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APIs · head to head

Formance vs Neonomics

Formance logo

Formance

APIs

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

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Neonomics logo

Neonomics

APIs

Nordic open banking payments and data, now with UK coverage through Ordo

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Formance has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • 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.; Neonomics coverage outside the Nordics and the UK is comparatively shallow, so a pan European merchant will find gaps and inconsistent bank behaviour in southern and eastern markets.
  • They diverge on capability: Formance covers Double-entry ledger, Neonomics covers Payment initiation.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Formance and Neonomics actually diverge.

Attributes where Formance and Neonomics differ
AttributeFormanceNeonomics
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelOpen source, no licence feequote
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsLinux, Docker, Kubernetes, Web, APIWeb, 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 Formance

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

Only in Neonomics

  • Payment initiation
  • Account information
  • Nordic bank depth
  • UK coverage via Ordo
  • Variable recurring payments
  • Request to pay
  • White label journeys
  • Reconciliation data

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 Neonomics
  • A fintech whose homegrown balances table produced numbers finance could not reconcile and now needs proper double-entry before an auditnot Neonomics
  • A payments team that wants one normalised model across several PSPs so reconciliation is not written separately for eachnot Neonomics
  • A company that wants its ledger under a licence it can keep running even if the vendor disappearsnot Neonomics

Neonomics

  • A Norwegian or Swedish merchant collecting payments directly from bank accounts to avoid card feesnot Formance
  • A debt collection agency sending request to pay messages instead of chasing bank transfers manuallynot Formance
  • A software vendor embedding pay by bank into an accounting or invoicing product for Nordic customersnot Formance
  • A business needing both UK and Nordic bank payment coverage from one suppliernot 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.

Neonomics

  • Coverage outside the Nordics and the UK is comparatively shallow, so a pan European merchant will find gaps and inconsistent bank behaviour in southern and eastern markets.
  • It is a small company relative to Tink and TrueLayer, so supplier viability and the depth of engineering support behind bank API changes are genuine procurement questions.
  • Payment initiation only means the merchant handles settlement, reconciliation and refunds, and there is no chargeback framework to fall back on.
  • Integrating a recently acquired UK business means two regulatory entities and, for a period, two technology stacks, so cross market feature parity is a promise rather than an existing state.
  • Conversion is governed by each bank's own authentication experience, and Nordic BankID flows behave differently from UK app redirects, so a single UX cannot be assumed across the footprint.

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

Neonomics

On request
  • Neonomics platform$undefined/year
    • Quoted per customer, typically per initiated payment or per API call
    • Volume commitments and monthly minimums are common
    • Payment initiation only; merchant handles settlement and refunds

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 Neonomics if

  • You need payment initiation.
  • You work on Web, API.
  • You also want account information.
Neonomics review

Questions people ask

Is Formance or Neonomics better?
Neither clearly leads. Formance starts at Free and Neonomics at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Formance or Neonomics?
Formance has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Formance and On request for Neonomics.
Does Formance or Neonomics run on more platforms?
Formance runs on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Web, API. Neonomics runs on Web, API.
Can I use Formance for free?
Yes. Formance has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Neonomics starts at On request.
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 Neonomics is typically brought in for.
What can Formance do that Neonomics cannot?
Formance covers Double-entry ledger, Numscript transaction DSL, Multi-currency, Payments connectivity. Neonomics covers Payment initiation, Account information, Nordic bank depth, UK coverage via Ordo.

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.

Neonomics: Is Neonomics authorised in the UK?

Yes, through the acquisition of Ordo, an FCA authorised open banking payments firm, approved by the FCA and the Norwegian regulator.

Formance: Does Formance move money?

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

Neonomics: Does it support variable recurring payments?

Yes in the UK through the Ordo capability, subject to which banks support commercial VRP; support elsewhere is more limited.

Formance: What does the enterprise version cost?

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

Neonomics: Does Neonomics hold merchant funds?

No. It initiates payments; settlement, reconciliation and refunds remain with the merchant or its payment provider.

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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