Is Dwolla or Solaris better?

Neither clearly leads. Dwolla starts at On request and Solaris at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, Dwolla or Solaris?

Dwolla starts at On request and Solaris at On request.

Does Dwolla or Solaris run on more platforms?

Dwolla runs on Web. Solaris runs on Web, API.

What is Dwolla best used for?

Dwolla is most often used for an insurance or lending platform disbursing funds to customer bank accounts where card payout fees would destroy the margin, a b2b marketplace collecting large invoice payments by bank transfer rather than paying interchange on cards, a payroll or gig platform that needs to pay workers instantly and wants the rail chosen automatically by receiving bank capability, a property management system collecting rent by ach with verified bank accounts and reliable return handling. Of those, an insurance or lending platform disbursing funds to customer bank accounts where card payout fees would destroy the margin and a b2b marketplace collecting large invoice payments by bank transfer rather than paying interchange on cards are not what Solaris is typically brought in for.

What can Dwolla do that Solaris cannot?

Dwolla covers ACH transfers, Instant payments, Rail orchestration, Bank account verification. Solaris covers German banking licence, IBAN accounts, Card issuing, Lending as a service.

APIs · head to head

Dwolla vs Solaris

Dwolla

APIs

Account to account payment API for ACH, RTP and FedNow with pay by bank and instant payment routing

From: On request
Rated: -

Full review Website

Solaris

APIs

German banking as a service with a full banking licence and a live regulatory problem

From: On request
Rated: -

Full review Website

The short version

Each has a real cost: Dwolla nothing is published: there are no per-transaction rates, no platform fee and no minimum on the pricing page, so every buyer negotiates blind and small platforms have no way to sanity check what they are quoted.; Solaris baFin appointed a special representative in 2022 and extended the mandate in July 2024, so a partner is joining a bank under active supervisory monitoring, with slower approvals and heavier compliance demands as a direct consequence.
They diverge on capability: Dwolla covers ACH transfers, Solaris covers German banking licence.
Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Dwolla and Solaris actually diverge.

Attributes where Dwolla and Solaris differ
Attribute	Dwolla	Solaris
Platforms	Web	Web, API

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 Dwolla

ACH transfers
Instant payments
Rail orchestration
Bank account verification
Dwolla Balance
Webhooks and reconciliation
Pay by bank
White label flows

Only in Solaris

German banking licence
IBAN accounts
Card issuing
Lending as a service
Digital assets and custody
SEPA payments
KYC and onboarding
Deposit protection

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Dwolla

An insurance or lending platform disbursing funds to customer bank accounts where card payout fees would destroy the marginnot Solaris
A B2B marketplace collecting large invoice payments by bank transfer rather than paying interchange on cardsnot Solaris
A payroll or gig platform that needs to pay workers instantly and wants the rail chosen automatically by receiving bank capabilitynot Solaris
A property management system collecting rent by ACH with verified bank accounts and reliable return handlingnot Solaris

Solaris

A retailer or platform launching a German current account or card product without applying for its own licencenot Dwolla
A fintech that needs deposit taking and lending, which an e-money licence cannot providenot Dwolla
A European business needing German IBANs because customers reject foreign IBANs for salary and direct debitnot Dwolla
A company requiring German statutory deposit protection on customer balances as a product claimnot Dwolla

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Dwolla

Nothing is published: there are no per-transaction rates, no platform fee and no minimum on the pricing page, so every buyer negotiates blind and small platforms have no way to sanity check what they are quoted.
It is payments only, with no deposit accounts, card issuing or general ledger, so companies embedding financial products need at least one further vendor and the reconciliation between them.
Instant payment reach depends on the receiving institution supporting RTP or FedNow, so a meaningful share of payouts still fall back to ACH timing regardless of what the API can do.
ACH returns and administrative returns remain your operational problem, and platforms new to bank rails routinely underestimate the customer support load that failed debits generate.
Access to instant rails runs through Dwolla banking partner, which reintroduces a bank dependency into a product that otherwise avoids sponsor bank programme risk.

Solaris

BaFin appointed a special representative in 2022 and extended the mandate in July 2024, so a partner is joining a bank under active supervisory monitoring, with slower approvals and heavier compliance demands as a direct consequence.
BaFin fined Solaris EUR 6.5 million in March 2024 for systematically late suspicious activity reports and EUR 500,000 for breaching large exposure limits between January 2022 and March 2024, which is a track record a partner inherits reputationally.
Solaris has previously needed BaFin approval before onboarding new corporate clients, which can turn a commercial decision to launch into a regulatory timetable outside your control.
The 2024 restructuring involved job cuts and the closure of parts of a business unit, so product lines a partner depends on may not have the engineering behind them that the sales process implies.
SBI Holdings acquired majority control in 2025, so strategic direction now sits with a Japanese financial group whose priorities for the European business may differ from the roadmap you were sold.

Pricing, plan by plan

Dwolla

On request

Dwolla Payment API$undefined/year
- Custom pricing built around transaction volume, rails used and integration needs
- No published per-transaction rates or platform fees
- Volume based plans for platforms and enterprises

Solaris

On request

Solaris banking as a service$undefined/year
- Quoted per partner, typically setup fee plus monthly platform fee
- Per account, per card and per transaction charges on top
- Interchange sharing arrangements negotiated per programme

Which should you pick?

Choose Dwolla if

You need ach transfers.
You also want instant payments.

Dwolla review

Choose Solaris if

You need german banking licence.
You work on Web, API.
You also want iban accounts.

Solaris review

Questions people ask

Is Dwolla or Solaris better?: Neither clearly leads. Dwolla starts at On request and Solaris at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Dwolla or Solaris?: Dwolla starts at On request and Solaris at On request.
Does Dwolla or Solaris run on more platforms?: Dwolla runs on Web. Solaris runs on Web, API.
What is Dwolla best used for?: Dwolla is most often used for an insurance or lending platform disbursing funds to customer bank accounts where card payout fees would destroy the margin, a b2b marketplace collecting large invoice payments by bank transfer rather than paying interchange on cards, a payroll or gig platform that needs to pay workers instantly and wants the rail chosen automatically by receiving bank capability, a property management system collecting rent by ach with verified bank accounts and reliable return handling. Of those, an insurance or lending platform disbursing funds to customer bank accounts where card payout fees would destroy the margin and a b2b marketplace collecting large invoice payments by bank transfer rather than paying interchange on cards are not what Solaris is typically brought in for.
What can Dwolla do that Solaris cannot?: Dwolla covers ACH transfers, Instant payments, Rail orchestration, Bank account verification. Solaris covers German banking licence, IBAN accounts, Card issuing, Lending as a service.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Dwolla: What does Dwolla cost?

It does not publish anything. Pricing is custom and built around volume, rails and integration. Establish the monthly platform fee and any minimum before negotiating per-transaction rates.

Solaris: Does Solaris have a real banking licence?

Yes. Solaris SE is a German credit institution, which is why it can offer deposits and lending, unlike e-money based competitors.

Dwolla: Does it support instant payments?

Yes, through both the RTP network and the FedNow Service, with automatic selection based on the receiving bank. Where neither is supported, payments fall back to ACH.

Solaris: Is the BaFin action still live?

The special representative appointed in 2022 had the mandate extended in July 2024, and fines were issued in March 2024. Treat supervisory oversight as an active condition in your diligence.

Dwolla: Is Dwolla a bank?

No. It is a payments platform that works through banking partners. It does not offer deposit accounts or card issuing.

Solaris: Who owns Solaris now?

SBI Holdings of Japan agreed in December 2024 and January 2025 to take a majority stake of over seventy per cent for around EUR 100 million.

Dwolla: How does bank account verification work?

Either instantly through open banking connections or by micro-deposit verification, which takes a day or two but works where instant linking fails.

Dwolla vs Solaris

Dwolla

Solaris

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Dwolla

Only in Solaris

What people use each for

Dwolla

Solaris

Where each one falls short

Dwolla

Solaris

Pricing, plan by plan

Dwolla

Solaris

Which should you pick?

Choose Dwolla if

Choose Solaris if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Dwolla

More on Solaris

Keep looking

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