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APIs · head to head

Episode Six vs Formance

Episode Six logo

Episode Six

APIs

Payment processing and ledger platform deployable on premise or in your own cloud

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Formance logo

Formance

APIs

Open source double-entry ledger and payment orchestration for money-moving software

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Formance has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Episode Six deployment on premise or in a private tenancy means the institution carries infrastructure, upgrade and PCI scope work that a hosted processor would absorb.; Formance formance holds no money and provides no regulatory cover, so it must be paired with a payments provider or bank, and buyers occasionally mistake a ledger for a treasury system and discover the gap late.
  • They diverge on capability: Episode Six covers Tritium API platform, Formance covers Double-entry ledger.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Episode Six and Formance actually diverge.

Attributes where Episode Six and Formance differ
AttributeEpisode SixFormance
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modelquoteOpen source, no licence fee
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWeb, API, On-premiseLinux, Docker, Kubernetes, Web, API

Identical on both: 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 Episode Six

  • Tritium API platform
  • Flexible deployment
  • Multi product issuing
  • Digital wallets
  • Multi currency ledger
  • Network connectivity
  • Configurable product engine
  • Institutional controls

Only in Formance

  • Double-entry ledger
  • Numscript transaction DSL
  • Multi-currency
  • Payments connectivity
  • Reconciliation
  • Self-hosted deployment
  • Cloud offering
  • API and SDKs

What people use each for

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

Episode Six

  • A bank in a jurisdiction with data residency rules that forbid processing customer data in a shared multi tenant cloudnot Formance
  • A large institution replacing a legacy card processor without moving off its own infrastructurenot Formance
  • A telco or airline launching a branded wallet and card product at national scalenot Formance
  • A bank running prepaid, debit and credit products that wants them on one ledger rather than three processorsnot Formance

Formance

  • A marketplace splitting a single customer payment between seller, platform fee and tax that needs the split to be atomic and auditablenot Episode Six
  • A fintech whose homegrown balances table produced numbers finance could not reconcile and now needs proper double-entry before an auditnot Episode Six
  • A payments team that wants one normalised model across several PSPs so reconciliation is not written separately for eachnot Episode Six
  • A company that wants its ledger under a licence it can keep running even if the vendor disappearsnot Episode Six

Where each one falls short

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

Episode Six

  • Deployment on premise or in a private tenancy means the institution carries infrastructure, upgrade and PCI scope work that a hosted processor would absorb.
  • Implementation runs to quarters and involves core banking, network certification and fraud system integration, so time to first card is far longer than with a self serve issuer processor.
  • Pricing is entirely bespoke and weighted to large programmes, which prices out fintechs and small issuers who would be better served by a hosted platform.
  • Being smaller than the incumbent processors, its network certifications and operational presence vary by region, so a global rollout can find gaps in specific markets.
  • The flexibility of six hundred APIs and a configurable product engine shifts design responsibility onto the buyer, and institutions without strong internal payments architects end up dependent on professional services.

Formance

  • Formance holds no money and provides no regulatory cover, so it must be paired with a payments provider or bank, and buyers occasionally mistake a ledger for a treasury system and discover the gap late.
  • Numscript is a domain-specific language your team must learn, and while it makes complex splits expressible it also means transaction logic sits outside the languages your engineers already debug well.
  • Self-hosting a ledger that must never lose or duplicate a transaction is a serious operational commitment covering backups, upgrades and Postgres tuning, which is real cost the zero licence fee hides.
  • Enterprise pricing is not published, so the difference between the free path and the supported path cannot be evaluated without a sales conversation.
  • The company is much smaller than the incumbent alternatives, and while the MIT licence protects the code it does not protect the roadmap, so features on the hosted side may arrive slowly or change direction.

Pricing, plan by plan

Episode Six

On request
  • Tritium platform$undefined/year
    • Licence and implementation quoted per institution
    • Deployment model affects cost materially: on premise, private cloud or hosted
    • Processing fees typically per transaction or per active card

Formance

Free
  • Open SourceFree
    • MIT licensed core ledger
    • Numscript transaction DSL
    • Multi-currency tracking
  • Enterprise$undefined/year
    • Managed or private deployment
    • Payments connectivity and reconciliation
    • Support with response commitments

Which should you pick?

Choose Episode Six if

  • You need tritium api platform.
  • You work on Web, API, On-premise.
  • You also want flexible deployment.
Episode Six review

Choose Formance if

  • You need double-entry ledger.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Web, API.
  • You also want numscript transaction dsl.
Formance review

Questions people ask

Is Episode Six or Formance better?
Neither clearly leads. Episode Six starts at On request and Formance at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Episode Six or Formance?
Formance has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Episode Six and Free for Formance.
Does Episode Six or Formance run on more platforms?
Episode Six runs on Web, API, On-premise. Formance runs on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Web, API.
Can I use Formance for free?
Yes. Formance has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Episode Six starts at On request.
What is Episode Six best used for?
Episode Six is most often used for a bank in a jurisdiction with data residency rules that forbid processing customer data in a shared multi tenant cloud, a large institution replacing a legacy card processor without moving off its own infrastructure, a telco or airline launching a branded wallet and card product at national scale, a bank running prepaid, debit and credit products that wants them on one ledger rather than three processors. Of those, a bank in a jurisdiction with data residency rules that forbid processing customer data in a shared multi tenant cloud and a large institution replacing a legacy card processor without moving off its own infrastructure are not what Formance is typically brought in for.
What can Episode Six do that Formance cannot?
Episode Six covers Tritium API platform, Flexible deployment, Multi product issuing, Digital wallets. Formance covers Double-entry ledger, Numscript transaction DSL, Multi-currency, Payments connectivity.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Episode Six: Can Episode Six run inside our own data centre?

Yes. On premise and private cloud deployment is the main reason banks choose it over hosted only processors.

Formance: Is Formance really open source?

Yes. The core ledger is MIT licensed with full source access and no deployment restrictions.

Episode Six: Is it suitable for a startup issuing its first cards?

Not really. The licence, implementation timeline and cost are aimed at banks and large institutions.

Formance: Does Formance move money?

No. It records and orchestrates movements; the actual payments happen at a PSP or bank you connect.

Episode Six: Do we still need a card licence or sponsor?

Yes. Episode Six is a processor. Network membership, licensing or a sponsor arrangement remains your responsibility.

Formance: What does the enterprise version cost?

Not published. It is an annual subscription quoted per customer.

Formance: Do I have to use Numscript?

Yes for anything beyond the simplest transfers. It is how multi-party transactions are expressed atomically.

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