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APIs · head to head

Formance vs Toqio

Formance logo

Formance

APIs

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

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Toqio logo

Toqio

APIs

No code platform for building embedded finance products on your own providers

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.; Toqio toqio holds no licence and provides no sponsor bank, so you must find, contract and manage regulated providers yourself, which is the slowest part of any embedded finance launch.
  • They diverge on capability: Formance covers Double-entry ledger, Toqio covers No code product builder.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Formance and Toqio actually diverge.

Attributes where Formance and Toqio differ
AttributeFormanceToqio
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelOpen source, no licence feequote
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsLinux, Docker, Kubernetes, Web, APIWeb, iOS, Android, 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 Toqio

  • No code product builder
  • Provider orchestration
  • Account and card modules
  • Embedded financing
  • Back office tooling
  • Multi entity and multi brand
  • White label mobile apps
  • Marketplace of providers

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

Toqio

  • A manufacturer offering branded working capital finance to its dealer networknot Formance
  • A B2B marketplace launching accounts and cards for its sellers without becoming regulated itselfnot Formance
  • A corporate that wants to switch card issuer without rebuilding its customer facing productnot Formance
  • A group launching the same embedded finance product across several markets with different local providersnot 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.

Toqio

  • Toqio holds no licence and provides no sponsor bank, so you must find, contract and manage regulated providers yourself, which is the slowest part of any embedded finance launch.
  • Because it orchestrates rather than provides, the customer experience is only as good as the underlying bank or issuer, and Toqio cannot fix a partner's settlement delays or outages.
  • Pricing is quoted with no public rate card, so comparing it against building in house or against a bundled banking as a service provider requires a full sales process.
  • With around EUR 30 million raised in total it is a small supplier to underpin a financial product a large corporate expects to run for a decade, which raises real continuity questions in procurement.
  • No code configuration covers standard patterns well but bespoke customer journeys eventually require custom development, at which point the main advantage over building directly on provider APIs narrows.

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

Toqio

On request
  • Toqio platform$undefined/year
    • Quoted per customer, typically setup plus recurring platform fee
    • Regulated provider fees are separate and contracted by you
    • Card interchange and lending economics belong to your provider agreements

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 Toqio if

  • You need no code product builder.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android, API.
  • You also want provider orchestration.
Toqio review

Questions people ask

Is Formance or Toqio better?
Neither clearly leads. Formance starts at Free and Toqio at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Formance or Toqio?
Formance has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Formance and On request for Toqio.
Does Formance or Toqio run on more platforms?
Formance runs on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Web, API. Toqio runs on Web, iOS, Android, API.
Can I use Formance for free?
Yes. Formance has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Toqio 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 Toqio is typically brought in for.
What can Formance do that Toqio cannot?
Formance covers Double-entry ledger, Numscript transaction DSL, Multi-currency, Payments connectivity. Toqio covers No code product builder, Provider orchestration, Account and card modules, Embedded financing.

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.

Toqio: Does Toqio provide the banking licence?

No, deliberately. You contract your own bank, issuer or lender, which is why you can replace them without rebuilding the product.

Formance: Does Formance move money?

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

Toqio: Who is it aimed at?

Large corporates and B2B ecosystem operators embedding finance for suppliers, dealers or marketplace sellers, not consumer fintech startups.

Formance: What does the enterprise version cost?

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

Toqio: How much does it cost?

Not published. Expect a setup fee plus a recurring platform fee, with all regulated provider costs on top and separately contracted.

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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