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APIs · head to head

Marqeta vs Trustly

Marqeta logo

Marqeta

APIs

Card issuing and transaction processing APIs with just-in-time funding

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Trustly logo

Trustly

APIs

Pay-by-bank payments network, majority-owned by private equity firm Nordic Capital

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • 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.; Trustly it is majority-owned by Nordic Capital, a private equity firm, so its long-term roadmap is ultimately oriented toward an eventual sale or IPO rather than indefinite independent operation.
  • They diverge on capability: Marqeta covers Just-in-time funding, Trustly covers Pay by bank checkout.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Marqeta and Trustly actually diverge.

Attributes where Marqeta and Trustly differ
AttributeMarqetaTrustly
PlatformsWeb, REST APIWeb, API

Identical on both: starting price (On request), pricing model (quote), free tier (No), 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 Trustly

  • Pay by bank checkout
  • Instant refunds
  • Verified payouts
  • Multi-market bank connectivity
  • Merchant dashboard and reconciliation
  • Fraud and risk tooling

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 Trustly
  • An expense platform issuing a virtual card per subscription with merchant locksnot Trustly
  • A lender issuing a card that draws on an approved credit line rather than a stored balancenot Trustly
  • A fintech wanting the same issuing stack across US and European programmesnot Trustly

Trustly

  • An e-commerce merchant wanting a lower-cost alternative or complement to card payment acceptancenot Marqeta
  • A gaming or gambling operator needing verified, instant payouts to players' bank accountsnot Marqeta
  • A merchant wanting instant refunds processed directly to a customer's bank account rather than card reversal delaysnot Marqeta
  • A business in a market with strong open banking adoption wanting pay-by-bank as a checkout optionnot 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.

Trustly

  • It is majority-owned by Nordic Capital, a private equity firm, so its long-term roadmap is ultimately oriented toward an eventual sale or IPO rather than indefinite independent operation.
  • Consumer familiarity with paying by bank transfer still lags card payments in most markets, so merchants typically see it used as a secondary option rather than a full card replacement.
  • The 1.15 to 3.15% merchant fee range is not a single published rate, so a merchant cannot know its actual cost without a sales negotiation.
  • As with all open banking-dependent payment methods, reliability depends on the consistency of the underlying banks' own APIs, which Trustly does not control.
  • Its verified payout functionality is heavily used in gaming and gambling, a sector with additional regulatory scrutiny, which is worth factoring in when evaluating vendor risk exposure by association.

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

Trustly

On request
  • Trustly$undefined/month
    • Typical merchant cost of 1.15% to 3.15% depending on volume and market
    • Exact rate negotiated per merchant, not published as a flat card

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.
Marqeta review

Choose Trustly if

  • You need pay by bank checkout.
  • You work on Web, API.
  • You also want instant refunds.
Trustly review

Questions people ask

Is Marqeta or Trustly better?
Neither clearly leads. Marqeta starts at On request and Trustly at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Marqeta or Trustly?
Marqeta starts at On request and Trustly at On request.
Does Marqeta or Trustly run on more platforms?
Marqeta runs on Web, REST API. Trustly runs on Web, API.
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 Trustly is typically brought in for.
What can Marqeta do that Trustly cannot?
Marqeta covers Just-in-time funding, Virtual and physical issuing, Spend controls, Programme management tools. Trustly covers Pay by bank checkout, Instant refunds, Verified payouts, Multi-market bank connectivity.

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.

Trustly: Who owns Trustly?

Nordic Capital, a private equity firm, holds a 51.1% majority stake; Alfven & Didrikson and BlackRock hold smaller stakes.

Marqeta: 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.

Trustly: Is Trustly going public?

It has discussed an IPO but as of its most recent comments said one remained at least a year away.

Marqeta: 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.

Trustly: What does it typically cost a merchant?

Roughly 1.15% to 3.15% of transaction value depending on volume and market, negotiated per merchant.

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