APIs · head to head
Marqeta vs Prisma
Marqeta
APIs
Card issuing and transaction processing APIs with just-in-time funding
- From
- On request
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Only Prisma has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
- Each has a real cost: Marqeta you still need a sponsor bank and a BIN, so the timeline and compliance burden of launching are set by a bank you must separately court and satisfy.; Prisma prisma Postgres is billed per operation, with the free tier at 100,000 operations and 500 MB of storage
- They diverge on capability: Marqeta covers Just-in-time funding, Prisma covers ORM.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Marqeta and Prisma actually diverge.
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 Marqeta
- Just-in-time funding
- Virtual and physical issuing
- Spend controls
- Programme management tools
- Multi-region issuing
- Webhooks and ledger data
Only in Prisma
- ORM
- Query builder
- Auto-migrations
- Node.js
- TypeScript
- GraphQL
- REST APIs
- Node.js support
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Marqeta
- A delivery marketplace funding courier cards only at the moment a courier pays for the ordernot Prisma
- An expense platform issuing a virtual card per subscription with merchant locksnot Prisma
- A lender issuing a card that draws on an approved credit line rather than a stored balancenot Prisma
- A fintech wanting the same issuing stack across US and European programmesnot Prisma
Prisma
- Using a type safe ORM and query layer against a Postgres databasenot Marqeta
- Adding a managed connection pool and edge cache in front of an existing databasenot Marqeta
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Marqeta
- You still need a sponsor bank and a BIN, so the timeline and compliance burden of launching are set by a bank you must separately court and satisfy.
- Pricing carries minimum monthly platform commitments, so a programme with modest card volume pays for capacity it never uses.
- Programme revenue depends heavily on interchange, which means regulated debit interchange caps and European interchange caps materially change the business case by market.
- Disputes, chargebacks and fraud losses sit with the programme, and teams that assumed the processor absorbed them discover a real operations headcount requirement.
- Just-in-time funding makes your own authorisation endpoint a hard availability dependency; if it is slow or down, cards decline at the point of sale.
Prisma
- Prisma Postgres is billed per operation, with the free tier at 100,000 operations and 500 MB of storage
- Starter at $10 a month includes 1M operations then charges $0.0080 per 1,000
- Storage overage runs from $2.00 per GB on Starter down to $1.00 per GB on Business, so the unit cost depends on the plan
- Accelerate charges separately per operation and per GiB of query egress beyond the first 1 KiB
- Cache tag invalidations are not included below the Pro plan and are billed per thousand above it
Pricing, plan by plan
Marqeta
On request- Marqeta card issuing$undefined/year
- Minimum monthly platform fee plus per-transaction and per-active-card charges
- Interchange share negotiated between programme, processor and sponsor bank
- Sponsor bank required, with its own fees and approval process
Prisma
Free- FreeFree
- 1M requests/month
- 360 GB-hours memory
- 4 vCPU-hours
- Starter$10/month
- 5M requests/month
- 1M database operations ($8 per million overage)
- 10 GB storage ($2/GB overage)
- Pro$49/month
- 20M requests/month
- 10M operations ($2 per million overage)
- 50 GB storage ($1.50/GB overage)
- Business$129/month
- 100M requests/month
- 50M operations ($1 per million overage)
- 100 GB storage
Which should you pick?
Choose Marqeta if
- You need just-in-time funding.
- You work on Web, REST API.
- You also want virtual and physical issuing.
Choose Prisma if
- You need orm.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Node.js, TypeScript.
- You also want query builder.
Questions people ask
- Is Marqeta or Prisma better?
- Neither clearly leads. Marqeta starts at On request and Prisma at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Marqeta or Prisma?
- Prisma has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Marqeta and Free for Prisma.
- Does Marqeta or Prisma run on more platforms?
- Marqeta runs on Web, REST API. Prisma runs on Node.js, TypeScript.
- Can I use Prisma for free?
- Yes. Prisma has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Marqeta starts at On request.
- What is Marqeta best used for?
- Marqeta is most often used for a delivery marketplace funding courier cards only at the moment a courier pays for the order, an expense platform issuing a virtual card per subscription with merchant locks, a lender issuing a card that draws on an approved credit line rather than a stored balance, a fintech wanting the same issuing stack across us and european programmes. Of those, a delivery marketplace funding courier cards only at the moment a courier pays for the order and an expense platform issuing a virtual card per subscription with merchant locks are not what Prisma is typically brought in for.
- What can Marqeta do that Prisma cannot?
- Marqeta covers Just-in-time funding, Virtual and physical issuing, Spend controls, Programme management tools. Prisma covers ORM, Query builder, Auto-migrations, Node.js.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
Marqeta: Do I need a sponsor bank?
Yes. Marqeta is an issuer processor, not a bank. Card programmes run on a sponsor bank BIN, and that bank approves and supervises your programme.
Prisma: How much does Prisma cost?
Prisma is free to start with 1M requests/month. The Starter plan costs $10/month with 5M requests, the Pro plan $49/month with 20M requests, and the Business plan $129/month with 100M requests. All plans have usage-based overages.
SourceMarqeta: How does the pricing really work?
A minimum monthly platform fee plus per-transaction and per-active-card charges, offset by a negotiated share of interchange. The interchange split is the substance of the deal.
Prisma: What is Prisma's overage pricing?
Prisma charges $1 per million requests over the included amount (Starter), $2 per million database operations overage (Pro and Starter), and $1.50-$2 per GB for storage overages depending on the plan. All plans include a hard spend limit on by default.
SourceMarqeta: What is just-in-time funding?
Marqeta calls your endpoint at authorisation so you decide and fund each transaction, rather than pre-loading balances onto cards.
Prisma: Does Prisma include data transfer costs?
No, Prisma includes unlimited data transfer with no egress fees on all plans. Prisma ORM remains free across all tiers.
SourceRelated pages
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