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APIs · head to head

Formance vs Skrill

Formance logo

Formance

APIs

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

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Skrill logo

Skrill

Personal Finance

Fast and secure money transfer

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.; Skrill a currency conversion fee of 4.49 percent applies to most conversions
  • They diverge on capability: Formance covers Double-entry ledger, Skrill covers Money transfers.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Formance and Skrill actually diverge.

Attributes where Formance and Skrill differ
AttributeFormanceSkrill
Pricing modelOpen source, no licence feetransaction
PlatformsLinux, Docker, Kubernetes, Web, APIWeb, IOS, Android
CategoryAPIsPersonal Finance
FoundedUnknown2001

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated).

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 Skrill

  • Money transfers
  • Digital wallet
  • Currency conversion
  • Prepaid card
  • Bank accounts
  • Credit cards
  • Web support
  • IOS 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 Skrill
  • A fintech whose homegrown balances table produced numbers finance could not reconcile and now needs proper double-entry before an auditnot Skrill
  • A payments team that wants one normalised model across several PSPs so reconciliation is not written separately for eachnot Skrill
  • A company that wants its ledger under a licence it can keep running even if the vendor disappearsnot Skrill

Skrill

  • Sending money internationally from a prepaid digital walletnot Formance
  • Funding and withdrawing from online merchants and gaming sitesnot Formance
  • Buying and selling cryptocurrency inside a wallet accountnot 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.

Skrill

  • A currency conversion fee of 4.49 percent applies to most conversions
  • An inactivity fee of EUR 5.00 is deducted monthly after six months with no login or transaction
  • Card deposits carry a 2.50 percent fee
  • SWIFT bank withdrawals cost 2.80 percent with a minimum fee of EUR 3.5
  • Skrill to Skrill transfers cost 2.99 percent with a EUR 0.50 minimum on standard accounts, reduced to 1.45 percent only for True Skriller accounts
  • Crypto trading fees are tiered by VIP status, from 1.50 percent standard down to 1.30 percent at Gold and Diamond VIP

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

Skrill

Free
  • Free AccountFree
    • Money transfers
    • Digital wallet
  • Premier Account$undefined/month
    • Higher limits
    • Special rates

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 Skrill if

  • You need money transfers.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, IOS, Android.
  • You also want digital wallet.
Skrill review

Questions people ask

Is Formance or Skrill better?
Neither clearly leads. Formance starts at Free and Skrill at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Formance or Skrill?
Formance starts at Free and Skrill at Free.
Does Formance or Skrill run on more platforms?
Formance runs on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Web, API. Skrill runs on Web, IOS, Android.
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 Skrill is typically brought in for.
What can Formance do that Skrill cannot?
Formance covers Double-entry ledger, Numscript transaction DSL, Multi-currency, Payments connectivity. Skrill covers Money transfers, Digital wallet, Currency conversion, Prepaid card.

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.

Skrill: Is Skrill free to use?

Skrill operates on a freemium model. The digital wallet is free to open and use for basic features. The site refers to a fees page where transfer, conversion, and service fees are disclosed.

Source
Formance: Does Formance move money?

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

Skrill: What are Skrill's fees for transfers and conversions?

Skrill lists transfer, conversion, and service fees but does not display the specific amounts on the homepage. Detailed fee structures are available on Skrill's dedicated fees page at /en/siteinformation/fees/.

Source
Formance: What does the enterprise version cost?

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

Skrill: What services does Skrill offer?

Skrill provides international money transfers, online payment processing, cryptocurrency buying and selling, loyalty rewards through the Knect points program, and a mobile app. These services are included in the free account.

Source
Formance: Do I have to use Numscript?

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

Skrill: Is Skrill regulated?

Yes. Skrill Limited is authorized by the Financial Conduct Authority under the Electronic Money Regulations 2011 for issuing electronic money and payment instruments. It is also registered with the FCA as a cryptoasset firm.

Source
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