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APIs · head to head

Formance vs Gravitee

Formance logo

Formance

APIs

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

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Gravitee logo

Gravitee

APIs

Open source API management platform for event-native APIs

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: 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.; Gravitee the entry paid API management tier is $2,500 a month and includes a single production gateway
  • They diverge on capability: Formance covers Double-entry ledger, Gravitee covers API Gateway.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Formance and Gravitee actually diverge.

Attributes where Formance and Gravitee differ
AttributeFormanceGravitee
Pricing modelOpen source, no licence feefreemium
PlatformsLinux, Docker, Kubernetes, Web, APICloud, On-premise, Kubernetes
FoundedUnknown2015

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), 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 Formance

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

Only in Gravitee

  • API Gateway
  • Developer Portal
  • Analytics Dashboard
  • Kubernetes
  • Docker
  • Kafka
  • LDAP
  • Cloud support

What people use each for

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

Formance

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

Gravitee

  • API gateway and lifecycle managementnot Formance
  • Exposing Kafka event streams as managed APIsnot Formance
  • Protocol mediation between event brokers and clientsnot Formance
  • Self-hosting an open source API gatewaynot Formance
  • Access control and authentication in front of internal APIsnot Formance

Where each one falls short

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

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.

Gravitee

  • The entry paid API management tier is $2,500 a month and includes a single production gateway
  • Event management is priced separately, starting at $1,250 a month for the Comet tier
  • Tiers are gated on gateway and broker counts, so scaling horizontally means moving tier rather than paying incrementally
  • Data logging masking and other enterprise features are withheld from the lowest paid tier
  • 24/7 support requires the top Universe tier

Pricing, plan by plan

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

Gravitee

Free
  • CommunityFree
    • API Gateway
    • Basic analytics
    • Community support
  • Enterprise$1500/monthly
    • Advanced features
    • SLA support
    • SSO integration
  • Custom$undefined/monthly
    • Custom deployment
    • Dedicated support
    • Premium SLA

Which should you pick?

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

Choose Gravitee if

  • You need api gateway.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Cloud, On-premise, Kubernetes.
  • You also want developer portal.
Gravitee review

Questions people ask

Is Formance or Gravitee better?
Neither clearly leads. Formance starts at Free and Gravitee at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Formance or Gravitee?
Formance starts at Free and Gravitee at Free.
Does Formance or Gravitee run on more platforms?
Formance runs on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Web, API. Gravitee runs on Cloud, On-premise, Kubernetes.
Can I use Formance for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Formance best used for?
Formance is most often used for a marketplace splitting a single customer payment between seller, platform fee and tax that needs the split to be atomic and auditable, a fintech whose homegrown balances table produced numbers finance could not reconcile and now needs proper double-entry before an audit, a payments team that wants one normalised model across several psps so reconciliation is not written separately for each, a company that wants its ledger under a licence it can keep running even if the vendor disappears. Of those, a marketplace splitting a single customer payment between seller, platform fee and tax that needs the split to be atomic and auditable and a fintech whose homegrown balances table produced numbers finance could not reconcile and now needs proper double-entry before an audit are not what Gravitee is typically brought in for.
What can Formance do that Gravitee cannot?
Formance covers Double-entry ledger, Numscript transaction DSL, Multi-currency, Payments connectivity. Gravitee covers API Gateway, Developer Portal, Analytics Dashboard, Kubernetes.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Formance: Is Formance really open source?

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

Gravitee: What is Gravitee's pricing model?

Gravitee uses a tiered subscription model with monthly flat pricing. The Planet tier for API Management starts at $2,500/month with one production gateway, while the Comet tier for Event Management starts at $1,250/month.

Source
Formance: Does Formance move money?

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

Gravitee: Are there hidden fees with Gravitee?

No. Gravitee explicitly states there are no hidden fees, and all tiers include unlimited users and unlimited APIs under management.

Source
Formance: What does the enterprise version cost?

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

Gravitee: What does higher tier pricing include in Gravitee?

Higher tiers add more production gateways, enterprise plugins, and enhanced support levels ranging from Gold to Platinum/Diamond support.

Source
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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