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APIs · head to head

Formance vs Tuum

Formance logo

Formance

APIs

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

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Tuum logo

Tuum

APIs

Modular core banking platform from Estonia, formerly branded Modularbank

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.; Tuum it is a smaller, younger company than Mambu, so it has fewer live reference deployments and a shorter track record to evaluate risk against.
  • They diverge on capability: Formance covers Double-entry ledger, Tuum covers Modular product structure.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Formance and Tuum actually diverge.

Attributes where Formance and Tuum differ
AttributeFormanceTuum
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 Tuum

  • Modular product structure
  • Low-code integration middleware
  • Cloud-agnostic deployment
  • Multi-currency real-time accounts
  • Cards and lending modules
  • Faster migration timeline

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

Tuum

  • A bank wanting to migrate specific banking products to the cloud within months rather than replacing its entire core at oncenot Formance
  • A fintech in the DACH region or Middle East wanting a European core banking vendor with regional expansion focusnot Formance
  • An institution wanting low-code middleware to connect new modules to an existing legacy core rather than a full rebuildnot Formance
  • A company researching "Modularbank" that needs to confirm it is the same company now branded Tuumnot 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.

Tuum

  • It is a smaller, younger company than Mambu, so it has fewer live reference deployments and a shorter track record to evaluate risk against.
  • The 2022-era rebrand from Modularbank to Tuum means older funding records, case studies and press coverage appear under a different name, complicating due diligence for anyone unaware of the change.
  • Pricing is entirely unpublished, requiring a sales conversation to budget against competing composable core vendors.
  • Its geographic expansion into DACH and the Middle East is comparatively recent, so support depth and local regulatory expertise in those markets are less proven than in its home Baltic and Nordic base.
  • As with any core banking platform, choosing Tuum is a multi-year infrastructure commitment; switching cores after implementation is a major undertaking regardless of how modular the initial adoption was.

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

Tuum

On request
  • Tuum$undefined/year
    • Subscription and module-based pricing, not published
    • Custom quote required via sales

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 Tuum if

  • You need modular product structure.
  • You work on Web, API.
  • You also want low-code integration middleware.
Tuum review

Questions people ask

Is Formance or Tuum better?
Neither clearly leads. Formance starts at Free and Tuum at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Formance or Tuum?
Formance has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Formance and On request for Tuum.
Does Formance or Tuum run on more platforms?
Formance runs on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Web, API. Tuum runs on Web, API.
Can I use Formance for free?
Yes. Formance has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Tuum 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 Tuum is typically brought in for.
What can Formance do that Tuum cannot?
Formance covers Double-entry ledger, Numscript transaction DSL, Multi-currency, Payments connectivity. Tuum covers Modular product structure, Low-code integration middleware, Cloud-agnostic deployment, Multi-currency real-time accounts.

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.

Tuum: Is Tuum the same company as Modularbank?

Yes, Modularbank rebranded to Tuum; it is the same company and platform.

Formance: Does Formance move money?

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

Tuum: Where is it strongest geographically?

Its base is Estonia and the Nordic and Baltic region, with newer expansion into DACH and the Middle East.

Formance: What does the enterprise version cost?

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

Tuum: Is pricing published?

No, subscription and module pricing require a sales conversation.

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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