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APIs · head to head

Griffin vs Zeplo

Griffin logo

Griffin

APIs

UK banking-as-a-service from a company that holds its own full banking licence

From
£100/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Zeplo logo

Zeplo

APIs

Message queue as a URL prefix, adding retries and delays to any HTTP request

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Zeplo has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Griffin platform banking carries a one-off onboarding fee from 15,000 pounds and a 3,500 pound monthly minimum, which prices out early-stage companies entirely.; Zeplo zeplo sits directly in the execution path of your background work, so an outage at a very small vendor means your jobs do not run at all, and there is no published SLA below Enterprise.
  • They diverge on capability: Griffin covers Bank accounts by API, Zeplo covers URL prefix interface.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Griffin and Zeplo actually diverge.

Attributes where Griffin and Zeplo differ
AttributeGriffinZeplo
Starting price£100/monthFree
Pricing modelPer month with usage drawdownPer month by request count
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWeb, REST APIWeb, Cloud

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 Griffin

  • Bank accounts by API
  • UK payment rails
  • Integrated ledger
  • Automated onboarding
  • Debit cards
  • Interest on balances

Only in Zeplo

  • URL prefix interface
  • Retries with backoff
  • Delayed delivery
  • Cron scheduling
  • Concurrency limits
  • Deduplication keys
  • Request logs
  • Team workspaces

What people use each for

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

Griffin

  • A wealth platform that must hold client money in a licensed bank rather than an EMI safeguarding accountnot Zeplo
  • A lender wanting UK accounts and payment rails without becoming a bank itselfnot Zeplo
  • A fintech burned by sponsor bank instability that wants the deposit holder and the API provider to be the same entitynot Zeplo
  • A platform needing sub-account ledgering for pooled client funds with a clean audit trailnot Zeplo

Zeplo

  • A Vercel or Cloudflare Workers application that needs retried background jobs without deploying a separate always-on workernot Griffin
  • A team that wants a webhook receiver protected by a concurrency limit so a burst does not overwhelm a downstream APInot Griffin
  • A small product needing cron jobs against HTTP endpoints without adding a scheduler to its infrastructurenot Griffin
  • A developer adding idempotent retries to an unreliable third-party API call with a one-line URL changenot Griffin

Where each one falls short

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

Griffin

  • Platform banking carries a one-off onboarding fee from 15,000 pounds and a 3,500 pound monthly minimum, which prices out early-stage companies entirely.
  • It is UK-only, so a business with European or US operations needs a second banking provider and a second integration for those entities.
  • It is a young bank with a small balance sheet relative to incumbents, and enterprise counterparties still ask hard questions about concentration risk.
  • Holding a banking licence means Griffin applies bank-grade due diligence to its own clients, so onboarding is slower and more selective than an EMI-based provider.
  • Feature breadth is narrower than long-established providers, particularly in card programme management and in payment types beyond core UK rails.

Zeplo

  • Zeplo sits directly in the execution path of your background work, so an outage at a very small vendor means your jobs do not run at all, and there is no published SLA below Enterprise.
  • The free Developer tier includes only 500 requests a month and one team member, so it is a demonstration allowance rather than a usable free plan for anything real.
  • Overage on the Developer tier is 20 US dollars per 100,000 requests, two hundred times the marginal rate on the Company tier, so exceeding the free allowance without upgrading is expensive.
  • Team members cost 15 US dollars each beyond the plan allowance, which is an odd charge on an infrastructure product billed by request volume.
  • Log retention is 30 days on both published tiers, so anything requiring longer audit trails on job execution has to be logged separately.

Pricing, plan by plan

Griffin

£100/month
  • Business Banking$100/month
    • From 100 pounds per month
    • Interest or commission from around 1.75 percent AER variable
    • Operational accounts and UK payment rails
  • Platform Banking$3500/month
    • One-off onboarding fee from 15,000 pounds
    • Minimum monthly spend of 3,500 pounds, drawn down by usage
    • Higher committed tiers at 5,000 and 10,000 pounds with discounts
  • Enterprise$undefined/month
    • Custom pricing
    • Bespoke account structures and volumes
    • Negotiated interest or commission share

Zeplo

Free
  • DeveloperFree
    • 500 requests a month included
    • $20 per additional 100,000 requests
    • 1 team member
  • Company$39/month
    • 1,000,000 requests a month included
    • $10 per additional million requests
    • Up to 3 team members
  • Enterprise$undefined/month
    • Volume discounts
    • Custom team size
    • Support with SLA

Which should you pick?

Choose Griffin if

  • You need bank accounts by api.
  • You work on Web, REST API.
  • You also want uk payment rails.
Griffin review

Choose Zeplo if

  • You need url prefix interface.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Cloud.
  • You also want retries with backoff.
Zeplo review

Questions people ask

Is Griffin or Zeplo better?
Neither clearly leads. Griffin starts at £100/month and Zeplo at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Griffin or Zeplo?
Zeplo has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at £100/month for Griffin and Free for Zeplo.
Does Griffin or Zeplo run on more platforms?
Griffin runs on Web, REST API. Zeplo runs on Web, Cloud.
Can I use Zeplo for free?
Yes. Zeplo has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Griffin starts at £100/month.
What is Griffin best used for?
Griffin is most often used for a wealth platform that must hold client money in a licensed bank rather than an emi safeguarding account, a lender wanting uk accounts and payment rails without becoming a bank itself, a fintech burned by sponsor bank instability that wants the deposit holder and the api provider to be the same entity, a platform needing sub-account ledgering for pooled client funds with a clean audit trail. Of those, a wealth platform that must hold client money in a licensed bank rather than an emi safeguarding account and a lender wanting uk accounts and payment rails without becoming a bank itself are not what Zeplo is typically brought in for.
What can Griffin do that Zeplo cannot?
Griffin covers Bank accounts by API, UK payment rails, Integrated ledger, Automated onboarding. Zeplo covers URL prefix interface, Retries with backoff, Delayed delivery, Cron scheduling.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Griffin: Is Griffin actually a bank?

Yes. It received a UK banking licence with restrictions in March 2023 and a full licence in March 2024 after exiting mobilisation.

Zeplo: How does Zeplo work?

You prefix your endpoint URL with zeplo.to and add query parameters for retries, delay, cron or concurrency. No SDK or broker is needed.

Griffin: What does it cost?

Business banking from 100 pounds a month; platform banking from a 15,000 pound onboarding fee plus a 3,500 pound monthly minimum drawn down by usage.

Zeplo: What does it cost?

Free for 500 requests a month; 39 US dollars a month for a million requests, then 10 dollars per additional million.

Griffin: Does it cover Europe?

No. Griffin is a UK bank serving UK accounts and UK payment rails.

Zeplo: Is it suitable for critical jobs?

It is a small vendor in your execution path with no published SLA below Enterprise, so weigh that against the convenience.

Zeplo: Does it work with serverless platforms?

Yes, that is its main use, covering Vercel, Cloudflare Workers, Netlify and similar environments that lack long-running workers.

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