do not control has been inserted between you and the data and it scales with the number of customers you connect.
- Pricing is opaque and enterprise shaped for a product developers expect to evaluate technically first, so build decisions get made before anyone knows the unit economics.
- Normalisation hides but does not remove the underlying differences between accounting systems, and edge cases in multi-currency, journals and tax handling surface as data quality problems that your team must reason about in each source system anyway.
- Data quality depends on the small business keeping its books properly, so a lender using ledger data for underwriting inherits the bookkeeping standard of its worst borrower and needs its own validation layer regardless.
- Connection breakage from expired tokens and platform API changes is an ongoing operational load, and a borrower whose connection lapses stops being monitored silently, which is the failure mode that matters most in a lending portfolio.
Highnote
- Card issuing requires a sponsor bank, and that bank sets programme approval, compliance obligations and often minimum volumes, so a small programme can be rejected regardless of technical fit.
- Pricing is entirely quoted, including platform fees, per active card charges and monthly minimums that do not appear on the website, so the true cost per card is only visible late in a sales process.
- Interchange sharing is the real revenue model for most customers, and the split is negotiated, capped for regulated debit under the Durbin amendment and sensitive to your spend mix, so revenue projections built on headline interchange rates overstate income.
- Running issuing and acquiring with one provider concentrates risk: an outage or a compliance action affects both money in and money out at the same time.
- Highnote is a younger company than the established issuer processors, so long term programme continuity, network certifications in new geographies and international coverage are thinner than the incumbent alternatives.
Pricing, plan by plan
Codat
On request- Codat Platform$undefined/year
- Priced by connected companies, data types and products
- Lending and verification products priced above core data access
- Annual enterprise agreements
Highnote
On request- Highnote platform$undefined/year
- Quoted per programme with no public rate card
- Requires a sponsor bank relationship for card issuing
- Interchange sharing terms negotiated per programme
Which should you pick?
Choose Codat if
- You need normalised accounting api.
- You work on API, Web.
- You also want banking and commerce data.
Choose Highnote if
- You need card issuing.
- You work on Web, API.
- You also want merchant acquiring.
Questions people ask
- Is Codat or Highnote better?
- Neither clearly leads. Codat starts at On request and Highnote at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Codat or Highnote?
- Codat starts at On request and Highnote at On request.
- Does Codat or Highnote run on more platforms?
- Codat runs on API, Web. Highnote runs on Web, API.
- What is Codat best used for?
- Codat is most often used for a business lender that wants live ledger data for underwriting rather than a borrower emailing exported pdf accounts, a commercial bank monitoring covenant compliance across a portfolio of small business borrowers continuously rather than quarterly, a payment company verifying a merchant trading history before extending working capital, a b2b platform writing bills and payments back into a customer accounting system so reconciliation happens automatically. Of those, a business lender that wants live ledger data for underwriting rather than a borrower emailing exported pdf accounts and a commercial bank monitoring covenant compliance across a portfolio of small business borrowers continuously rather than quarterly are not what Highnote is typically brought in for.
- What can Codat do that Highnote cannot?
- Codat covers Normalised accounting API, Banking and commerce data, Lending products, Write-back. Highnote covers Card issuing, Merchant acquiring, Unified ledger, Spend controls.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
Codat: What is changing with Xero in 2026?
Xero is introducing a tiered, usage based developer pricing model effective 2 March 2026, with tiers based on the number of customer connections an app holds. That is a new cost in the chain for anyone reading Xero data at scale, whether directly or through Codat.
Highnote: Do I need a sponsor bank?
Yes for card issuing in the United States. Highnote is a processor and programme platform, not a bank, and the sponsor bank sets approval and compliance terms.
Codat: Can Codat write data back?
Yes. It supports pushing bills, payments and journal entries into accounting systems, not only reading from them.
Highnote: How do customers make money on a card programme?
Mostly interchange sharing. Negotiate the split explicitly and model it against your actual spend mix, since regulated debit interchange is capped.
Codat: Is pricing published?
No. It is quoted by connected companies, data types and products, and users consistently describe it as opaque.
Highnote: Can Highnote handle both accepting and issuing payments?
Yes since its 2025 acquiring launch, on the same ledger, which is its main structural differentiator.
Codat: Does it replace bank data aggregation?
Not entirely. It covers banking alongside accounting and commerce, but lenders commonly run it beside a bank aggregator for transaction level cash flow.
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